Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Since we bought a 16 year old motor home, there are things that are bound to break here and there.
Well, this time it is the open/close valve for the toilet.
Jeshuah had “reworked” it so it was usable, but it was already broken and the glue holds only so long. It’s a movable park so it was inevitable to eventually give out with regular usage. Donald and Jeshuah made one last attempt to drill through it to place a reinforcement inside of it but it totally broke then.
We need a part. Could order from Amazon but it could be a couple of weeks to wait for it to be shipped (this particular thing is not PRIME eligible) and we don’t stay anywhere that long so we didn’t want to take the risk of it being delayed in the mail and making us stuck waiting for it.
Being in Death Valley, we were pretty far away from civilization so we didn’t shop for parts there. We just hiked to the campground bathrooms (even in the middle of the night) when we needed “to go”. But now here at Joshua Tree we are staying free on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) which means we are boondocking ( no hook ups to water, electricity or sewer) out on a sand bed. So, we have no bathrooms to trek out to, we are camping out on a piece of bare land in the middle of nowhere. So we needed a solution for using the bathroom during the time we are at the motor home (which is usually just in the evening and overnight as we are in the National park a good portion of the day).
May be TMI but it’s real life and I like to include the real life aspect of RVing along with all the awesome places we see and things we do.
We thought of using a bucket. But then realized that we could use trash bags and kitty litter in the toilet bowl and just haul the trash bags off every day when going into town. It was a decent temporary solution.
Donald found a RV store here in Twentynine Palms that ordered the part and said it would be here overnight. So we are waiting today for a call from him to go get it and hopefully have a working commode later today.
Update: PART CAME!! Jeremiah installed the new piece while Jeshuah went with me (Suzie) to do laundry and some grocery shopping and to pick up an Amazon package (yes we can get Amazon delivered in 2 days with our Prime account if we are near a town that has Amazon Lockers...check it out. It has been a lifesaver several times).
So, commode is in full working order!
This morning, Donald took Jedidiah out for his breakfast with daddy. As you can see here, Jed is not a morning person.
When they returned we went into the park for a few hours. We filled up our water bottles as the visitor center. Saw this cactus there, it’s called a Beaver Cactus. The leaves aren’t always heart-shaped, but this one was.
First we visited Hidden Valley. Tale has it that this canyon was used by cattle rustlers to hide the stolen cattle.
Good view of the Joshua tree forest from on top of the rocks.
Come walk with me…
The skies were cloudy and dark today. A first for us here in the desert. These are big rocks which makes my people look really little.
These are Joshua Trees in the canyon.
I like playing with black & white once in a while.
Gotta get in some ninja
Cholla Cactus
Looks like an old bristlecone log
Joshua trees are in the Yucca family. They do not grow rings like a tree so it is difficult to date them.
Oh, they go up so high!!
Another Joshua tree forest.
We then moved on to Cap Rock. I guess it is supposed to look like a baseball cap?
Tallest Joshua tree in the park and possibly the oldest. Sunset is nice in this photo too.
Largest Joshua tree in the park.
As we left the park it started to rain. Not a usual occurrence in the desert. We actually got a little worried as he motor home is parked on a dry sand bed. Thankfully it stopped and then the winds started to blow and they howled all night and dried up the desert for us.