Dates: 10JAN-14JAN2026

Locations Visited: Surprise, Buckeye & Scottsdale AZ, Palm Springs CA & Joshua Tree National Park

I took a 1-week solo van trip while Tracey was away in India. My initial itinerary included Scottsdale,  Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree National Park, which is one of my personal favorites. We try to get to this national park about once a year as it is so close to our home. I received an unexpected call that my brother and my nephews were going to be at my parents in the Phoenix area around the time of my planned trip so I decided to leave early for this trip so I could see my family before heading off on my originally planned adventure. Overall, it was a successful solo van adventure which included visiting with family, a few hikes and lots of cycling.

Surprise and Buckeye, AZ (Day 1):   The first day consisted of driving to Surprise for the visit with my family. After 10 miles of driving, I received a warning light on Tofu that there was no air in my rear driver’s side tire. This was startling but the van didn’t feel unsteady so I pulled over to the nearest spot and quickly checked the air pressure. The air pressure was fine on the manual gauge so I double checked the Ford App and it showed that it was not getting a reading from this tire so I surmised it must be the tire pressure sensor which turned out to be a correct assumption. I continued and drove the rest of the way to Surprise without further incident. The traffic was extremely heavy with numerous accidents and it took me much longer to get there than it should have.

The visit went great as it was nice to see my extended family and we even had a photo-op session at the end of my visit. I met my parents’ dog, Bentley, for the first time and after he was ready to eat me alive upon my arrival, he did eventually warm up to me. It was great hearing about my nephew Tyler’s new working life in Chicago and my other nephew Alec’s teaching trajectory.

I camped at a nearby campground in Buckeye that night. I had the misfortune of having to ask a homeless car camper to exit my pre-paid spot as she believed it to be empty, as I had such a late arrival. I offered to let her share my site with me but she was too embarrassed and quickly left and I felt horrible about it. I slept well that night once I got my heater fired up as it was a very frosty night in the 30’s.

Buckeye and Chandler, AZ (Day 2): Since I camped at the Skyline Regional Park in Buckeye the previous night, there was an interesting 4.5-mile loop hike which left directly from my campsite. I grabbed a hiking pole as the sun was coming up and I hiked the loop trail which snaked up to a beautiful lookout spot at the mid-point and I had some nice overall elevation gain. It was a great morning workout. I had planned to drive to Palm Springs that morning, but I received a last-minute invitation for a group ride the following day in Scottsdale so I extended my stay in the Phoenix area an additional day to attend. I made a last-minute reservation for a nice low-key HipCamp in Chandler and I therefore spent the afternoon cycling the smooth and not busy roads at White Tanks Regional Park.

Palm Springs & Palm Desert, CA (Day 4): I got up early around 6 am and left promptly for the long drive to Palm Springs knowing that I would lose an hour with the time-change to PST from MST. I stopped after about 1.5 hours at a rest-stop to eat my breakfast and make some tea. I badly missed my co-pilot, Tracey, at this point who normally does most of the driving and I was going to have to do all the driving on my own this trip. I pushed on and stopped in Quartzite for some cheap gas knowing this was my last chance before the California priced gas prices kicked in. I ended up arriving around lunchtime in Palm Springs so I headed down to Palm Canyon which is on a Native American reservation and made myself some lunch before attempting the extremely popular Palm Canyon hike. I had to park about ½ mile from the trailhead as there is this bizarre rock outcropping in the middle of the road right before the main trailhead parking and I didn’t feel like Tofu would fit. Even the guy at the entrance booth suggested not parking in the trailhead parking area and instead parking at the RV parking lot which was a very cool old forgotten gas station.

I hiked the 2-mile (which ended up being 3 miles due to my long-distance RV parking lot location) out and back trail through the palm oasis which I really enjoyed. The palm trees were massive and there appeared to be thousands of them. Little known fact was that they are hard to burn down as they are protected from fires by their design. I also found some amazing giant-sized Coachella medjool dates at ALDI for only $3/bag which was a major bargain and I went back for more bags the following day.

In the afternoon, I drove to my HipCamp for check-in. The HipCamp was in Palm Desert on the outskirts of town and accessed via dirt roads. The owners were former teachers and have turned their 3-acre property into a small campground. There were 4 campsites, an outdoor propane shower (which I used and needed) and a porta-potty. I was the only camper on the 1^st night and the hosts gave me 5 full pages of small font printed rules which I didn’t feel like reading as I was very tired from a long day of travel. Once I was able to break free of the overly talkative Host, I finally settled in and had a nice dinner. The HipCamp was quiet except for loud coyotes in the middle of the night which I enjoy.

Palm Desert & Joshua Tree National Park (Day 5): I learned from my planning that the main entrance to Joshua Tree NP was closed and there was road construction which meant the first 5 miles of the entrance road would be car-free. I decided to head up to this area since it was only a 45-minute drive from my campsite. I drove to the north side of the park and parked in front of the National Park Visitors Center where I bought my annual pass (which sadly had Trump’s ugly mug printed on it) as my current pass had expired. I then rode my bike up to the construction area which was 5 miles with no cars but sadly the road was in bad condition and needed some serious attention so it was not that enjoyable.

On my way to Joshua Tree, I noticed the Black Rock Canyon Trailhead which was quite near the first campground Tracey and I stayed at in Joshua Tree back in 2012 (where we also rented DVDs from a local grocery store back then). I hiked the 3-mile Panorama Loop trail which I had hiked on previous visits and remains one of my all-time favorite hikes. Normally we hike right from the campground, but this time I drove Tofu on a 1-mile sandy and bumpy dirt road to get to the trailhead. After the hike, I headed back to my HipCamp where I took an extra-long propane powered hot (almost too hot) shower before bunking down for the night. This HipCamp had free wi-fi which came in handy as my cell signal was not strong. The campground also had a euro style dishwashing station which I took full advantage of to save my fresh water. There were a few more suckers checking in and they looked as miserable as I was when checking in since the check-in process was so long and cumbersome.

Joshua Tree National Park (Day 6): I was finally able to leave this bizarre HipCamp with so many rules and head to Joshua Tree National Park for a full day. I drove to the 29 Palms entrance since this was the closest entrance to my campsite at the Jumbo Rocks campground which I found to be surprisingly empty. I couldn’t believe there were no Park Rangers at this entrance as it is the only entrance open on the north side of the park. Furthermore, I didn’t see a single Park Ranger my entire visit, which is unheard of, but seems the norm in this day and age when the Park Rangers have been thinned down by federal budget cuts. I doubt anyone was buying a park pass to enter the park since there were no checks at the gate.

I was lucky and my Jumbo Rocks campsite was vacant early when I arrived around 10 am so I was able to set up early and enjoy the views of the large boulders and Joshua trees. The weather was perfect at around 65 degrees and sunny. I had an early lunch and I went on a 26-mile bike ride to Keys View which is one of my favorite rides as there are not many cars which go down this dead-end road which ends at an amazing overlook.

After my ride, I went to the Skull Rock loop trail which was about 3.5 miles. I have done this hike before and found it highly enjoyable. I didn’t hike any other trails as I didn’t feel like driving and many of the trails were closed due to the construction on this side of the park. Interestingly, I saw dogs on this trail which are forbidden within the park (except the campgrounds) which confirmed for me how little the national parks were being policed by the Park Rangers. Also, for the first time ever after visiting yearly for 15+ years, I saw RVs “stealth” camping  in the trailhead parking lots which I have never seen before in Joshua Tree National Park as they are usually extremely strict about the rules.

Drive Home & Unpacking (Day 7 & 8): I had planned to stay one more day in the Joshua Tree National Park, but it was so windy that I didn’t feel comfortable riding my bike in those high winds so I decided to make the drive back home instead. In addition, I had already been gone for 7 days and I was ready for the creature comforts of a house and I also wanted to get the annoying tire sensor fixed so the alerts would stop going off every 20 minutes.

I arrived home safely in the early evening and the following day after 3 hours waiting at my local Ford dealership, the tire sensor was replaced and I was on my way to get Tofu washed, fueled up, and placed safely back into their indoor climate-controlled storage cocoon.

Overall, it was a remarkably successful trip with lots of biking, hiking, tasty food, and relaxing campsites. I didn’t have any significant issues to deal with driving or inclement weather although the first few nights were a bit cold, but my Webasto heater did its job and I slept well. I always forget how well-built Tofu is for a self-build and that it has all the comforts I really need. The fridge is massive compared to Chickpea (our Europe van) and the overall amount of storage in this van is quite impressive. I brought every piece of bike clothing I owned and it barely filled the overhead storage space. I survived the week with only 10 gallons of water which I used for drinking and for my dishwashing. I only ate out once at Chipotle and I cooked all my meals in the van. Well, I mostly just reheated the frozen meals Tracey had pre-prepped for me before she left for her trip to India if I am being honest. She always leaves me plenty of food so I never go hungry. She takes exceptionally good care of me as I eat like a King when she is gone, even though she feels bad for me having to “cook” for myself. Our freezer is always full of perfectly portioned soups, homemade burgers, and other tasty delights for my choosing. I would absolutely do a solo trip again if the opportunity presented itself as being way more fun than I thought it would be.

Up Next: This will be the last van trip in our winter local Arizona road trip series in Tofu before we take our Spring road trip in this van in mid-April from Arizona to Toronto, Canada. We plan to leave the van in storage in Toronto while we fly to Europe to spend the summer exploring France, Sweden and Norway in our other van, Chickpea.