California & back to Arizona

We retraced our path and headed back to Tucson, it's perplexing how a place, which is just an assortment of buildings and natural elements not much different from many other places, can captivate a person but we are both drawn to Tucson.  We drove up to 'Old Tucson' where many movies were made but didn't do the tour, instead we opted for a drive to Gates Pass. Denis made his pilgrimage to the aviation boneyard and we visited the site of the only remaining Titan II missile (during the cold war there were 54 of them, 18 each in Arizona, Arkansas & Kansas. We went to the St Xavier mission and spent a day downtown, I went back to the Old Town Artisans while Denis toured the Presidio. There was a different volunteer during Denis' visit (to the Presidio) than mine, this man looked like the undertaker from an old western movie. He was very tall, dressed all in black with a very pale complexion and he followed Denis around. We rode the trolley and had a nice lunch at the historic train station.

Titan II missile, not secret any more

From Tucson we headed southwest to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a whole lot more cactus! We spent a night in Ajo, a former mining town, but now a pretty depressed area. After consultation with the weather network we headed back to Yuma for a night and then on to El Centro, California. Notable because the area is 200+' below sea level. It was raining and we didn't see much to reason to linger so we headed north along the east side of the Salton Sea. Between Niland & Indio we happened upon a hot spring resort, not fancy but the water was awesome and we stayed for 2 days.

Kind of weird, looking up to sea level

We continued up the Coachella Valley to Palm Springs, actually 9 small cities make up the greater Palm Springs area. We didn't realize how much we were missing green until we got there, with 100+ golf courses there is an abundance of trees and grass. We were going to ride the tram but it was 24 F and a foot of snow at the top so we decided to forego that opportunity. Since we missed the view from the tram we drove up to Vista Point for a spectacular view of the valley. There are more windmills than I've ever seen at the end of the valley heading towards LA, I tried counting them but there were too many. We enjoyed a visit to Cabot's Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs and an evening at Babe's BBQ & Brew Pub. 

We found a comfy adobe seat at the Pueblo Museum

We dropped the trailer off in Joshua Tree and  toured around the Joshua Tree Park, very interesting scenery. There is a lot of rock climbing in the area and very common to look at a cliff and see people like spiders clinging to the rocks. Then we headed east again, across the Mohave Desert from 29 Palms to Parker, even though you have confidence in your vehicle it is intimidating to see a sign that says no services for 100 miles.  I had not pictured any part of California as being that desolate.

Skull Rock in Joshua Tree National Park

Back in Arizona and on to Lake Havasu, Denis ultimate goal. We have walked over, under and around London Bridge. The weather has been around 100 F and warm evenings as well. Denis soaks up the sun and I stay in the shade. We haven't been much bothered by the fact that it's spring break and a lot of college students are in the area. Music across the channel is 'all about the bass' but they seem to shut down by midnight so it hasn't been disruptive.

We saw a lot of people in swimming attire, but this guy is the only one who got wet!

London Bridge from the island

We are setting out towards Sedona and hoping the weather is favourable, it was cold and snowing 10 days ago.