Our Plan to Escape the Desert Heat

As we pulled out of our home for a week at Sky Valley Resort, we had to notice the beautiful yellow wildflowers that circled every creosote bush across the desert landscape. We had watched as this area sprung into spring next to the Joshua Tree National Park. Those flowers were enticed to bloom with the 90 degree heat we've had in the desert for the last several days. But we have a plan to escape this heat.

We will say good-bye to the snow-covered mountain that filled the entire motor home windshield as we rolled down the highway.

We are leaving the unseasonable heat of the Coachella Valley for higher elevations. That means driving up some relentless highway grades. This road is an example of one of those grades that tests the motors of trucks and motor homes. We were doing fine until we couldn't get around a struggling truck that got all the way down to 25 mph by the time we hit the top of the hill.

Our 89-mile trip today took us to Lone Wolf Campground in Apple Valley, California. While our last stop at Sky Valley was at 994 feet elevation, Apple Valley is over 4,000 feet in elevation. That higher altitude means temperatures are in the 70's instead of the 90's, so we were glad to spend some time outside at our new camp site. We didn't have a picnic table or a fire ring here. But we decided to cook up some interesting campground desserts. With the induction plate plugged into the basement, we are making a batch of crepes outside.

We bought some beautiful strawberries and blueberries at the last farmer's market. They made a great topping for a crepe filled with sweetened greek yogurt. We usually make smores outside at our campsites, but maybe we'll change our dessert of choice to crepes now.

With a name like Apple Valley, Denisa was pretty excited about our new home town. But we came to find that there are no apples in Apple Valley. There also doesn't seem to be any attractions to explore. But the main reason we have landed here is its proximity to the Bear Mountain Ski Resort. We had seen an advertisement on television that enticed customers to test drive a new Ford in exchange for a free lift ticket to one of California's ski resorts. Last week we visited the Palm Springs Ford dealership.

While waiting for our salesman, we found that California law requires additional labeling on all new vehicles. It includes a "Bumper Quality Label" on top, as well as the "Parts Content" information found on the bottom of the sticker. It was interesting to see this Ford was made of 25% U.S. parts, and 60% Mexican.

Our stop at Palm Springs was successful, and we came away with two free lift tickets, good at one of the participating ski resorts that Ford sponsors. We are excited about this opportunity to cool off in the snow after our hot desert week.