An Oasis in the Desert

Sunday, May 29th – Joshua Tree National Park – South to Dripping Springs State Park, California - Day 108

We relaxed in the morning. We gradually got packed up and out. Just as we were packing up, we saw this massive rectangular RV pass us pulling a jeep. It was a behemoth.

We headed towards Palm Springs. A swim shower and resupply was necessary. Palm Springs was a green oasis in the desert. It was a beautiful town with gorgeous roadside gardens. We did some shopping and decided to head to the pool. The pool was closing soon but we enjoyed every minute we could before we were kicked out. It was so nice, we decided to take our blanket to the park next door to hang out. We met a couple that was travelling for their daughter’s tennis tournament and they gave us watermelon. Delicious.

We were looking for campsites around San Diego. They were expensive. Dispersed camping was very far outside of the city. We found a regional park website; the Tijuana River Regional Park had plenty of availability, $25 and was 20 minutes from downtown San Diego. We left Palm Springs and drove across the Sao Jacinto mountains. A gas stop provided a $12 meat lovers pizza, add in leftover stew and a picnic table and we had dinner. We finished crossing the mountains.

At this point we phoned Tijuana River State Park and they informed us that there was no availability that night despite what their website says. We had no place to stay and pulled over to discuss our options. We decided that we would check out the nearest National Forest to find a pull out.

On our way, we dropped in at Dripping Springs State park. The host wasn’t available but there were several spots that weren’t occupied. A neighbour let us know that a site had been reserved all weekend, but no one had shown up. At his point it was 10pm on the Sunday of a long weekend, we figured we would chance it. We set-up and I spent some time with the neighbour chatting by the fire. No one showed up.

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