In the light of day, the Windsor Motel didn’t look quite as ominous as it had last night. It did still scream ‘bad horror film’, but in a less intense way. I packed up and grabbed a bowl of cereal before hitting the road. It sounds like no big deal, but the milk has to come from somewhere, and so that is why last night, after seeing that the Windsor was decked out with a mini fridge, I made a run to the near by gas station to grab some Skim for this morning’s breakfast. It’s all part of the Jackson MiniTramp show.
Jump back to the broken cell phone story. I stopped at a gas station where I picked up a five dollar calling card. It advertised that for any call made to a number in North America the fee would be one cent per minute. Perfect! Now we’re talking, literally. Jump to the part of the story where I’m at the pay phone discovering the hidden charge; a connection fee with the use of pay phones, 99 cents. What the– Not only that but I made two calls that didn’t connect before I figured out what the story was. Not all was lost though, I did get to leave a message at home base, letting them know the details of my situation (that I’m an idiot with an exploding phone that is fully functional except for the fact that you can’t see what on the screen).
Forget about the phone thing, there are more important stories to be told, like the Joshua Tree National Park story. It begins at the visitor’s centre where a park ranger (I don’t know if that’s what he was or not, but it sounds pretty classic) gave me the run down of the park and highlighted a few hikes that could maximize my single serving visit. Four hikes later and just over four hours in the park I was beaming. I don’t really deal with the whole ‘pinching’ thing, but if I was into that I’d have been pinching myself all day trying to determine if I was actually seeing these spectacular displays of some of the planets best work, or if in fact I was dreaming. Each of the four short hikes allowed me to see a different part of the parks characteristics. Skull Rock was a trail that led you through a sort of rock garden where these bizarre ‘Dinosaur Exhibit at the Calgary Zoo’ style bolder collections pilled up. It ended up being a play ground for free running as I danced across the rocks having way too much fun. The potential to Gerry-it-up was very high. Similar to the landscape the two Gerrys in the Gus Van Sant movie faced, there were many small pathways that jutted off the main Skull Rock trail. 
It would have been easy to lose my bearings, especially since the heavy sun was directly above my head. It didn’t happen though; John 1, Skull Rock Zero.
Hike two was a short loop called Cap Rock. This huge rock rose up from a field of Joshua Trees like more than just the tip of an iceberg in the sea. This little meander allowed me to really get up close and personal with the Joshua Tree; they are so strange, I almost can’t believe they are a reality. Hike three was at the end of a road that helped you with half of the climb to the top of Keys View. The trail brought me to a point where I was surrounded by 360 degrees of spectacular vistas. I could see the entire park, and so could my two cameras. Many people were taking in the scene from the parking area below me, but the real reward was twenty minutes above the parking lot. My final stage of the Joshua Tree National Park tour was a place called Hidden Valley. It was just that. Large rock formations had enclosed an area of vegetation in a way that land might trap water and form a lagoon. A mile long loop took me through the valley and finished my day with some of the best scenery the park had to offer. I felt like the park had showed me its best stuff, and after about four hours I had grown to love the Joshua Tree. I already want to plan a return trip.
I ended up in Barstow. It took about two hours to cross the Mojave from the town of Joshua Tree. The Mojave Desert is everything a desert should be. I couldn’t believe that just yesterday I had been wandering along the beach in Santa Monica, and less then a day later I was in the middle of a Planet Mars style backdrop. 
Several times I actually verbalized ‘Unbelievable’ to the empty truck. Barstow was going to be my fuel pit stop before stopping for the night at a campground in Yermo. Well I couldn’t find the campground or Yermo for that matter. I mean I located where the town was supposed to be, but there was no one left, it was a true ghost town. Had the sun not been setting and I been less freaked out, I would have been looking to get some real photography done, but alas I was in and out of the former Yermo, happy when it was in my rear view. Queue Plan B. I found a motel 6, paid the $44 (after tax) and felt good about life. Ghost towns, now that’s just silly.
With my room came a phone that wasn’t a pay phone, so I
punched in the two dozen numbers you need to activate the calling card, and just like that I was back in touch with the Command Centre. It felt a bit like the ‘Loved Ones’ episode during the Survivor season; I was rejuvenated by my family’s voices, and ready to pour it on for the next leg of the trip.
I like the Motel, but I had been ready to camp. This may have been the reason that I cooked up my soup on the Coleman stove in the motel room. I can imagine that it is something that would be frowned upon by the Motel 6 staff, but I didn’t burn the place down, and really what they don’t know can’t hurt them. Plus the soup was good.
Several times I actually verbalized ‘Unbelievable’ to the empty truck. Barstow was going to be my fuel pit stop before stopping for the night at a campground in Yermo. Well I couldn’t find the campground or Yermo for that matter. I mean I located where the town was supposed to be, but there was no one left, it was a true ghost town. Had the sun not been setting and I been less freaked out, I would have been looking to get some real photography done, but alas I was in and out of the former Yermo, happy when it was in my rear view. Queue Plan B. I found a motel 6, paid the $44 (after tax) and felt good about life. Ghost towns, now that’s just silly.With my room came a phone that wasn’t a pay phone, so I
punched in the two dozen numbers you need to activate the calling card, and just like that I was back in touch with the Command Centre. It felt a bit like the ‘Loved Ones’ episode during the Survivor season; I was rejuvenated by my family’s voices, and ready to pour it on for the next leg of the trip.I like the Motel, but I had been ready to camp. This may have been the reason that I cooked up my soup on the Coleman stove in the motel room. I can imagine that it is something that would be frowned upon by the Motel 6 staff, but I didn’t burn the place down, and really what they don’t know can’t hurt them. Plus the soup was good.
Day Nine: There is such thing as too much adventure, and it’s called camping in a Ghost Town.
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