Living the Dream

We stayed in Joshua Tree for three days, but it was not enough.  The Black Rock Campground was beautiful, we had a wonderful pull-through spot and the kids met a really wonderful family with five kids to romp around with.  It was hard to say goodbye….Joshua Tree National Park seemed like a Seussical land – the “trees” which are really part of the Agave family are unreal!  They range up to 150 years old and their age is calculated by dividing their height by 1.5 inches (annual growth).  They are a rather fast growing desert tree.  Next time we could stay longer there.

Next we traveled to East Shore RV park in San Dimas, CA.  We experienced some windy and steep mountain roads, but the Tacoma and the Hideout are a great team.  The park was an oasis near a lake in the middle of the city!  It was situated on a hill and had full accommodations.  We were also there for three days, but the reason for visiting the city was to be close enough to Universal Studies and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – I think “visiting fantasy realms” sums up the theme of our adventure. 

Brother and I visited Hogwarts together while Sister and Husband had a relaxing day at the campground climbing trees, playing at the playground and playing video games.  Meanwhile, the Wizarding World was so fun – Brother had the experience of a wand choosing him, and he loved practicing magic throughout the World.  We spent the entire day there, we ventured out of Hogwarts to go on the Transformer’s ride, watch a special effects show, and attend an animal actors show.  It was all great. 

Again I felt that we stayed at East Shore for too short of a time – I desperately wanted to enjoy a day at the campground – we didn’t even get a chance to visit the beach of the lake.  Late at night after the kids went to bed I started looking at the map for our next drive to the Sequoia National Forest.  I realized that the roads included steep inclines and curves and I honestly panicked a bit. I turned to a Facebook group to figure out the best route for our rig and I am so thankful that I did.  Through the experience of others and by calling our campground the next morning I found the best path for us and our experience level (novice).  The trip took all day and there were many parts where our top speed was 35 mph going up steep grades and then back down and around tight curves, but Husband was an expert driver – very safe and we made it to a most beautiful campground at the very southern end of the National Forest called Headquarters. 

This place is amazing.  Our site backs up to the Kern River and thankfully we are on a slow moving part of the river.  It is shallow and rocky and excellent for playing and exploring.  I am sitting by the river now listening to the awesome sounds of water over rocks and watching the kids play with rocks and water.  They are so happy – Brother said the river is better than a swimming pool.  They have been outside playing all day.  At this campground we have no hook-ups – we are boondocking for a week here.  We were able to fill our water when we got here, but we are using it very sparingly and we are trying not to fill the tank much – instead dumping our dish water in the fire pit.  There are vault toilets and we are using those to limit filling the black tank.  We will try to last as long as possible so we don’t have to move.  We have it set perfectly.  It is level and parked very well in the spot. 

We visited the Ranger Station in Kernville today and confirmed some good day trips/hikes.  I had done a fair amount of reading ahead of time, but I wanted to be sure they were places we could/should take the kids.  We will take one tomorrow to the Trail of 100 Giants.  There are also a couple trails along the Kern River that we will check out.  The town of Kearnville, where the Ranger Station is located is only 4 miles south of our campground.  We also found the laundry and a very nice grocery story/general store.  This is the life!  When looking at the picture of the Hideout above, to the right across the highway is a huge mountain…

to the left, down the hill is the river. 

Here are a few more pictures of the river…it is so clear and clean…it was a lot of fun walking around in it.

Today we just ‘were.’ We didn’t do anything really, we just sat around and soaked in all that beauty.  When you live in the city it is hard to remember that the country was once wild and if left alone would become wild again.  Our country is so vast, and there is so much room to spread out, yet we all live on top of each other just to have access to stuff…but what stuff do you really need? 

This evening I cooked potatoes, corn and broccoli on the grill and I warmed up a couple of cans of Amy’s vegan chili on the stove.  What a comforting yet simple dinner in the woods.  I can’t believe we’ve only been gone for five days!  It hasn’t even been a week yet!  Our live is so rich, so full.  We are truly living the dream.  (written 5/17/18)