Free Camping

January 9-12

BLM land south of Joshua Tree
California

We have been wondering how boondocking would work out for longer than one night.  No hookups, water or power.  We have a 1000 watt inverter that provides 110 volts to our fridge, but only 12 volts for everything else.  So… no microwave, no blow dryer, and worst of all, no TV.  We watch news in the morning and evening.  We haven't figured out why.  It never changes and it's never good.  Oh well.  I ran an extension cord in from the inverter and powered the TV and Dish Network box and now the essentials work.  But will the Batteries hold out?

We spent three nights her.  It was beautiful, quiet, and very private.  We had three or four  neighbors total.  They came out and played with their kids and dogs, rode their recumbent bike, and built morning campfires.  Ellen got me out of bed early one day so we could have a morning campfire and watch the sunrise over the desert.

We took a long drive through Joshua Tree and found it.  Also saw the cactus garden, Barker Dam and  several nice campgrounds.  Not many spots for our 31' motorhome, but nice tent spots surrounded by granite boulders.  The park spans the Colorado and Mojave desserts and changes drastically as you drive.

It took about 10%  to 15% of our batteries each day to run our necessities.  We ran our generator for two hours one afternoon and twice the next day.  We see solar panels in our future.  We really liked the BLM free camping experience but need to solve our power issues for the future.  Oh, and the latch broke on the bay door where our electrical cable sits.  I had to fish the cable across the rear pass through to be able to plug in when we reached our next destination.  Called Newmar and they will pay for having it fixed.

Highlights:  Beautiful views and quiet

Lowlight:  Had to run generator and broken door latch