Parks and Paths: "It doesn't matter how the paint is put on, as long as something is said." -- Jackson Pollock

Johnnie Hastie and the 29 Palms Stage, Tim O'Connor, 1997.

Check out the world renowned murals from Twenty Nine Palms. Murals are a great way for towns to showcase artists and promote the arts. You also can learn a little bit about the town and it's history. The mural above is of a 1929 Chevy truck, modified by John Hastie. He provided public transportation until 1973.

Valentine's Day John Pugh, Los Gatos, CA, 2000
An artist Falls asleep while painting a mural and dreams about the cattle days in Hidden Valley in Joshua Tree N. P. Valentine is the bull who has a white heart shape on his head.
Everytime we went by this I did a double-take. It really looked like someone was lying on the scaffolding, but it was really just part of the mural.

The Flying Constable Jack Cones, Tim O'Connor, Twenty Nine Palms, 1996
In 1932 Cactus Jack became the flying constable patroling the area, and continued for 28 years.

Flash Floods, Art Mortimer, Los Angeles, CA, 1998
Prior to a flood control channel built in 1996 water would race down the mountain and flash floods would occur in town.

Desert Wildflowers, Dan Kelly, Yucca Valley. CA
Flowers in the Mojave Desert.

Our Neighbors in Nature II, Larry and Nancy Cherry Eifort, Port Townsend, WA, 2006
This mural of the wildlife of the 49 Palms Oasis is located at the Visitor's Center in town. This couple painted a previous desert scene in 1995 which had faded.

Road Runner and Lizard, Chuck Caplinger, 2007

Along the northeast border of Joshua Tree National Park lies the towns of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and Twenty Nine Palms. The towns' borders basically connect and span 30-40 miles or more.

Yucca Valley has a population 21,000. There you'll find a hospital, Walmart and most of what you would need.

The town of Joshua Tree, population 7,400, contains the West Visitors Center and preferred entrance for Joshua Tree N. P. It is very spread out. Lots of artsy things going on in a town that mostly looks like it did in the 60's. We didn't make it to the Noah Purifoy Sculpture Garden where junk is turned into art, but it was on my list. Next time!

Twenty Nine Palms, population 26,000, is where our RV Park was located. It has the North Visitor's Center and main entrance for the National Park. It is the home of Wilson Air Force base and the Air Ground Combat Center. The largest Marine training base is here. The town is known for it's world class murals and artists.

Our week here has ended and on Sunday we must move on. I am kind of sad. I enjoyed the park, the area and had more to see. It's not on my list to live at when we are done traveling though. I have had the worst allergy issues here, to the point of being sick. This appears to be the case at all of the desert locations we have visited. So, not to go in with a preconceived notion, but I don't have high hopes for the first 2 months of our winter "hibernation."

29 Palms RV Resort. Twenty Nine Palms, CA

Saturday was packing day but we took a couple of hours to visit Joshua Tree's Indian Cove, in-between Twenty Nine Palms and the town of Joshua Tree. It was a small area not far off the main highway. We drove through the large campground areas and walked on the nature trail. On the way back to our RV we checked out some of the murals in Twenty Nine Palms.

From the nature trail we had a good view of a solar farm near the town of Joshua tree

We toured several, but not all, campgrounds at Joshua Tree with a purpose. Pat, Chris, and I camped at one of them in 2001. That was the year we followed the Missouri Rolla Solar Car Team to Clairemont, CA. It may have been our first stop after. I have a few not-so-great pictures but no clue as to which campground. Google lens named a couple it could have been but we still don't know. People probably thought I was a stalker going around talking pictures of people's campsites!