tuscon to california

My last week in Tucson was completely packed.  Tuesday after work I was taken out to dinner by Daniel and Alice, joining Les and Sharon (all members of Tucson Chinese Baptist Church) and the volleyball team on which both couple's kids (twenty-somethings) play.  It was a good time hanging out and saying good bye.

Wednesday evening I drove out to Saguaro National Park East.  There's an 8 mile one-way driving loop that I took, enjoying the desert on the other side of Tucson.  I didn't have enough time to hike, but did get out of the car to check out a few scenic spots.

probably the tallest saguaro i've seen

first time seeing the flower of the hanging chain/ chain-fruit cholla

another gorgeous sunset

Thursday was my last day at work.  I got off at lunchtime after going through my final review, since my CI McHaley was leaving then anyway.  I went for a run and then made sure my stuff was all packed up before going to meet Kelly (another friend from TCBC) for my last dinner in Tucson.

me with mchaley right before we left

after dinner with kelly

The next morning I slept in a bit and hit the road by 9:45.  I drove I-10 up through Phoenix and across toward California.  Once into California, I passed a town called Desert Center.  The one thing that stood out about the place was that all the palm trees looked as if they'd been decapitated!  It looked as if a tornado had whipped through and ripped the tops off of all the trees.  I finally got around to looking it up online and learned that Desert Center was founded in 1921 by Stephen Ragsdale, an eccentric cotton farmer from Arkansas.  The palm trees were planted in 1990 by his son, Stanley Ragsdale, because "he said he always wanted 'a tree-ring circus.'  Since his death in 1999, the trees have fallen into disrepair and many have died," according to Wikipedia.  The town is also the birthplace of the Kaiser Permanente medical system.  Yes, I bring you more completely irrelevant information!

I stopped for gas at Chiriaco Summit.  Who knew that stopping at a podunk town to fill the gas tank could be so interesting?  It turns out that the little town of Chiriaco Summit is the home of the General Patton Memorial Museum and the "West Coast Vietnam Wall" as well as a collection of military vehicles, antique weaponry, and classic cars.

chiriaco summit classic car garage

general patton memorial museum

west coast vietnam wall

ed hastey memorial vehicle park

I rolled out of Chiriaco Summit and shortly turned off I-10 onto Cottonwood Springs Road into Joshua Tree National Park.  There was a trail called "Bajada Trail" about half a mile in so I stopped and walked along the trail and learned quite a bit from the informational signs.  Several miles further in, I came across a ranger station and asked for a recommendation with minimal time available to check out the park.  I was told to drive another mile or so to Cottonwood Springs Oasis and walk around there, and also told I didn't have to pay the $15 fee since I wasn't staying long.  I took a short hike from the oasis down a wash.  It was beautiful, and pretty cool to see the funny little (there weren't any big ones there) Joshua trees.  It turned out to be just a 16 mile detour, well worth it.

dead tree along bajada trail near the freeway

cottonwood springs oasis

one of the bigger joshua trees i saw

beaver tail cactus

I continued on from Joshua Tree and ended up at Sarah and Vince's place in Los Angeles, where I spent two nights and reclaimed the stuff I'd stored back in March.  More on LA in the next posting...