After Leaving Joshua Tree NP we drove to Indio, CA which is near Palm Springs. The first day in Indio we just relaxed and did our laundry.
The next day we took a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tram. Sandy and I were in LA to visit the Lazy Daze factory in July of 2004 before we ordered our first 2005 Lazy Daze. We made a trip over here to ride the tram. But to our disappointment, it was closed for one of the three or four days a year for scheduled maintenance. It was one of those days when the temperature was over a hundred degrees, so we had to settle for a cold beer and headed back to LA. This time we were happy to see it was operating so we took a ride.
When riding the tram you go through 5 unique “life zones”. The first zone is the Sonoran that extends to 3,500 feet. From there you travel through the Upper Sonoran Zone (3,500 t0 4,500). The third level is the Lower Transition (4,500 to 5,500). Next is the Upper Transition (5,500 to 7,000). The final zone we traveled through is the Arctic/Alpine at the 7,000 to 10,834 level. Now with that said, because we were going up a rock canyon, the only thing we noticed until we got to the top was that it got colder; it was a cool 34 degrees.
Here we are driving up the canyon road to the tram.
This is one of the original tram cars from when it opened in September of 1963.
This view is looking back at the base station as we head up the mountain. The new cars rotate 360 degrees twice on the trip up the mountain.
There was a little snow on the way up as well as at the top.
The 10 minute ride begins at the elevation of 2,643 feet and reaches the top at an elevation of 8,516 feet.
The views overlooking the mountain and Palm Springs are spectacular.
Mount San Jacinto State Park is on top of the mountain with 54 miles of trails. Only tent camping sites are available.
This is looking at the tram car coming up to pick us up. The two cars are attached to the same cable so as one car is being pulled up, the other car is going down.
Here we are going down and meeting the car going up at the halfway point. The ride was very smooth except for the little “bumps” going through the support towers.
Sandy looking bright on the way down.
After I saw how these water bottles collapsed from our trip down, an idea came to my mind. As I get older and more wrinkled I am just going to keep moving to a higher elevation so my body expansion will keep me wrinkle free. Of course I could also stay where I am and just get fatter. Maybe I will just live with the wrinkles.
After we showed that well-done RV restoration in the last post we thought we should show what happens when you mate a Volkswagen minibus with a school bus. Kind of messy, huh? But what can we say, it gets them on the road.
The main reason we stopped in Indio was to visit our friends Bob and Dorothy whom we originally met in Cave Creek, AZ in 2009 and then by coincidence saw them again a couple weeks later at the Tiffin Factory in Red Bay, AL. They invited us over for dinner which was great. After dinner they showed us the best way to get up to Lone Pine and then over to Death Valley where we are going in a couple of days. Bob and Dorothy are pointing out the beautiful scenery along the Eastern Sierra Nevadas along Highway 395.
I think this an HO gauge train set that Bob had set up on the kitchen island. He is trying to figure out a way to carry it with them in the motorhome and as I am typing this up an idea came to me. Probably not a bright one--but an idea none the less. Bob, have you ever seen a Trek motorhome where the bed is suspended from the ceiling over the front captain chairs? Maybe something like that would work. Sorry about that Dorothy.
The following pictures are from the drive from Indio to Agunaga, CA along highways 74 and 371. There were lots of tight turns on a long steep upgrade across the mountain grade. We went to Agunaga to have a upgraded charge controller put in the motorhome.We stayed at the Jojoba Hills Escapees RV Park which was a very nice park.
On the 18th we are heading to Death Valley to spend a few days. This will be our first time there so we are looking forward to it.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
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