Through the Central Valley and into the Southern California desert

(I'm posting this posthumously because I didn't have internet connection at our hotel in 29 Palms...)

I am much happier today. Why? Because I'm in Joshua Tree, one of my favorite places. Or more specifically, I'm currently in a really neat place called 29 Palms Inn on the border of Joshua Tree National Park. I love this area of California so much. I feel so peaceful here. These little bohemian desert towns down here feel like home to me. 

I am certain that I will live in the Southwest again someday. The next time I will live in the desert though. I like to picture myself as a long haired old hippie desert lady like Georgia O'Keefe. I will wear flowing purple dresses and chunky turquoise jewelry. There will be art all over my little ramshackle adobe and Spanish tiled home. I will give names and personalities to the various cacti growing outside my house. I'll definitely bring our daughter here before then. I think she will enjoy all the odd plants and climbing on the boulders in Joshua Tree Park. 

Anyways, let me tell you about our very long day. After a terrible free hotel breakfast, we hit the road around 9 and headed south for Los Angeles. We had to get to the Palm Springs Penske office before 5 to pick up a tow hitch. We wanted to wait until we were out of the bad traffic of SF and LA before we attached the car to the truck, since it's hard to maneuver in heavy traffic.

  

We drove for about 7 hours today. The first part of the trip was through the agricultural central valley past towns like Bakersfield. Mile after mile of fruit and nut trees. This is where all your food is grown. The only thing came in on my radio was mariachi music or religious ranting. We stopped several times for gas and bathroom breaks. I love how so many of the gas stations out here have independently run taquerias inside them. Yum. I didn't do much thinking as I barreled down the freeway. It was blissful to just zone out. I can imagine long haul truckers must get into a very Zen state of mind. 

We drove through a mountain range before hitting the endless sprawls of L.A. Mile after mile of suburbs. I started picking up more interesting radio frequencies and listened to a talk show about quantum angel healing, whatever that is. How Los Angeles can you get? 

Onward we drove, past the L.A. suburbs into stretches of desert populated by mile after mile of massive windmills. We hit a crazy dust storm in Palm Springs. We were only outside the Penske office for a few minutes in the storm, but I got a lot of sand stuck in my eyes and throat. The Penske office was literally rattling from the high winds and there was a fine coat of dust on everything. The employee told us she was having terrible sinus headaches from all the sand she'd been inhaling. Since the winds were so bad, we cancelled our tow hitch reservation and decided to pick one up in Phoenix instead.

It was around 5 at this time and we decided to spend the night somewhere in the Joshua Tree area. Mike did a quick internet search and found a listing for 29 Palms Inn in 29 Palms. We decided to stop by and check it out. I'll write more later after I catch up on my sleep!