Palm Springs and First Few Hours in the Cougar

The first few hours with the trailer were spent hunkered down in the dealership parking lot. We had the inspection, little one and I were unloading and stocking up the trailer, hubby was installing new Blue Ox hitch and batteries. By this time, we were already exhausted and proceeded to sit in rush hour traffic to Palm Springs. We chose the Thousand Trail's Palm Desert Campground right off the 10 freeway for our first night. We got an end spot, everyone was very nice, full hook-ups and surprisingly, we could not hear the freeway traffic (which was an initial concern). The wind was really starting to pick up and the entire West side of the campground was all dirt sites. Not to mention a large, open dirt/sand field that sat bordering the west-side of the campground. The consistent dust storm that blew all night made everything filthy dirty. The inside of our Suburban still has sand in it and when we turned on our A/C the next morning, we all got blasted with dirt and sand particles. Apparently we also parked over a leaking pipe in the ground, so we had a lovely mixture of mud and a thick layer of dirt in every new crevice of our new trailer! Luckily, we got a couple good pictures of it before it turned a slight tan color all over. So sad, to wake up and see the Cougar so dirty in less than 24 hours.

 We decided not to stay another night at Thousand Trails and headed out to Joshua Tree (hoping our cars and trailer were not too badly sandblasted). On our way out of the park, we went past multiple rows of campers who had heavy layers of dirt embedded on their tow vehicles and RV's, such a shame....

Night one, also brought leaky hoses and a new learning curve in selecting camp sites wide enough to accommodate our new super slide out and using the new Blue Ox hitch. What new adventures await us in Joshua Tree???

Off Interstate 10 in Cabazon (notice bent palm trees in background from wind)!

Before the dust storm at Thousand Trails...looking practically perfect in every way (sunset included)!