Lucky readers, you get yet another back-dated entry. I'll probably start putting up more recent, but my living space is less RV and more container these days. That means you'll get to see about Djibouti!
Anyways...Jan ??+1day, 2011
Our next planned stop was cottonwood campground in Joshua Tree National Park in California. The park was a good stopping point, and according to the park ranger had plenty of pull-thru sites that were 56’ and 58’ which would fit our rig, no hook-ups, but we could generate until quite hours started at 8pm. There was also a review from a resident Californian claiming that words couldn’t describe how amazing this park is and that it inspired bono to make an entire album. So, after being cut off by 2 drivers with California plates at the border inspection station, we headed off the interstate away from cell phone coverage to another desert adventure.
After climbing a good elevation we checked in and headed to the campground. The wind was blowing about 50 mph of cold, dry, dusty air. The ‘pull-thru’ sites were more like pull-over sites. We would have had no problem fitting had the geniuses that manage this park not placed giant boulders on the edge of the pavement. I managed to squeeze in, though we would only be able to use our door side slide. I can manage dealing with that and was looking forward to a hike in the baron wasteland. The other inhabitant of loop A, the camp host, was nice enough to come over and hand us the map saying, ‘here, maybe this will help, it has the size of the sites’. I thanked him and he went back to his trailer.
I fired up the generator and went outside to shut the breakers and was again greeted by the only other inhabitant in the loop, Mr. camp host. I will not throw Californian’s under the bus based on this guy since his license plates were from Oregon. So, please don’t take offense if you’re from California or Oregon, I understand that there are good people in all states, even New York. Or, do take offense, I’m from Texas and we’re all bigger and better than you! Anyways, his greeting through his potentially stoned, hippy-hair infested lower lip this time was, “Generator hours!?!?” (think Cheech’s hippy fuel salesman character from Pixar’s Cars) I replied with “yea, until 8pm.” “Uhhhh, who told you that?!” As I looked around to see any other campers that were being disturbed and Katie was wondering how he even heard the generator through the 50mph winds, I told him that the park ranger said it was until 8pm. “Was it a man or a woman?!” I explained that I didn’t know my wife talked to them. “Well 7-9! 12-2! 5-7!, generator hours”. At this point I stopped talking and had already decided to leave the park and demand a refund. He continued, “I don’t know what to tell you man! Hours are posted everywhere man!” I looked around for these signs that he claimed to be all over that I still didn’t see even when leaving. “I mean, it’s posted everywhere man” with arms flailing about in what appeared to be confusion, perhaps he smoked a little too much of his brain away. At this point I had tried to walk away from him several times and each time he continued his expressions of how it’s posted everywhere and he didn’t know what to do or say. I’m no camp host, but I would think the appropriate thing to do or say is explain the situation and ask the violator to turn off the generator. But, I guess expressing “I don’t know what to do” following every half-sentence with “man” was his solution.
At any rate, I finally just walked away from his flailing arms and told Katie we were leaving. She didn’t seem too disappointed. As for Bono being inspired, maybe one of the other campgrounds was amazing, but I can’t see anyone being inspired to do anything other than want to go to a better place. Which, is probably the true inspiration to the album; going to a better place or better yet “state of mind”.
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