Okay… so when the Talking Heads were kind of at their peak, David Byrne decided to make a movie called ‘True Stories’, and the whole band shows up in the film at one point or another. Wild Wild Life was kind of the hit single from the soundtrack. Here’s an odd bit of trivia – the band Radio Head actually took their name from the song ‘Radio Head’ from that soundtrack.
But enough about the Talking Heads for this week. The real question on America’s mind is, where’s Nico?
Joshua Tree National Park!
This place was full of music references in my wheelhouse. Not only do I love the Joshua Tree album by U2, but just to the north of the park is a town called Twenty Nine Palms (a title used in a really good Robert Plant solo song) and to the southwest is San Jacinto (a title used in a really good Peter Gabriel song). The highest point at Joshua Tree overlooks Coachella Valley, where just a week ago, the Coachella Festival was held. However, I’m about three decades too old for the Coachella Festiva to be in my wheelhouse.
Enough on the music, though. Let’s get to Joshua Tree National Park, and how we got here.
Last I spoke about our whereabouts, we were at the lovely Coconino National Forest. We left there to spend one night boondocking just north of Phoenix. I realize this may sound like a strange stop, given this whole trip has been about nature and hiking and all that. But Phoenix had one thing we really didn’t want to pass on – Pizzeria Bianco! If you’ve never heard of this place, it’s the brainchild of Chris Bianco, and the place has won the James Beard Award, which is like the Oscars of food. Yes – a pizza place won this! And deservedly so – the pizza was amazing!
The next day, we drove out to a spot to boondock at Ironwood National Monument, which is fairly close to both Saguaro National Park and Tucson. Saguaro was really nice – the variety of cacti there was amazing, and many were in bloom this time of year. Saguaro only allows dogs on a handful of trails, and we did all of them. I will say, this park has good cause to limit the trails for dogs, because basically any insect or reptile that can kill you on this planet seems to reside in this area. The dog-supported paths were all quite wide, which let you keep your dog from getting his nose down some scorpion hole.
Overall, while we saw several snakes and lizards, we didn’t encounter any scorpions or tarantula hawks or anything like that. The closest we came was a couple of velvet ants that came through our campsite. I had never heard of a velvet ant before, but they’re about an inch big and from what we’ve learned, apparently it packs a whopper of a bite. Nico was quite curious about them, but luckily we pulled him away before he got a chance to experience that bite in person.
About once a week, the three of us have a day that is mainly filled with chores. We clean the camper, do laundry, hit the grocery store, and whatever else we need to address. That day came when we first arrived at Tucson. The way we usually roll, I drop Kristen off at a laundromat to wash our clothes and sheets, while Nico and I get groceries and gas and whatever other odds and ends we need. In Tucson, it worked out that all we needed were groceries, and they even had a Trader Joe’s a mile or so from the laundromat (I’m a big fan of Trader Joe’s!). After the grocery run, I headed back to Kristen, who had an interesting go of things at the laundromat.
I won’t go into too much details in the post, but imagine a joke where it starts out “Kristen, a tweaker who danced by herself for no apparent reason and with no music playing, a prostitute, a woman engaged in a full conversation with herself, and a guy who covered his face with Jesus tattoos walk into a laundromat…”.
In any case, no one hassled us in the least, and yes, police showed up, but everyone was fine.
But please don’t think that somewhat unusual afternoon is a reflection on Tucson. I’ve been here a few times in my life and always had a great time. And in our last full day in Tucson, we had a chance to head down to Borderlands Brewing to meet up with two wonderful folks I went to high school with, Steve and Dolores. We had a great time catching up with them!
The next day, we closed up shop and headed to Joshua Tree. I had never been to Joshua Tree National Park before, but had always heard really good things about it.
Today, we went through the park – I’m glad that I’ve had a chance to visit it, and I loved seeing the trees and the yuccas and the cacti. There are a few trails where dogs are allowed, and we enjoyed getting a bit of a walk in with Nico. That being said, I don’t think Joshua Tree is a place you’d ever need to plan more than a day at. But, like I said – I’m glad we got to visit!
- – Ken 4/30/2024
Where’s Nico? 
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