We started our hitch bright and early, (an hour after we normally wake up) and after breakfast we quickly got to work. We had to take down all of the book shelves, tables, curtains, and personal stuff in just one day so that the house would be ready to clean the next morning. The team split up into groups and started taking down the stuff in the garage, the living room and the kitchen. We were able to finish the day early with an empty house and a full trailer. At the end of the day, we were forced to spend one of the harshest hitch nights in the climate controlled Rio Rancho house and had to lay down for the night on the rough carpet.
Somehow we made it through the night alive and were able to wake up and tolerate the delicious chocolate chip pancakes before we started the exciting day of cleaning. Once again we worked diligently and were finishing our chores better than anyone could have ever imagined. With only an hour left of cleaning the house, we were delivered some devastating news. Our trusty steed the dodge was still out of commission and would stay out of commission until Monday instead of the original pick up date of Friday (which then got pushed back to Sunday.) This news was crippling and we had to slow down the pace to make one hour of cleaning last for one more day. So we all rallied around the lunch table and rearranged our schedule so that we would be able to last another day in exciting Rio Rancho. We ended up with a soccer ball and a plan to go to the park, partially because it was the only thing we did not pack into the trailer, but we were able to have a fun afternoon in the park, kicking around the soccer ball and teaching the neighborhood that the playground was actually built for adults.
Sunday came around quicker than we thought but instead of piling into the car and preparing for a long car ride we were forced to have another relaxing day. After we steam cleaned the whole house, we had the whole day to ourselves, which we filled with another round of playground play time.
Finally it was time for us to leave the state of New Mexico and after picking up the Dodge and running a few errands we were on our way west toward the Grand Canyon. It was a long day, and night, of driving but sadly not very scenic due to the fact that we were driving mostly in the night but we were able to arrive at our destination at 12:30 am in pitch black. Thanks to the lovely and kind Grand Canyon SCA interns, we had a comfortable and warm place to stay for the night. We woke up early to see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon walls and quickly understood how appropriately named it was. We just sat at the edge of the south rim feeling smaller than an ant. After we were able to steal our breaths back from the breath taking scenery we were back on the road and pointed west again.
We arrived in Joshua Tree late that evening around 8:00pm PST and got to work at unpacking the trailer and truck bed. It was a late night for all of us and our new beds where a welcoming sight for our backsides as we all laid down for the night eager to see what was going to greet us the next morning.
The next morning we woke up and looked out the window of our lovely abode to see an alien looking tree that was called a Joshua Tree. After we got on the road to meet our new BLM contact it became obvious why they named the town, as everywhere we looked it was like a mystical forest of Joshua trees reaching out to greet us. We drove in the Palm Spring field office eager to meet our new “boss” and were excited to find that she was just as excited to see us as we were to see her.
After a few power points on Turtle protocol and slide shows of some of our project sites we had to leave Palm Springs and head back to our lovely house in Joshua Tree.
-Michael