We arrive in San Diego.

Yesterday, though largely unplanned, turned out to be pretty darn exciting. We really liked the KOA in Banning for it's peaceful setting, wonderful vistas, and quiet nature. But we can't recommend it since they don't have decent WiFi. They do have WiFi, but they only let you use it for one hour in each 24 hours, which is just draconian and stupid. Usually KOA corporate emails me for comments on our camp experience and I intend to complain about the Banning KOA's silly internet policy.

We left our camp in Banning around 9:30 a.m. and headed east on Interstate 10 toward Palm Springs. Incredibly enough, even though I grew up in Southern California, I had never been to Palm Springs. Concetta had never been there, either, so we were both excited to take a look. I assumed it was probably a sleepy resort town full of 50s-era, rock-roofed houses and lots of sandy acreage.

The first place we stopped was the visitor center on highway 111 on the western edge of town. The center was housed in a converted mid-century, futuristic gas station that looked like a concrete bunker with a giant jet aircraft wing growing out of the roof. I've never been a fan of mid-century architecture, but the visitor center was pretty darn cool. It was there we learned about the possibility of riding the aerial tramway to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. Quite by accident we had stumbled on the one thing I had always wanted to do in southern California as a kid and had never gotten to do it. And, even more astonishing, the road to the bottom of the tramway ran right beside the visitor center. So, after buying the requisite T-shirt for Palm Springs, we hoped in the ol' RV and started up the mountain.


Wow! That road was pretty darn steep. I think we did most of the climb at thirty miles an hour and, eventually, in the lowest gear. When we finally reached the parking area we looked out over the half-filled lot and saw absolutely no motor homes. I wasn't sure they were going to allow me to park at all. But the attendant just pointed to the far end of the lot and said, "just put it over by the trees and take two spaces if you need to." Neat! No hassle at all. Since she had indicated that we park well away from the cars it was easy to maneuver and park and I could let the rear end hang way out over the brushy mountain slope, which meant I didn't take up the whole thirty feet of length in the lot.

Camera in hand, Concetta and I walked back to the parking lot entrance and we were soon boarding the shuttle bus for the final climb to the lower lodge. Even though we had probably only climbed a thousand feet from the valley floor, the scenery was already stunning. Vast fields of tall, white windmills whirled in unison way off in the distance and Palm Springs looked a lot like a giant Rand McNally map laid out before us.

Once inside the lodge we queued up to buy our tickets and then wandered around the grounds for thirty minutes while we waited for our turn on the tram. The trams have been modernized in recent years and now have a carrying capacity of 80 people. Not only that, but the cars are arranged so everyone gets to see everything as you ascend to the top of the mountain 6,000 feet above you. They do this by having the floor in the cable car revolve. It feels a little weird at first, but the floor is constantly moving so that one minute you're starring down the mountain toward the lower lodge and the next minute you're looking up the long, long cable way to the very top thousands of feet above you. You do about two complete revolutions in the ten-minute ride.

Everything about the tram ride is smooth and comfortable and in a short ten minutes you find yourself in the upper lodge. Naturally the temperature has changed about forty degrees from that of the Valley floor. But we didn't find ourselves minding at all, though we were glad we brought long-sleeved shirts when we ventured outside onto the patios and trails around the lodge. The air up there is so clean and pine-scented and the sun so sparkling bright you just immediately fall in love with the place.

After soaking up all the mountain air and sunshine we could, we jumped back on the descending tram (they run every ten minutes) and headed back for the RV. Our plans for the day involved reaching San Diego and Concetta's cousin, Angie's house where we planned to stay for a few days. Only trouble was, by the time we finished lunch it was early afternoon and we'd only traveled about 25 miles from our morning camp in Banning. I figured that we'd be most of the rest of the day getting to San Diego. So, we topped off the gas at a nearby station, put our murder mystery CD in the player and headed for the open road.

Since our route involved driving through much of old Palm Springs I was pretty surprised when it differed from my mental image of the place so drastically. I was expecting something fairly small and quaint. But there's nothing small about Palm Springs. It's HUGE! And, there are a couple of other towns that meld right into it nowadays. Lot's of expensive cars running around like Bentleys and Jags, manicured landscaping that you normally expect in Beverly Hills, mile after mile of shops of all descriptions. We were just amazed. Lots of hustle and bustle in the business district, gated communities for the rich folks, and everything looks pretty opulent.

Soon we came to Route 74 running towards San Diego and we made our turn and started our climb out of the desert and into the mountains. Pretty hard climb to the very top, but certainly picturesque. Once on top it was an easy run down the other side of the mountain to where Route 74 intersected Route 15. Thankfully, the traffic going south toward San Diego was light and we had an easy run to Angie's house.

Last night Angie cooked up a big batch of great Italian food and we were surprised when more cousins popped in to shared our visit. We drank lots of wine, I retrieved some Sambucca and Nocello from the motor home, and none of us got to bed until well after midnight. Pretty darn nice day and another grand adventure.