Trip to Joshue Tree

This is the third time I have tried to go to Joshua Tree and didn't make it. Incident 1 was when me and Kim drove cross country and almost pulled off the road to go and at the last minute didn't. Incident 2 was when I went to Coachella and had time to go after, but ended up getting sucked in to being lazy at the pool. Incident 3 was Thursday.


Me and my friend Laura from Philly who is visiting took a day trip out to Joshua Tree. It was a beautiful day, about 85 degrees, perfect road trip weather. We are about 20 miles away from Joshua Tree and we stop for gas in a little town called Morongo Valley. We get gas and then notice that my car has steam coming out of it.
This guy tells us to go down to Leo's Automotive which we do and we end up being at Leo's for the rest of the afternoon, never making it to Joshua Tree.




Leo's was like the Twilight Zone. The mechanic's daughter were sitting in waiting room watching Mickey Mouse cartoons that I haven't seen since I was 25, I mean 5. We met an 88 year old Cherokee Indian named mom. And then we perused the cactus shop next door which had three roosters.



Eventually we found out we wouldn't be able to drive my car anywhere and Leo couldn't get the parts for 4 days. So we had to call AAA who towed us 120 miles back to LA. Only after a brief 2 hour detour to Palm Springs to drop off another car. It was lunacy. But my car is fixed now and all is well.