All I can say is thank the lord for the Internet-- I learned so much from Wikipedia about this area that saved Lynda and I the trip there that would have left us totally despondent, after the 300+ miles that we drove through the most inhospitable part of the USA---so many good places there have to be some that balance that.
So to the trip itself and I wont dwell too much on this except to put a couple of photos up for you too see how bleak it is---
Between parker and Palm Springs the landscape is like this for the best part of 200 miles.
And we got a rattle---yeah a rattle, where everytime I hit 50 MPH, something was rattling in the back of the car--and try as we did we couldn't totally find what it was , although I had my suspicions that it was perhaps the rear number plate---anyway I tightened the 2 bolt/screws when we got to the hotel in Temecula and we will see if that was it but irritating or what.
Anyway, this whole thing with Salto Sea--- so it all stems from flooding that took place back in the 1920's and this was stopped when they built the Hoover dam.
However the endeavours of others to turn this are into a recreational area---taken up by Sonny Bono of sonny & Cher fame--and now pursued by his widow.
The results of all the mishandling of this area and its ecology are below---
Apparently there is a Saltant level of 4.4 % and this is higher than sea water and kills 99% of all the fish.
I read an article from a visitor there who likened it to the Apocalypse or hell for the smell of rotten fish, the salts and apparently there is radioactivity there as well----all in all a place that we should not have even considered
So the old internet pushed us to select to come to Temecula in California---and this is the only time on the whole trip since Rod and Ann left us in Denver that I said that I wished my mate were here and with his Map Book---loads of detail in there that our maps did not have.
Lynda and I got to Indio, CA ok, but the instructions that I had written down were not the best in terms of scale---everything is bigger and longer in terms of real distances and so we came off the I-10 ok but totally misjudged the distance to getting on to the 111, and then again on the otherside of the mountain to get to Temecula---I had forgot to tell the navigator that I had put directions on 2 pages and not just one. Anyway, we found them, as we have almost always been able to do----
Harvesting the palm dates we think in Indio
This is the Posh Indian Wells--home of movie stars and the tournaments in tennis and golf
Just to prove that we did find it----
And finally arrived at Temecula and even managed to fall out with the navigator regarding the old town, but we got through that--well we were so freaking tired anyway.
So went went downtown and found this great restaurant called the Gambling Cowboy, had a great meal--probably scared the locals as we were hungry but not very talkative---worth a try if anyone is ever in the area----
So that's , a long day, with stretch relationships, with great food and with tired bodies and very very hot weather---
But we got through that and great loves and relationships do that--so here we are this morning ready for a quiet day around the town of Temecula and a swim later and then on to vineyards tomorrow--wine tasting, now there is a very good invention from someone for a pastime--- Come on Engerland
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