CA. The whole trip to Palm Desert, CA through the desert was hot and dry.
It was so hot and dry even these palms didn't survive.
We finally crossed the summit and headed down into the Palm Springs valley.
It was a nice easy drive but I was glad to arrived at Palm Springs Thousand Trails Resort, Palm Desert, CA. Hopefully it will not be as hot as Earp, CA.
We picked a nice pull-thru site.
This campground is loaded with Date Palms which are all around us. The Dates have just been harvested and the Adult Center is being used to sort the dates. There are other date farms in the area which we have toured when we were here last time.
This is a nice area and although the temperature is not 111 degrees it has still been in the 100s the last couple of days. Today it is 104 in shade which is still pretty hot although not as bad as 111. The rest of the week looks better though because it is suppose to be in the 90s. I think we arrived here about a month too soon. Oh well, we now know better and will get here later next year. The Air Conditioner in the Winnebago is sure working hard to keep us cool.
The campground is pretty empty because most people arrive late in October, not like we did in the middle of the hot season. From October on this place is full of "Snow Birds" for the winter.
Although there is not much activity here Bev heads for the Recreation Lounge every morning for "Walk Fit' and "Line Dancing". She is all alone but doesn't mind it as long as she can dance. You know that I don't line dance, I tried but just can't learn the steps.
Yesterday September, 18th we jumped on I-10 and headed west in the car to Riverside, CA to get our flu shots. Our health insurance only pays if we use the Minute Clinic at CVS and the closest one was in Riverside.
As we passed through Palm Springs we passed by the massive windmill farms literally covering the whole area. The days of Palm Springs being a scenic area have passed unless you like the sight of all the windmills. There were also large arrays of solar panels but we didn't get any photos of them.
Look at the palm tree. OH, it's not a palm tree it's a cell tower disguised to look like a palm tree. How clever.
We drove through farmlands and mountains as we headed west to Riverside, CA.
I don't like driving on the interstates but it was the nearest place to get out flu shots.
While were in the area, it wasn't to far to our next campground; Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails, Menifee, CA which we will be going to in 3 weeks; so we dropped by to check it out. It looks pretty good and the temperature was a lot better than in Palm Desert.
That was enough driving around so we headed home. I was sure glad to get back to the Winnebago and relax after all that driving.
That's enough of where we are now, it's time to show you the sights of some of our travels when we were still in Cottonwood, AZ. While in Cottonwood we were in the middle of the most scenic country around and didn't have to drive far to see it.
From Cottonwood we picked up Arizona Highway 89A and headed south towards Prescott, AZ. through the historic town of Jerome which sits on a mountain. The road is a good climb with a lot of curves but the scenery is fantastic.
As we drove through the mountains we were in the Prescott National Forest.
This is looking north towards Cottonwood.
Remnants of an old mine on the hill.
This area is open range and the cows roam free so drive carefully, it would ruin our day if I hit a cow (not to mention the cow's day). This guy was thinking "what are you looking at!".
On another day we headed north on Arizona Highway 89A through Sedona on to Flagstaff, AZ. Sedona is just a few miles from our campground in Cottonwood and is one of the most scenic towns ever.
While in Sedona Bev checked out a bead store but didn't find anything she liked. It was the fastest trip into a bead store she ever took and I was surprised to see her back at the car so fast. (However that did work for me.) On up the road to more scenery.
Our drive took us through Red Rock County up over the mountains to Flagstaff.
Below, you can see the winding Highway 89A we drove up the mountain on.
The Cottonwood, AZ is such a scenic area and the temperature is very moderate. It isn't as hot as Phoenix, which is to the south, and really doesn't get very cold in the winter. Cottonwood is in the lower mountains and if it does get snow it's gone by noon (so they say). This is such a great place to live Bev and I could hang up our keys here if we ever decide to get off the road.
That's enough "eye candy" for today. We have a lot more of our travels in the Cottonwood area to show you, like our trip to the Grand Canyon and a trip over the mountains east to Show Low, AZ but I will save that for another blog.
Now that we are in the desert for the winter we sure don't have the scenery but we want to stay warm so here we are. (A month early I might add.)
See you on the next blog. Remember to click on the photos to enlarge.
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