The last three postcards, including this one, arrived after our friends returned from their road trip. Even though they mailed all three postcards from California, the postcards took longer to arrive home than our friends! LOL
The back of this beautiful card reads, "The Joshua Tree is not really a tree, but rather a tall yucca. They are found throughout the Mojave National Preserve. The Joshua Tree got its name from Mormon Pioneers who thought the trees resembled the Biblical character of Joshua with his arms raised toward heaven."
Our friends wrote this below the caption, "Hi! On the way home -- the scenery still pretty -- the flowers etc. This will be the last card. So will see you Monday or Tuesday! Til then --"
Here is a map of the last leg of the journey [a bit over 750 miles] from [A] Elk Creek, California to [B] Astoria, Oregon to [C] Tacoma, Washington. Check out the links below to learn more about these stops and some of the other places mentioned.
Once they hit Oregon, it began to feel like home with the rain and grey skies and cool breezes. Goodbye desert -- heat -- and sunshine! Hello damp Pacific Northwest! They stopped in beautiful Astoria to visit family and to break up the grueling drive, but otherwise wound their way up Interstate 5 without any problems. They were glad to be home and we were happy to know they arrived safely and without incident.
The only little annoyance they experienced was with their GPS. Each night they would remove it from the car and take it in to the motel with them. One night it was accidentally dropped... ooops! It didn't work very well after that, in fact, it was rather screwy. It didn't resort to giving directions and commands in German again, but if they had followed the instructions, they would have gone off in the wrong direction more than once. Luckily, they didn't have to rely on the poor thing because they were familiar with the final stage of the journey and really had no need for it. Get on I-5 and keep going North -- easy!
Thank you so much for following their progress across half the USA and back again. I enjoyed the postcards and messages so much and hope you did, too. I'm inspired to load up the car and hit the road. Maybe the next time I post a road trip here it will be my own! At any rate, if we do get away, I hope it's as smooth and enjoyable as this road trip to Oklahoma has been for our friends. :)
For more information: Mojave National Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park, Joshua Tree [plant], California, Elk Creek, Oregon, Astoria, Washington, Tacoma, previous postcard in series.
Have fun exploring!
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