Biggest lie pushed on those of us from more humid climates. Yes, the air is dry in the desert Southwest. But hot is hot. And today was hot. Damn hot. Like the proverbial “fry an egg on the pavement” hot. And it was only 99.
But to start at the beginning… Karen mentioned in her post last night that we were setting up for a night of stargazing. We did, and it was beautiful. We watched the skies grow dark and the stars come out, but we still have light from the moon. We decided to set an alarm for 4am to catch the brilliant display.
Getting up and dressed at 4 in the morning (it was 59 degrees in the RV), we were still excited to get outside. We opened the door and **BAM**, we were hit with the blinding light from our neighbor’s porch light, rudely left on all night. Now, leaving outside lights on at ANY campground is a faux pas. To do so at a campground known for dark skies and star gazing borders on blatant insanity. We sat on the opposing side of Livvy and got a great show, but we were both highly annoyed at our inconsiderate neighbors.
After going back to sleep, I awoke before 7:00am with the beginnings of an allergy attack. Karen decided the best thing to do was to get moving and get me out of the area that was affecting me. But we had to be in town until 11:00am to fetch the snap-pad knocked off yesterday (per last night’s story).We needed some supplies, so we made like good RV travelers and headed to Wal-Mart.
It was at this point only 73 degrees, but the bright sun was up and the temps were rising. Karen went into the store while I turned on the generator and A/C and waited with the pets. To complete our “hillbilly” adventure, we both showered, made and ate breakfast, and had coffee – all in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I never felt so American.
We headed down and out of the Yucca Valley toward the home of friends Jim and Dan. Jim was a former coworker of Karen’s, who now lives in Palm Springs with his husband. It was such a pleasure to meet them both, and they made us a wonderful lunch in their home. It was so much fun visiting and catching up, and we cannot thank them enough for their generous hospitality.
Outside of their home, the temps had skyrocketed to 99 degrees. Dry heat or no, it was way too hot!! We got back to the campground and got the A/C running. That was about 2.5 hours ago. The temperature inside finally got down to 75 degrees. Much more bearable, and a good step to sleeping temps. But it’s a dry heat, remember?
BONUS – Photos from Joshua Tree
As we could not post images last night, below are some shots from our day.
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