Day 2 - Friday March 11th 2011
The next morning we woke up to yet another beautiful day in the Mojave Desert! The weather was simply unreal. On the start of the second day we were now down to only eight of the original ten vehicles. The Jeep Cherokee returned home as they were only committed to running the first day of the trip, hopefully they can do the entire trail with us next year. And with the first breakage of the trip Josh had to limp his Ranger to the town of Kelso to get trailered to the meeting point in Laughlin after his upper link mounts decided to part ways with the vehicle.
Our first stop on day two of the trip was the Lava Tubes inside the Mojave National Preserve. Formed by ancient volcanoes these tubes and flows are a sight to see and we are fortunate enough that the forest service allows us in them and even provides a ladder into one of the larger lava tubes.
After the lava tubes the next stop on our trip is the Mailbox. The Mailbox is maintained by the Friends of the Mojave Road and contains a guest book that travelers along the road can sign. Also at the mail box are the Toads, the Gnome Tree, and a new addition of the Ornament Bush. We have no clue why these are here but hear it is good luck to leave the Toads a quarter and help the Gnomes back up onto their tree. Also you could leave something useful for fellow travelers in the mail box.
From the Mailbox the trail wanders on through the Preserve, across Kelso-Cima road, up to the Rock House, through the Joshua Tree forest, and eventually ends up over looking the Piute Gorge. This portion of our trip was relatively uneventful, fast, and fun with the only tense moment being Craig's stand off with an angry bull. Craig won.
Continued on Page 4!