Adventure 129: Palm Springs (Cathedral City)

That orange you see is the last of eighty four degrees.

The Wily Cager stood over me like Mohammad Ali lording over Joe Frazier. My limp spirits riddled by unlucky cards, I had to ask for the consolation hug from the winner of the Lake Havasu Open. We're tied (I think) overall, but the defeat was as bitter as the Lake Havasu City water.  We left the Ellsworth RV park about nine thirty after Mike fixed us breakfast (Again). I knew he was talented, but I didn't know his talents included short order cooking. Our trip through the Mohave Desert was uneventful and even a little surreal. It's been very interesting to watch the desert flora change  from Texas, through New Mexico to Arizona, and now Palm Desert. By far our favorite section is where the Saguaro Cactus grow. Today's section along Highway 62, which stretches along a southwest diagonal from Lake Havasu to I-10, was spectacularly bleak. White sand, scrubby short bushes, and harshly beautiful mountains dominate the landscape. About twenty miles from Palm desert along I-10, the road crests at about two thousand feet, and suddenly a panorama of irrigated green expanse opens before your eyes. It's stunning (And a bit dismaying) to see so much lush green (Much of it in the form of Golf Courses) suddenly appear, especially when you consider that it's completely artificial. Should the apocalypse begin with the drying of the Colorado River, the southwestern resort communities from Tucson to Palm Springs will resemble the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. Fortunately, I haven't (Yet) been charged with serving on any water distribution boards. I do seriously wonder whether we will develop enough of a hive mind to realize our peril while there is still time to reverse global warming. This is a place where I give myself over to God's plan, and He hasn't confided in me as of yet. But by way of visions,  I did have awfully disturbing nightmares last night. I have quite a bit of subconscious angst working in my head right now. It surfaced in what I call "Edumares". Every school year about a week before school would start, I begin having nightmares about unruly students, my inability to be effective in the classroom, hostile administrators, and uncomplimentary parents. These "dreams' would shake me awake in cold sweat fear. Needless to say, they weren't as pleasurable as the Muslim martyrs dreaming about virgins. The bottom line (As I use my Holiday Inn degree to analyze) is that I'm suffering from the reality that I can't control the events around me. I hate that part. I'm about to enter into a tense couple of weeks. None of it will be fun; not much will be happy; there will be little acceptance; and likely, not much healing will take place. Suffice to say, many of the folks (My relatives) I'll encounter next week do not share my mantra (Life is good, especially today). They think life sucks, it's someone else's fault, woe is me, yada, yada. I also had a maddening visit on the phone with my father, who absented himself from our lives when I was twelve. He managed to raise the hackles on my neck with a few choice judgments of my sister. I felt a little bit like a grizzly, and I found myself asking, "Yea, well, where were you?" Those of you who believe in prayer, and those who light candles, and those who can send Karma, please do. I need it and my siblings do, too. Well, I've enjoyed just about as much of this whining as I can stand, so back to the travelogue. We tucked Fric and Frac into a very nicely appointed storage unit in Cathedral City. We're under cover, out of the heat, dry, and as safe as can be expected. We'll keep Fric and Frac here until things are resolved in Seattle. We were quite amazed to look at the USA Today weather map this evening. Palm Springs is the only orange (84 today) spot in the country. We hope the rest of the country can make it through safely, especially those areas unaccustomed to inclement weather, but for us and many of those here in Palm Desert, life is good, especially today.

  
Hard to believe it was just eighty degrees. I can't imagine a trip here in summer.

 Much of the road rolled like a small circus roller coaster. Whoop-de-doo!

 Along one side were telephone poles. Along the other were names (Hundreds of them) formed in rocks (Some brightly spray painted). They were placed along the berm that supports the railroad tracks. I wondered. What were these people doing out here? Maybe walking across the Mohave is some sort of rite of passage. Only Wikipedia knows.

 A Mohave rest stop.

 We didn't have much company, but we did have some.

Frac tucked safely into his temporary home. Fric will join him tomorrow.

 We chose this newly remodeled hotel near downtown Palm Springs merely for the name. They are marketing this sixties building as a niche resort. It's amazing what you can do with some neon paint and a little advertising. We're loving it!

 Art shot of the day: The side of the hotel.

 Less than a mile from the oldest part of downtown Palm Springs, this reconditioned sixties structure is enjoying a new run.

 The lobby.

 Our bed.

 The Bunny just outside the Flamingo red back door.

 Our thin gruel for the night: cheese, crackers, salami, oranges, apples, dried tomatoes, and girl scout cookies for dessert. Yummy! We cleaned out the refrigerator in Frac just in case we run out of propane before we get back and things spoil.