Tecopa Hot Springs

While at Agua Caliente, I asked Joanie where she'd like to spend her birthday. With a gleam in her eye, she said "Death Valley". So ... we left Agua Caliente and made our way north and east towards Death Valley. We drove through a nasty dust storm toward the Salton Sea, then north to Joshua Tree National Park, where we made preparations. The Black Rock campground where we stayed is just outside Yucca Valley, where Joan's Grandfather Basil Starkey lived for many years, so Joanie just had to have this picture.

We left Joshua Tree and headed north toward Death Valley, knowing that a series of storms was headed our way. Uncertain if this sign was a joke or not ... One thing's for sure, there's not that much commerce in the valley. Our plan was to weather the storms at Tecopa Hot Springs just south of the Park, then head in to Furnace Creek when the weather cleared.

The hot springs water at Tecopa feels silky. The "town" is a little rough, the place we stayed was rustic, if you know what I mean. Good folks, though. We seem to meet great people at hot springs. On the full moon, I built a large fire overlooking our camp. We invited the couple camping next to us to enjoy it with us. Eventually they joined us for dinner in our fifth wheel, complete with Joanie and Lisa dancing some country swing together after the dishes were cleared.

We've seen the coldest nights of the trip here. The mountains just north east of us looked like this the morning after the storm cleared. Two days earlier, we endured a severe wind storm. The wind knocked trailer off it's supports, blew down signs, broke open the door of the office. It moved our trailer back and forth enough that one of the chocks between the tandem axle wheels came loose. Good thing I'd chocked both sets!

The morning of Joanie's birthday dawned clear and calm. She walked the labyrinth above our camp, dressed in her birthday finest. Including long underwear, if I'm not mistaken. We had breakfast and dinner in the little bistro down the hill from us. Excellent meals and good company. Limited menu. Closed now until the day after Christmas.

Here Joanie wears a birthday present - it's a glow in the dark tee shirt, stating among other things, that " a good planet is hard to find".