A Grand Adventure Begins

 June 16 - 20, 2025 

Tombstone - SoCal and back

Last year I brought Ezra and Elliott to Tombstone for a week in July and the drive was crazy hot - 118 at all our stops! So this year I was smarter and planned it for June. Only 113 at our single stop :-(((. Spring Break may be a better option from now on! Making just one overnight stop enroute was easier, and definitely the way we'll do any from now on. The boys are seasoned travelers, and no problem at all both in the car and at our stops. But those temps are very limiting for two under 10, and an old dog. No comment on the old woman. 

I get an early start Tuesday morning with the audio book of the Pulitzer Prize winner - James by Percival Everett. It's excellent and I highly recommend the audio if you have the opportunity. No traffic and light construction, it's a pleasant drive on I-10 West. I've decided to take I-8 with the half-way stop in Westmorland, CA. I don't know why but this route always seems faster, and definitely the highway is much nicer to drive. It is a lot more remote though, a consideration in this heat. 

When I was a teenager I learned about my ancestor Olive Ann Oatman (my maiden name). The small-ghost-mining-town-turned-tourist-stop named for her is near Laughlin, NV, and I have been there several times. In a past post I included what I thought (had known all those years) was the location of the tragic murder and abduction of my ancestors. In looking for places to visit on my solo run to SoCal I came across Oatman Mountain near Gila Bend. What? A very small amount of research leads me to the real location of the real event. Just northwest of what is now Gila Bend is the plaque for the Oatman Massacre, the Oatman Family Gravesite, Oatman Road, and Oatman Mountain. Wow, I gotta go there!

It's already 111 degrees when I arrive in Gila Bend before noon. The visitor center is poorly marked, but I find a parking spot by the door to avoid hot pavement for Tessa. It's a small and nicely curated museum. And it includes confirmation of the locality of my family history. 

They've done a nice job of including a lot of history in a small space.

With the exception of the location, the information is the same. The cut outs are from newspaper and magazine articles. 

California's Imperial Valley is not visually appealing, but it competes with the Central Valley for agriculture. The whole area has always smelled like alfalfa to me, although many other crops grow here too. And its small farming towns have always been ugly hot in the summer. My destination in is one of those towns. Because Westmorland has the Town Pump, and the  the most bestest steaks! Better than any we've had in Texas, Kansas or anywhere else. With a hotel with an indoor pool around the corner, it's a good option for me and then for all of us on the return trip.

Nearly 150,000 acres of alfalfa grow in Imperial Valley.

Perfectly prepared and delicious.

  

Wednesday morning Tessa has me up early and that means I can take a couple detours. First I check out the area of all the Oatman sites. All require hikes which I'll return to in cooler weather. I do drive out to a petroglyph site which is nicely developed with covered picnic tables, restroom buildings, and well maintained paths. From the parking lot I can see Oatman Mountain.

I'm impressed with the artistic details and numerous information plaques.

My namesake mountain, now home to local radio towers.

It's fun to visit some places from earlier times. I'm happy to have the time to just mosey for a bit. Like many memory lanes, there is much the same and much different. 

Water in the middle of the desert sounds like the perfect opportunity for recreation and lovely residences. At one time, this was true for the Salton Sea between Coachella Valley and Imperial Valley. Today it is a blighted combination of shuttered businesses, sad and crumbling (there are some exceptions) homes, and unmaintained infrastructure. 

At one time the community was welcoming.

Sadly this is now the first thing you see.

Lots of this.

Before the name Coachella meant huge music festivals, it was just another agricultural area of California. Since 1920 the area has maintained up to 10,000 acres of date palms, and the date crop is abundant today. Like many areas in California, there are also many acres of citrus, although a significant number are for sale and look neglected. 

Many beautiful orchards line the highway.

All the clusters will soon be covered with paper cones to protect the dates from birds.

Farming in your future? Lots of citrus orchards for sale here.

While they're clearly still getting water, the trees haven't been pruned for at least a couple seasons.

It's been many years since I've taken the once familiar route through Palm Springs. In my early years Mom and I loved "fancy" shopping here. Bill and I attended my senior prom here. My sons and I were here monthly for movies and shopping during the years we lived in Joshua Tree nearby. 

A well-known desert city, it's easy to forget Palm Springs is tucked against the San Joaquin Mountains.

A decades-old icon.

The newer library complex.

Lots of different palm species throughout.

Bob Hope's home on the hill. He was living there when Mom and I made our visits to the city.

Vintage Motels

Modern Hotels

The highlight of the trip for Tessa - lush green grass in the shade!

Smoketrees were Mom's favorite, especially when covered with their beautiful purple blooms.

On the way out of town I pass a recreational area known as Palm Springs Beach - a large expanse of sand dunes alongside Snow Creek. I was there once on an ATV. Very fun! 

Another 100 miles and some SoCal traffic, and Ezra texts me that he's waiting out front of his house for me when I'm about 20 minutes away. Yay!! It's so wonderful to see the whole family and spend the evening catching up with their lives. In the morning we transform the Ford Escape into our summer-adventure-mobile, and I discover I've forgotten the play bags I spent weeks putting together for them!! I am much more upset about it than the boys are :-) They'll have them for the return trip, but still.....

They lucked out when adopting kittens a couple years ago - Enola and Frog are just the sweetest cats. No other family pics taken :-))))

In the middle of all this fun I get truly sad news that we've lost another blogger-friend. For years Jeff was usually the first to comment on my posts. His memory of previous events involving Bill, Ezra and Tessa has always been amazing. He shared his own adventures whether solo or with his lovely wife Fran in Ruffin' It With Rufus, the most recent just two weeks ago. His passing was sudden, unexpected, and while out exploring as he always loved doing. It doesn't matter that we never met, Jeff will be missed, and my heart goes out to Fran and his family.

Breakfast burritos to go and we're on our way!

 

More traffic than the day before, but we're soon in the desert under hot and hazy skies. A stop at Hadley's for treats echoes stops with my parents at Ezra's age. It's a new building, but in the same location with all the same (and more new) goodies. It's a nice leg-stretch for all of us, then we're on our way. 

At 2:30 we check in to the same Westmorland hotel I checked out of the previous day. The little indoor pool is perfect for playing out of the intense sun and heat. The jacuzzi sounds good after all the driving, but is too hot to enjoy. The boys have a ball with the pool to themselves. Before we can get dried off and return to the room, Tessa misses the corner and falls in the hot jacuzzi! I jump in after her (of course she can swim, but it's sooo hot!) and get her out quickly. Scares the crap out of me, she's much more fragile these days.

It's steamy warm, but so nice to be out of the sun!

But apparently Tessa feels baptized? For 30 minutes she is bouncing and running and playing like a pup. Kicked my ass, but invigorated her! I'm grateful she's fine.

Post-swimming hair-do.

Eventually I get a bed.

Always time and space for cuddles!

Pizza delivered, some kid TV, and a good book then we're all asleep early. Out of the hotel before 8:30, a quick Starbucks stop, and back in the remote desert. The boys' dad told them they'd be passing through Tatooine (Star Wars planet) today, so when we arrive at the Yuma Dunes I make sure Ezra sees the area, and tell him the story of coming upon Jabba's Barge (from Return of the Jedi) being built in the dunes while out playing in a sand-rail many years ago. So fun to share with another generation, such a great memory.

Coffee for me, pops for them.

An alien desert planet.

6.5 hours is a long drive and these boys continue to be absolute troopers. Not a single complaint or whine or cause for concern. We make a couple stops for leg stretch, food, fuel, potty breaks, and at 3:30 we pull into the garage in Tombstone. Summer camp is officially open!!

Yeah, we're tired.

At two months, Magnolia enjoys her first cross-country flight.

Half the grands enjoying time together - I love it!