Joshua tree

I forget just how much I love the desert until I'm back in it again. We are in Joshua Tree – we weren't able to stayat the National Park (too expensive) – but we are at a beautiful facility just outside of town with plenty of open space and even some glacier moraine to play around on.
Today was my weekly “stay back” day – I choose one day a week – when I'm on kitchen duty most likely – to not join the walkers, but instead help tear down camp and set up in the next spot. There are usually half a dozen of us that do this and it's actually a pretty nice way to spend the day without feeling like a slacker for not walking.
The other benefit is that you get to pick your tent site first! So Kathleen, Carrie, Larry and I set up our little village at the far corner of the campground. This place was cool in that each spot had a picnic table and individual fire pit – a rarity! We also found out that there was laundry on site – another rare event. So us girls threw all our stuff in together were sooo happy for fresh clean clothes.
We don't have a whole wardrobe with us obviously, and so our little stash of socks and shirts get pretty manky pretty fast, especially when you're walking 16-20 miles a day – and laundry really only gets to happen about once a week – so – it's one of those things you forget about until you don't always have it at your disposal (like Burgerville).
Here's a picture of the “stuff scene.” We haul everyone's gear from town to town – it's amazing really. I'm trying to get down to one bag just 'cause I think this much stuff is ridculous – some people have like 3 bags and it just feels excessive to me. So...as soon as we hit a little warmer weather I'm going to be dumping a bunch of items. Soon, with that warmer weather thing I think,
Here's a picture of our cook bus as well. The guys, Felipe and Jeff, the guys that make all this happen are amazing and awesome. I wanted to throw pictures up of them too – but it will have to be in another blog – I can only put so many pictures up at a time.
Anyway – onto the next thing!