(Daniel) Earlier in the year in Goreme, central Turkey, I had met Kalyanee and David, two wonderful people, who live in San Francisco.  I had planned to visit them, but the distance to San Fran proved too much for our schedule to allow.  At the time, they had strongly recommended a place call Joshua tree, a desert town with a national park, the whole area was named after the unusual looking yucca that grows everywhere.  This strange relative of the Orchid family thrives in the hot dry climate, and apparently looks uncannily similar to a sesame street monster!

Before heading out of LA, I had a visit scheduled to an LA based Off roading shop called The Expedition Exchange.  This was to look for some essential parts, the most important of these was a set of Relocation cones, a standard requirement on the Defender as the springs are able to articulate, literally this means that they pop out when the wheel is at it’s farthest reaches.  Unfortunately, because the angle of the spring at this stage is oblique to the vehicle, the spring does not simply pop back, instead it requires a time consuming relocation, which after happening many times has started to bother me!

Inside the Expedition Exchange, I was greeted with rows of parts, equipment and boys toys.  However, although stocks were high, the choice seemed to be somewhat limited.  When I asked the man in attendance for the Relocation cones which I had so desperately needed, he simply told me that they were useless items, and he didn’t stock them.  I then got myself into a very strange conversation about how much pressure is exerted on the wheel when it is dislocated.  Being somewhat caught by surprise at the single mindedness of his statement, I found myself struggling to think.  All I knew was my countless experiences had shown me that the articulation helped my traction, and that the spring popped out of place.  Here was this chap telling me that I had fitted the wrong suspension, and that any articulation is a waste of time.

If he is reading this now, (and I warn those who are not interested to skip to the next paragraph.)  Here is the answer that I should have given at the time.  The weight of the vehicle is applied to the articulated wheel by the leverage of the other wheel being pushed up.  The whole axle is suspended on a ball joint that sits dead centre of the setup.  This means that the force pushing down on the wheel that is resting on the ground, is being distributed to the other wheel also.  How anyone can think that a wheel that is sitting on the ground has no traction is a complete mystery to me.  I can’t give you facts and figures to back this up, only the countless examples that I have experienced along my travels thus far.  This is the very purpose of articulation and fixed axles!

Having left the Expedition Exchange, disappointed and confused, we climbed back in the car.  The town of Joshua Tree was three hours drive away, we had an address and local directions, having already booked a nice looking bungalow online.  So with Nick navigating we entered the gridlike streets of LA, finding our way easily to the highway leading out of the City towards the desert and inland.  The huge highways themselves were a sight to behold, a full twelve lanes across, with a car pool lane, that required two people or more in the vehicle to qualify, hardly a car pool in my eyes, but a fact that forced me to look around and realise that almost no-one else on the busy roads had a passenger in their vehicle.  The traffic itself was an unforgiving beast, with no one ever considering to allow access to a vehicle.  But at the same time, accelerating to battle ready to attempt a lane change.  After driving in some of the worlds most chaotic cities, I was unfased by the intense numbers and speed of the highways, but my smaller vehicle did mean that ‘confident’ maneuvering was occasionally challenged by the larger 4x4 vehicles.  At a fuel stop, a man that we spoke to briefly mentioned that the average household in California actually had three cars! For a driving enthusiast like me a situation that I would love to be in one day, perhaps a sports car, a reliable classic and an Expedition prepared vehicle.  But what would the world be like if that situation was the average?     

As we left the city, the huge spread of low level buildings gave way to arid desert, wind turbines stretched off into the distance zigzagging along the ridges of the hill strewn rocky landscapes.  Apart from the odd warehouse building the area was devoid of habitation. 

The tiny town of Joshua Tree had a distinctly ‘Old West’ feel.  Not wild, but simple, with a few shops and essential business’ lining a single street.  Smaller side streets led off into the desert, with sporadic houses, all different, but all built to withstand harsh weather and high temperatures.  As we drove through I spotted a sign for ‘Guns & Ammo’  which, helped by a few white bearded old men sitting in the shade, seemed to finish the picture.

Our Bungalows were harder to find than we thought.  The owners had taken the name, Spin and Margie’s Desert Hideaway to heart, and literally hidden the whole place in an oasis of Desert plants.  Several small cottages sat around a parking area with horseshoe throwing and Boules courts at the end.  The places were painted in wonderful bright desert colours, which beamed in the midday sun.  Speaking of which, we hadn’t left the car since Los Angeles, and had drive the whole way with windows shut and Aircon blasting.  As I stepped out of the car for the first time, I was hit by a wave of hot air, but rather than breaking me out in a profuse sweating, the heat seemed to dry my skin almost instantaneously.  Sapping my energy noticeably at the same time.

The owners had a policy of not meeting their guests, they simply prepared the rooms, and left them open for us to arrive.  Evidently no-one else was staying in the other rooms either, as the whole place seemed abandoned.  Our place was apparently large enough to sleep all four of us, as I opened the door I was stunned to find a beautiful cottage, tastefully decorated, and stocked with books, videos and music.  The swamp cooler was blasting cool humidified air into the place, instantly refreshing our frazzled bodies.  We sat down and rested for a while, enjoying the wonderful place.  The main room, led through to a kitchen, complete with supplies, presumably left behind by other guests.  After the kitchen, double doors opened to reveal a luxurious sea coloured bathroom, with pristine fittings, and expensive products in small bottles.  To think that this was the cheapest place that we have stayed in the USA so far!

After relaxing, we headed back into to town, where we ordered lunch at a Thai restaurant that made up fully 25% of the towns eateries.  Then stocked up on some more supplies for dinner as well as plenty of drinks, then headed back for a night of videos, planning and watching the nights sky over the desert.

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