I'm off to see the Wizard

Well, it's off to La Quinta today!  That's a drive on highway 60 I could do without.  I'll head east for 10.5 miles until I leave Moreno Valley behind, then a quick sprint through the Badlands jockeying for position on a narrow, winding, up and down 2 lane death trap until, after 4 miles, I emerge on the other side.  Then there is a quiet stretch of another 4 miles until I come to the connection with US 10 at Beaumont.  From there, if I can overlook the roadside garbage, I can enjoy the view of the majestic Mt. San Gorgornio on the left and the equally majestic Idyllwild on the right.  This section of the drive is called "The Pass."  During the Santa Ana wind conditions it can be very windy here.  I have seen the Goodyear blimp being blown backwards in the pass and I know that, on several occasions, it had to retreat until the winds died.  In the pass you get your first glimpse of the wind farms and that monstrosity erected by the privileged Morongo Indian tribe, the Morongo Casino!

By the way, it's been a while since I've seen that Indian produced, revolting television commercial showing white men on horses stampeding through an Indian village.  The horsemen are depicted slashing and burning in what the Mission Band of indians calls an attempt to exterminate the indigenous people of the San Bernardino Mountains.  I was affronted when I first saw that commercial and immediately went to the California State Archives to see what was going on in that area in those years.  What I found out was that the State had to organize a "Mounted Light Cavalry" to protect the settlers that were arriving here.  It seems that, after a long and arduous trip through Apache territory, the local Indian tribes would set upon the hapless and exhausted travelers to steal their remaining goods, and many travelers lost their lives in these skirmishes.  Of course, that part of the story wasn't being told.  Just one more case of history being slanted to show the white man as the villain.  I wonder how much this will cost me in "Affirmative Action."

Anyway, back to our trip.  The pass section is 21 miles, after which you emerge into the Southern California desert near Whitewater and the junction of highway 111 that will take you to Palm Springs, if that is your destination.  If you look to the right you will see a vast rocky expanse.  This is where the Witewater River sinks into the ground, to be seen no more.  It's kind of like a huge sump.  On both sides of the highway are more wind farms.  From here, unless you like sand, the next 25 miles are sheer, wake me up when we get there, boredom.  After what seems like an eternity, I will come to my off-ramp at Washington Street.  Now it's only a short hop of 3.5 miles through residential streets until I arrive at my destination.  La Quinta is a beautiful community but it is so remote that Huell  Howser hasn't even found it.  There you have it, 68 miles down the yellow brick road.