Palm Springs Thousand Trails Preserve, Palm Springs, CA

Friday, March 2 - Left Yuma around 8:30 am and traveled to Palm Springs to a Thousand Trails Park. It was very full and you had to wait for someone to depart to get a space and back the rig in. Very tight spaces, especially for our RV, motorcycle, and the GMC truck. The park was built back when the RVs were much smaller and there were no slides to contend with. They had over 400 Date Palms planted in the park and now many years later, the trees may be beautiful and provide plenty of dates annually, but they are a hazard for big rigs like ours.

The fashionable resort city of Palm Springs is situated at the base of southern California's Santa Rosa Mountains, just south of Interstate 10, at the westernmost extension of the Sonoran Desert (also called the Colorado Desert). This upscale desert city sits at the foot of 10,000-foot Mt. San Jacinto, in an area long famous for its hot springs. Known for 354 days of sunshine and less than 6 inches of rain annually, winter temperatures average in the 70s with nights in the mid-40s. The dry desert heat of summer pushes daytime temperatures to the 100s, a special joy to Europeans. Today it is the site of many winter tourists, Hollywood productions and golf tournaments.

Tuesday, March 6 - Drove from Palm Springs RV Park to Catalina Spa & RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs not too far away from Palm Springs. Beautiful park, if you stay in the top level where they have more spacious, modern sites, social hall and swimming pool, and the v

Views of the mountains and sunsets are beautiful.
Wednesday, March 7 Went to Palm Springs to the Mary Pickford Theatre to see the new

movie, Wild Hogs, with John Trivolta and others. Funny film.

Ray's Reflections: Everyone knows about Palm Springs with many streets named after celebrities like Bob Hope, etc. To the west end of Palm Springs Valley, I rode the bike through an amazing site, hundreds of very large windmills producing electric for the area. It looked almost alien to see so many in one area. I was headed for Idlewild RV Park at the top of the Santa Rose Mountain at 7,100 ft. southwest of Palm Springs. The ride up the north side was very exciting with all of the twists and switchbacks, and NO guardrails. There were a lot of crotch-rockets running the mountains fast and hard. After I stopped and talked to several other riders, they informed me between two to four bikers per month don’t make it. Some of the road sides drop 500 to 1,500 feet, almost straight down.
The tree line starts at about 5,500 ft. When I reached the top, snow covered the ground about two feet deep with patches on the road. I was thinking how crazy was this, a guy from Florida who has never dealt with snow his entire adult life, riding a motorcycle on a snow-plowed road. I carefully turned around and headed back the same way I came. After four or five miles, I saw five Harleys pull out from a pub in front of me while two others were still getting their gear on. I fell in line behind the five and shortly the headlights of the other two were rapidly approaching me from behind. Just at that moment we passed a State Trooper with radar on the road side. The last thing I saw in my mirror was flashing lights and two bikers pulling over. What is that saying “don’t drink and drive” or is it “don’t drink and ride”.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
We had appointment in the park to discuss membership and also had the on-site installer put on our Sunguard Solar Shades on the front and side windows. This gives us privacy in our RV as we now can see out and no one can see in, plus the shades block 94% of the sun’s heat, light, and damaging UV rays. Protects the dash, front seats and curtains. Eliminates glare as well.
Friday, March 9, 2007
We took a drive to Palm Springs to take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
We had a great time taking the famous Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up to Mt. San Jacinto at (8,516 ft). Many locals embark on this adventure in summer to enjoy temperatures well below the triple digits experienced down in the valley. We took the tram up the still snow-capped peak of Mt. San Jacinto 10,804 feet high.
The tram has a 360 degree view – built in 1963 and features the steepest vertical cable rise in the US and second steepest in the world. 2.5 mile trip from the Valley Station takes less than 15 minutes. The pictures of the valley below (Palm Springs and surrounding areas) was spectacular! Ray and I did feel the altitude sickness although we were both drinking water like crazy. They have a fine dining Peak's restaurant at the top with an incredible view and since we went in early we were the only people there – great service and we both felt we would come up again when if we return next winter, but take the tram at night to see the cities below.

This picture is from the tram of one of many wind farms in the valley.

At the top of the tramway.

http://www.pstramway.com/. Construction of the Tramway was an engineering challenge and was soon labeled the "eighth wonder of the world.'' The superlative was earned because of the ingenious use of helicopters in erecting four of the five supporting towers. Some 20 years later, the Tramway was designated an historical civil engineering landmark. More than 12 million people have been safely transported by the Tramway into the majestic mountains overlookingC oachella Valley.

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