Sunday, February 15, 2015

General Patton Memorial Museum

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Yuma and I are on BLM land six miles south of the Cottonwood Entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, California
Altitude : 1667 feet
Latitude : 33.67300N
Longitude : 115.79800W

This morning began with a beautiful sunrise over the wires. 

image

Now that I am in the low desert country, it remained pleasant all night.  Left the window open to receive the soft wind in the night.

On our walk this morning overlooking the interstate, it was easy walking on the nice hard sand and sandy colored brush that spots the hillside.  Not many cactus to bother Yuma and the brush is sparse enough to walk comfortably in and around.image

That I-10 is a busy highway.

imageimage

Yuma loves to run and chase anything that moves.  Flies, lizards and birds so far.  He even caught a tortoise.  I am letting him off leash while we are alone with no one to distract him.  Have to give him a little wiggle room.  He seems to be very careful and comes when I call.

imageimage

Took a jeep ride to the east on our sandy road and after about four miles, there was a turn off to the south to I-10. 

imageimageimage

There is a gas station and a General Patton Memorial Museum next to it.  In back there were half a dozen old tanks.imageimage

imageimageimageimage

Leonardo Da Vinci invented this 33 barreled cannon, so you could fire 11 rounds while 11 were cooling and 11 were being loaded. 

image

imageTook a quick photo of our camp from the interstate as we headed west back to the Joshua Tree exit.  I zoomed in on it with the camera.

image

Had a nice leisurely day and this evening, we had us a fire in the fire pit with the lights of I-10 in the background.  Very nice out tonight.  Think I will do a little star gazing tonight.

imageimage

See you later.

9 comments:

  1. What would happen if the tortoise decided to not endure Yuma's indignities? This area is really nice. No chollas. There are some beautiful picultures! I loved the shot of Yuma's and your shadows! The 2 photos right after the shadows are amazing. Where was that? They looked so different.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dolly. I took those other two on our jeep and hike trip just down the road from our camp. There was a pile of dark rock with all the barrel cactus but the rest of the area was lighter rock.

      Delete
  2. Oh, yes...we know that area! There are some nice hills as you come down out of Joshua Tree National Park. Are there any wildflowers yet? The Patton museum is really interesting! We've been there a couple of times.
    Cheryl Ann~~You are getting close to where I teach. I'm in Coachella. From our playground, we can see the trucks and cars going up the grade on Interstate 10.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are yellow flowers starting to bloom on the bushes but that is it. I wasn't able to go in the museum since I had Yuma with me, but there was a lot outside to see. I am staying on a side road about two miles up the Joshua Tree Park entrance road.

    If I were going west on I-10 I would be going right through Coachella, but I will be taking the Box Canyon Road today. I've heard it is a pretty drive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Doug! What is BLM? You've mentiined it quite often and I never know what it means. All I can think of is the abbreviation for Bloomington! :). Cool pic of you and Yuma's shadows!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never thought about the Bloomington abbreviation. BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management. This is land controlled and maintained by the U.S. government. It is available to use for free for up to 14 day intervals. You must move at least 25 miles to start another 14 day limit. The limit is to keep people from just squatting permanently on government land. Hope that helps.

      It means to me I can stay up to 14 days for free, so I don't have to pay camp fees. However, all my electricity and water I bring with me. That is why Evan and I put those 5 AGM batteries in the motorhome 2 years ago. So I could have enough electricity from my batteries to be comfortable and do the things I want, like use computers and watch TV and have lights.

      Delete
  5. Oh! Thanks! It all makes sense now!

    ReplyDelete