Stock image #etun0037

It was the end of a glacial night spent in the trunk or my rental car, on a designated camping area in Joshua Tree National Monument. An uncomfortable, but highly instructive cultural experience: tuck in my sleeping bag, I woke up in the middle of the night when a flashlight was directed at me through the car's window. As it finally appeared, the man behind the torch was a park ranger, unhappy about the fact that there were three cars on a space meant for two: one car had to be parked elsewhere, or leave the park. Mine was the second vehicle to come and I had checked with fellow campers that it was fine for me to park there, so another poor pal had to move his car. He found an empty authorized spot... about 20 meters away.

When the day broke, I was miles away, photographing this sunrise on the cholla cactus garden. And still wondering which of the cactus and the human is wiser.