February 24, 2025

By Simon J. Lau

First day of this trip visiting Joshua Tree National Park! There’s been a lot of talk about federal employee firings due to DOGE, and while I can’t say for certain whether people have actually been let go, I did notice it took much longer to get into the park. That said, they were also doing construction on a new entrance, so that could have contributed to the delays. Hard to say.

Today was fairly leisurely—I put in 60 miles. I didn’t quite make it to the Twentynine Palms entrance, but I covered a lot of the park. Since I’ll be here for the week, I didn’t feel the need to see everything in one day.

I also made a feeble attempt to create marketing material for Brothers B, but nothing came out right—it was all blurry. It’s tough to take good photos while motorcycling, and I often forget that. I’ll have to try again later when I drive out with the car instead.

In the afternoon, my parents let me know they had to put down their dachshund, Clover. She was 16 years old. We weren’t particularly close, but my parents loved her, so I was sad for them. Rest in peace, Clover. You were loved.

After work, Jean and I took a stroll behind our Airbnb. It backs up into the mountains, and we climbed to a spot where we could see the valley. It’s a very different part of Joshua Tree than we’ve explored before, and I’m happy with this location.