Visiting Patton's Museum

Visiting Patton's Museum

We're boondocking in a “wide spot on the road” called Chiriaco Summit. It is about 50 miles east of Palm Springs, CA in the high desert. The local attraction is a museum honoring General Patton. It is also next door to the south entry to Joshua Tree National Park.

Today Gene toured the local museum honoring General Patton while Sandy remained in the rig doing financial books and surfing. (This morning was cloudy and I knew it was not going to be a real solar day. I assumed that it would be generator time this evening and told Sandy to surf away.) So this evening we ran the generator for an hour to charge the batteries plus Sandy could use the microwave oven to help make dinner. She loved that.(and so did I.)

Yes, I enjoyed touring the museum, but it isn't a real barn burner that I had expected. The one thing that came across was that Patton's defensive strategy was very simple, just keep charging ahead. Don't give the enemy time to organize against you. It was not mentioned, but I'm convinced that had Patton been running the show, there would not have been a “Battle of the Bulge”. His troops would have engaged the Germans before they were ready.

While here, we're planning to meet up with an Air Force classmate for lunch in Palm Springs, half way between where we're at and where he lives. It will be an interesting lunch, as we have had no contact in 50 years until we called him last winter. There will be a lot of catching up to do.

Obviously, we're intending to tour Joshua Tree N.P. How long we stay here is also not set yet. In other words, we have no schedule. From here, we're heading south to the Salton Sea, and some nearby sites. We have a rally in Yuma the second week of March, so there is no hurry. Also, the weather has been very nice (with a rumored chance of rain tonight.)

Gene