Across the Desert

We spent yesterday in Palm Springs, the highlight of which was lunch with the mayor.  Lisa Middleton is the first transgender non-judicial elected official in California.  She was a delight to meet, and I felt inspired to continue telling the story of my own journey to wholeness.

(My memoir, In Between, is available on Amazon, and the film, Strictly for the Birds, is available on iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, GooglePlay, and Vudu.)

Today we headed north across the Mojave Desert.  Our first stop was to charge the car at the Tortoise Rock Casino in Twentynine Palms.  We charged the car but didn’t participate in any of the games it offers.

Leaving the city we passed a sign: NEXT SERVICES 100 MILES.  And off through the desert we went.

Most of it was a two-lane road winding around, with lots of quick dips to let the water drain across the road on the rare occasions when there is water to drain.  

We stopped at the Kelso Depot, which is in the middle of the desert.  It was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad.  There’s quite a grade coming up west from the Colorado River, and the railroad would take off the helper engines before the train continued to LA.  Kelso was a boomtown during World War II, transporting tanks and other vehicles, plus steel-making material that was mined nearby.  (I forget what it was.)  Now there is only the depot and the two-cell jail (for drunks and other unruly persons). Both are maintained by the National Park Service.

It all is very different than Oregon or, for that matter, most other places.  It has an odd beauty.

Then we plunged through Las Vegas to head toward Salt Lake City and points north.  We were glad to stop for the night in a motel that has air conditioning.