Newberry Springs, CA

From Seligman, AZ it’s only 384 more miles to Lake Elsinore, CA. We can travel this distance in 1 day, but…

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OMG, Jeezaloo, Holy Cow…  Jeff and I have been on the road since August 1st. We visited Oregon from Crater Lake, north to Mt. Hood National Forest, further north to Washington State’s Mt. St. Helen’s Johnson Ridge Observatory, and then traveled south on Highway 101 along the Pacific coast into California.

OMG, Jeezaloo, Holy Cow…  We spent a week in the northern and southern parts of the Redwoods National Park before traveling south to San Francisco.

OMG, Jeezaloo, Holy Cow…  From San Fran we headed east to Yosemite and south to Death Valley before crossing through Las Vegas on our way to Jernigan Land in Denver, CO.

OMG, Jeezaloo, Holy Cow…  We parked our RV at Cherry Creek State Park, visited family, baby-sat, took our grandkids, Emjay and Jasley to swimming lessons, laughed, hugged, and laughed, loved, and hugged all over again.

And then the Saturday before our site reservation expired, OMG, Jeezaloo, Holy Cow…  We got locked in/locked out of our RV for the 3rd time! We paid a locksmith to break the lock and screen door and dent the outer door. Then we ordered a new lock and waited 2 extra days to have it delivered.

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…we are tired of pulling into, hooking up, unhooking, and pulling out… We are looking forward to settling down for the winter in Lake Elsinore, CA!

We opt to travel I-40  for 259 miles to Newberry Springs where we spend 2 nights in the Mojave Desert, unwinding from all the OMG, Jeezaloo, Holy Cow…

Yep, that’s us! Interstate 40 is in the background. We’re not the only ones here.

The second night we even have  2 neighbors!

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The Mojave Desert is an arid region of southeastern California and parts of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, occupying more than 25,000 square miles. (desertusa.com)

 buzzle.com

Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and Mojave National Preserve are all located within the Mojave Desert.

National Park Service Map desertusa.com

As illustrated below, the Mojave Desert lies between the hot Sonoran Desert and the cooler Great Basin.

 fhwa.dot.gov

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The Newberry Mountain RV & Motel Park

is conveniently located off I-40 on Historic Route 66 near the I-15 Interchange that will take us southwest into Lake Elsinore.

Their website, newberryrvpark.com, describes the park as “a perfect desert oasis located within minutes of historic sites, towns, off-road riding and shopping,” although it looks and feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s a perfect place to debrief after 2 1/2 months on the road!

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Newberry Springs, the unincorporated community with a population just shy of 3,000, is a typical desert oasis. According to geonames.usgs.gov, it’s original name was “Water” as the intermittent Mojave River, most of it flowing underground, provided the only source of watering holes on the Mojave Road. (en.m.wikipedia.org)

Okay, this is getting complicated, I know, but I think the history of the Mojave Road is kind of cool because it ends only 12 miles north of Newberry Springs and still exists today as a pair of tracks that crosses the middle of eastern California’s Mojave National Preserve.

 desertusa.com

This historic trail, bringing early wagon trains of settlers to California, is unique in that for most of its 138 mile stretch it remains in the same condition as the pioneers would have found it. Today, the Mojave Road is a 4-wheel drive trail, wandering from watering hole to watering hole, virtually unchanged since prehistoric times.

During and after the Civil War, the road became more of a supply route used by soldiers and freighters, until the railroads carved out an easier route from oasis to oasis through the bitter-dry desert. (Len Wilcox… Mojave Road, “An Adventure Through Time“) Read more at desertusa.com

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Thank you for indulging my thoroughness and curiosity! As we leave Newberry Springs and head to Lake Elsinore, I leave you with a picture of the pink oleander tree blooming behind our RV site at Newberry Mountain RV & Motel Park: