A smidge of a surprise 🌪❄️☀️

I’ll be honest — I’ve written two Substacks today. I almost published a version of this letter skipping over Joshua Tree entirely. Whoops! So this one is a bit shorter than I had planned, but next letter you’re getting a longer than usual recap (since it’s already half written 😅)

After the Whitewater Preserve in the San Bernardino Mountains, we headed to Joshua Tree, California. The thought entering this week: we’d do some hiking, maybe rock climb a bit, I’d work outside for a few days and we’d split our nights between BLM land outside of the park and the campgrounds in the park.

We were in for a surprise. This week was what I’d call a low of living on the road 📉

Our first night was perfect weather and a nice spot. Around 10am that quickly changed to wind — 35 mph wind to be exact, with 80 mph gusts in the forecast. Let me set the scene: we’re in a dried lake bed where people go dune riding on their side-by-sides. Which means wind = sand storm. So we got ready to hunker down until it passed, moving into a canyon to block some of the wind. It lasted, oh, 2 days.

Yup, two days of being sandblasted and stuck indoors. The dogs didn’t even want to go outside to go to the bathroom. It wasn’t all bad, though. We played some cribbage and made some good food to make up for the poor weather (hello, brownies)!

Once the wind died down enough that it was safe to move, we drove Bruce into Joshua Tree National Park to ride out the rest of the storm. The sand from the BLM area was unfortunately quite fine, meaning it ended up in every possible entrance to the camper (vents mostly). We’re still finding it weeks later 🙃

The park ended up being a lot more calm wind wise, but the storm continued with precipitation. We decided to stay put, even though snow and rain continued to keep us inside. Knowing we were safe from flash flooding and away from mud made the campsite fees worth it!

When it wasn’t raining or snowing, we went hiking and rock scrambling. We forewent the climbing though because of the temperature (I’m a weeny when it comes to cold hands), so we’ll be returning when the weather is better!

Even though we were stuck inside multiple days and the skies were grey, Joshua Tree was beautiful. Plus, the kitchen has been christened as a converted studio space in poor weather 🤪

After Joshua Tree we ended up at Lake Havasu in a craggy wash for the week. The dogs got a bath, the skies were clear, and the views were mountainous ⛰️

I spent the week smithing and hiding from the sun (and still getting burned despite my efforts).

Channeling my Mom with this sun shirt ☀️ Lake Havasu, AZ

The dogs had a blast here off leash, and we did lots of recall training (thank you cheese treats). I am proud to state Sacha now comes to me more frequently than my partner aka her favorite human.

Our time in Lake Havasu was mostly spent outdoors, taking walks through the washes, working outdoors, and enjoying our time outside of the camper. It was a much needed week of no surprises or particularly eventful moments! 📈