A Most Remarkable Twenty-Four Hours, Part 2

Memorable days sneak up on a traveler. There’s no way to plan for them. In all the planning, you can highlight a place or a day of driving, and they nearly always live up to the anticipation. But then there are those you can’t account for—days when you’re not expecting much of anything. Many times, a travel day is just that and little more.

When we left Tucson, the first day’s drive excited me. We were headed to Joshua Tree National Park, visiting Frank Capra’s grave and staying at one of our favorite hotels—Desert Hot Springs Inn.

What was unexpected was how deeply I would be impacted by the next drive--from Joshua Tree to Red Rock Canyon. Morgan, my desert-writing friend, threw some knowledge our way via a podcast before we were even out of Tucson. It was the catalyst for an unforgettable experience.

I somehow overlooked that John Muir spent time in the Mojave Desert. Helen, Muir’s younger daughter, suffered from respiratory problems her entire life. I knew they spent a few winters o…