We pulled into this BLM dispersed camping area yesterday afternoon.  We are just off US Hwy 95, south of Needles, and we have named our spot “Pointed Rock” because of the nearby rock outcroppings.  This dirt road goes further away from the highway, but there are deep washes to cross, and because we are expecting a big rain storm we don’t want to cross too many areas that could flood or get super muddy, so we are only a little ways in.  Still close enough to the  highway to hear the big rigs swoosh by, but on the highway side of the first deep wash.  We feel secure here.   

Caught a little bit of solar gain on our panels yesterday afternoon and again for a short time this morning, but the cloud cover is becoming pretty complete, so not getting much right now.  Still, with almost complete cloud cover we are bringing in 34 watts to our solar generator. (In bright sun it can go up to 190 watts input.)

We have been playing domino tournaments. (Our game is “Chicken Foot”).  Dave won (for the first time, haha) last night.  It helps the dark hours before bedtime pass pleasantly.

We will stay here again tonight.  The wind has gotten very strong today, so it’s not a good time to drive our high top vehicle.

Not overly cold, but so windy outside that we chose to stay in the van today.  Sorted through all our food stores and consolidated them into a more accessible place.  Discovered unopened jars of pickles, apricot jam, salsa dip, and cans of salsa verde and tomato sauce, plus a packet of ready to heat red curry sauce.  I feel like I just went to the store!

We unearthed the package of fairy lights that Hannah gave us and hung them around the ceiling perimeter. Can’t wait till full dark so we can see the effect when we plug them in.

….    Two more days have passed and we are still at “Pointed Rock”.  The threat of a big rain storm has passed (what we got was like somebody threw a cup of water at our windshield and that was it), so we have now moved further into the dispersed camping area, away from the big road.  Two other camping rigs are here as well.  One family has two little kids, maybe 2 and 4 years old riding their bikes out on the dirt road.  It was lovely weather yesterday.  I actually got out my camp chair and sat in the sun.  But today is windier and partly cloudy.  I walked on the dirt road in a big loop throughout the area to get some exercise.  We have a sporadic cell signal here.  Sometimes it says we have 4 bars of service, other times we have 1 bar.  Don’t know why the bars change when I don't move location.  There is a huge cell tower just a few miles down the road, so can’t figure it out.  (Not for me to understand, I guess.)

We found the shoes in the photo here near the fire ring.  They were filled with rocks, so we're assuming they were left on purpose in case someone needs a pair in that size.