I had the space heater on and curtains drawn for the front bed part of the trailer, so was nice and warm in bed. Ended up dozing a bit before finally getting up and outside a bit little after 9am.
With it being daylight outside was finally able to get a good view of what it was I was staying in for the night.
It was said that my trailer was the original trailer used in the movie Big Top Pee-Wee.
Also got to take in the rest of the property during daylight, including for area on deck above the main vending machine/shower/bathroom/ping pong table area. There was also a hot tub on said deck.
From the deck looking out to innkeeper's digs and out to entrance:
We got ourselves checked out by dropping keys in box (along with postcards) and the Forester packed up. Headed out on the dirt roads back into town and to drive up to the Joshua Tree National Park entrance.
Turned out that the park entrance was stationed with park rangers. And while they were not accepting entrance fees due to being closed on account of the gov't shutdown, they were giving out maps and allowing visitors in. We were encouraged if we wanted to make a donation to do so at the visitor's center, also noted as being open.
We set out into the park and made a few different stops. First stop was probably the most adventurous -- we ended up climbing up some of the piled-up boulders strewn across the landscape not to far from the roadside.
Managed to get a yoga tree pose atop a Joshua Tree boulder:
Drove through the park some more and turned to go up to Keys View, which was the highest viewpoint in the park. From Keys View you could see down to Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley area on the other side of the mountain range, as well as over to the wind farm outside of the city of Palm Springs.
Friend and I also took the opportunity to break into the Peanut Patty from Roswell, NM that had been sitting the Forester since purchase.
Peanut patty was underwhelming -- was like eating peanut brittle, but instead of toffee brittle flavor it was chewy sugar flavor to accompany the peanuts.
We took a few more pics before getting back into the Forester to head down and out of the park through the Twentynine Palms entrance, planning to go to that visitor's center. Turned out it was closed though, so drove back towards Joshua Tree (we had to go that direction anyway) to go to that visitor center.
Donations were made and some souvenirs purchased at the visitor's center, then back in the Forester for quick lunch, gas-up and trek down into the Inland Empire. We were short on time given Friend's flight leaving Ontario was scheduled to depart at 3:30pm.
Ended up having Del Taco for lunch, which I had spotted the day before in Twentynine Palms when getting into town. Along with Wendy's, Del Taco is my go-to fast food place -- so was nice to have as first real meal back in Cali after being gone so long.
Ate inside Del Taco but ate quickly, then on to quick gas-up and on the road to get to Ontario. It was to take over an hour and a half to get to Ontario airport. And as I feared, time estimate continued to increase as we made our way and the afternoon commuter traffic set in the IE.
Made to the airport and dropped Friend of with a grand total of 29 minutes until her flight departed. Helped her get her carry-on out of the trunk, backpack on and she was on her way to try and make her flight (she had already checked in on her phone). And... she made her flight! Gotta love small airports -- I admit to pushing things close for departing out of Santa Barbara airport, but always aim to get to the airport 50 minutes before my flight leaves.
And it was back on the road for me for the final push back to Santa Barbara. A two hour drive w/o traffic became a three and a half hour drive in aggravating LA traffic. I stopped once in Pasadena to get coffee and pit stop, and otherwise tried not to lose my mind in all of the stop and go trudging along. Finally opened up in the San Fernando Valley heading through Calabasas and onward.
It was after 6:30 that I got back into Santa Barbara and drove up to my house. Unpacked the Forester and thankfully already had cold beer in the fridge.
I unpacked my laptop and before long had pizza ordered online for delivery, and was set to ease into a good night's sleep in my own bed, and back into post-firstevercrosscountryroadtrip life.
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