Little pieces can cause big problems

Our hiking in the past month has been derailed by big matters----such as huge storms that chased us out of one the Buckskin Mountains and landed us at Twenty-nine Palms RV resort for about three weeks.  We stayed there because it is the only RV resort we like, it is close to Joshua Tree National Park, and they have Saturday evening dances.

The rain didn't stop.  Every few days there would be more of it, and many places in the desert were flooded in a way we had never seen.  We didn't want to be stranded on a deserted road that had been washed out.

So we danced:

and hiked in Joshua Tree.

    Off trail hiking

    Panorama Loop

After two-three weeks it appeared we might have a few days of nice weather and dry roads so went out into the desert, into the Sheep-hole Mountains.  We knew we had a small window of dry weather, so took advantage of it.

Beautiful spot:

Nice place to drink your morning coffee before a hike:

Beautiful night sky, with a full moon:



Took two terrific hikes:






But, then, "little pieces can cause big problems."  We ran into a couple of problems the day we had planned to leave (and we had planned to leave because more rain was predicted).

Problem 1:  The furnace stopped working

Problem 2:  My toe was killing me

We didn't know what the problem with the furnace was, but we knew what the problem with my toe was:  I have a defective foot.  The toes were operated on about five years ago because they were unbelievably twisted as a result of the previous two foot operations.  And what I suspect happened is that I stubbed it, and either sprained or broke the toe.  It needed rest.  A little thing (one joint in one toe) made us come to an immediate halt in our hiking.  Grrrrrrrr. 

The furnace was another story.

We drove to an RV repair store, to discover that something called a "Sail Switch" was defective.  One was ordered, and the repair person drove to our RV Resort and installed it the next day.

Total bill:  $260

Here is the part that cost $260.  A little thing.  Grrrrrr.  Cost of the part:  $6.




 
We went to our final dance at the RV park that night, where Vicky tied for first in the hula hoop contest.  The reason it was called a tie was because she and another woman were both so good at it that they would still be doing it several days later until one of them dropped from exhaustion.


 And that night it rained again.  Hard.


So we headed out to the Mojave National Preserve, to a place we had been a few years ago where we knew we could get out of if more rains came (which they are predicted to) and to rest my stupid little toe joint that I wish I could just replace for $260 too.

Here we are:

 
Our morning coffee here:

In a couple of days we are going to head to Death Valley to meet up with Kathy and Bill.  By that time my toe will have had over a week of rest.  Hope that does it.  If not, then it will be in to the repair shop for it this summer. 

I could complain, but I was on my way to being a cripple before the three operations gave me new life.  I feel very grateful.  There are several parts of my body that will need to be repaired in the coming years, so I might as well just get used to it.  I am, after all, in two weeks, going to be 69 years old which means I am "almost 70."  Bodies are not what they were at 40.

Vicky and I are doing what we can to support the medical industry, although we don't even get so much as a thank you card from them for doing that.

addendum:

More rain today.  But we have a nice spot to wait it out--moved from our first spot here to one closer to the highway just in case. Will leave for Death Valley in the morning.  Our spot is close to the road so we don't worry about getting stranded.