Joshua Tree National Park and short stop at Kofa Mountains

6.10. Today an oil change is on the agenda for Carlito. A free car wash wouldn't hurt either. In addition, Starbucks offers us coffee and internet. (So you can also get a plain black one, I wouldn't have thought it possible!) We drive through hundreds of wind turbines towards Joshua Tree Natl. Park. It impresses with granite blocks piled up to hills and of course the trees that give the park its name. We climb two hills and overlook the Hidden Valley, the most beautiful part of the park. We cook ourselves again, being in nature and cooking in a pan is quite different from dining in a restaurant.

7.10. Joshua Tree is a huge national park and it takes about 1.5 hours to leave it on the other side. On the way, we visit the Cholla Cactus Gardens. There are beautiful and densely growing specimens to admire on a short circular path.

With a short stop at Taco Bell (free water and wifi without ordering anything, crazy) we end up at the foot of the Kofa Mountains, a really beautiful mountain range where we want to hike. Unfortunately, it is incredibly hot and there are no hiking trails at all. So we decide not to take the risk of climbing Signal Peak and drive to Crystal Mountain instead, where you can apparently legally search for and keep various minerals. (Limited to 5kg per person) But even here, there are no signs and we don't know where the collectible zone begins and if we are even in the right place. So the total of 1.5 hours of driving on gravel roads is not crowned with success.

We continue towards Sedona, but we don't make it all the way there. In a small village, we ask the saloon for overnight accommodations. A man at the bar who was deployed in Germany in the military and therefore speaks some German, drives with us to a forest road where we can stop and sleep anywhere. But the road is too bumpy and we have to turn around in reverse and park at a truck stop on the other side of the saloon. Nevertheless, it is a good place to stay overnight and we sleep well.