Several years ago we drove through the Mohave National Preserve and Lee has always wanted to stay there. But since cell coverage is less than minimal we haven’t had the opportunity until I took the week of Thanksgiving off. It’s been years since we boondocked in such a remote spot so Lee did his research in advance finding three different GPS coordinates where we could possibly stay. Unfortunately the first of the three sites was blocked off, and another was already full of vehicles so we kept traveling until we hit the third spot past the Kelso Dunes.
I’ll be honest it’s still scary for us driving the fifth wheel on dirt roads when we don’t know where we are going. The second car helps with that because we can park the trailer and drive it or I can drive ahead, but without cell coverage you don’t really know if you could end up in a situation where you can’t turn around. Plus it was at the end of a very long travel day and we were losing the light so I was ecstatic when I found huge site with a campfire ring exactly where it should be.
We knew that this was a prime spot and someone else could come in so we intentionally parked facing out, and unfortunately the second night a small travel trailer pulled in late. Then a third one came in and since this is public land not much we could do about that. It is a little disconcerting though to wake up and see someone new in the site and although they all seemed fine I will say that we discovered our trailer license plate was missing after we left the area. Not sure if it fell off or someone took it but that is going to be a pain to replace.
That being said we spent our daylight hours exploring the preserve and it is a big one! Make sure you tank up on fuel because the distances are really far and gas in the area is super expensive. We had to pay $8 a gallon at one point! Because it was off season a lot of the places were closed but we drove all the major roads and enjoyed the differing views. One of the things I found the most interesting was that different sections are different kinds of desert. There is a large group of Joshua Trees to the north and even a section of Saguros in another area. I never see those two together so I looked it up but I couldn’t find out why. If anyone knows please put it in the comments.
While we were inside we saw the Amboy Crater National Natural Landmark
The Kelso Depot (an old train station) which was unfortunately closed for renovation
And the Hole in the Wall campground which was beautiful and had an open ranger station! This would be a really great campground to stay in especially for star gazing but keep in mind generator hours end at 7pm.
My favorite spot in the preserve though was a World War I Memorial which was in a gorgeous piece of desert. Totally worth the drive as this are was really special.
In addition to the preserve we traveled to the outer edge where it borders old Route 66. Although a major portion of the road was closed because a bridge was out we did get to explore some of it. One of the coolest things was Amboy where the historic Roy’s is in the process of being renovated. It is an iconic Route 66 place and Lee absolutely loved it. Albert Okura (owner of Juan Pablo restaurant chain) actually bought Amboy for $480M dollars and paid $100K to restore Roy’s. As a side note there is a large buddha statue by the side of the road in the desert. Really interesting.
Other small towns included Ludlow and Baker. Since they are on the major freeways they have some services and they all have a mining history.
One of the strangest things though was a huge Alien themed jerky store. This is on I-15 on the way to Vegas so they must get enough traffic to support the cost. Cool place I love this kind of stuff.
Oh and we also saw the world’s tallest thermometer. Seriously it doesn’t get better than that.
All in all it is a really interesting area, but you definitely need time to explore it all. I will say though this is not a place to just wing it because the distances are great and the terrain is unforgiving. Definitely come prepared!
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Camper Chronicles 
all cool areas. We stayed at Hole in the Wall a couple years ago. Fun hike there. Nice you made it there. Not many do.
You should consider getting a set of walkie talkies, you can still communicate between two vehicles even where there is no cell phone coverage.
Yep we have them