13th April: Yosemite to KOA

From Wd

Gavin's diary—6.30pm 14th April 2007, Zion NP

It took us two days to get from Yosemite NP to Zion NP because the Tioga Pass was closed. (Snow prevents it from being opened each year until May.) The closure of the eastern exit from Yosemite added 200 miles to our journey to Zion. So the 13th April was a day of travel, ending up at the KOA just outside Barstow. Stuck in the middle of the desert, there were a few RVs but no other tents besides ours and those of another TrekAmerica tour. Needless to say, the KOA offered a higher standard of comfort than 'El Portal'. There was even a laundry.

Jinny's Blog

We drove past Mojave desert, past the huge airplane parking lot. We went from 33°F that day to 80°F in a few hours. Camped in a KOA campground near places like Jenny Rose restaurant (the name over a huge heart sign that blinked red at night), Peggy Sue’s diner, Ghost town road. It was expected to be in the 50s that night. At first I wasn’t sure why we were going there, but the desert does have its beauty and I slept out under the stars, the only one in the group to do so. Ron had assured me there were no bugs, I am glad it wasn’t until the next day that James pointed to a huge crawling creature close to where I had slept.

My team had dish duty that night, I couldn’t have picked a better night and a better place. They had a huge sink with running hot and cold water. All toilette sikns had running hot and cold water and paper towels in addition to dryers. The showers had a raised platform to prevent the water from creeping into the area where you step in after the shower. We were to never see that kind of luxury again! Most importantly we were dry, did you hear me, DRY!