We left White Sands National Monument and passed the sharp, dramatic Organ Mountains. In this area the traffic lights are all horizontal, I guess due to the wind?
Tucson is backed by nice mountains and here we saw our first In-N-Out since leaving California nearly three months ago. Despite the temptation, we held out for our traditional coming home meal. La Quinta hotel in Phoenix was a splurge that even had internal hallways!
Friday was the last day of the trip and the excitement was palpable. Will we make it all the way back with no accidents or traffic tickets?! In Phoenix we saw our first signs for Los Angeles, confirming the final stretch. Jenni did a great job deejaying several California-themed songs…of course starting with Biggie’s Going Back to Cali and followed by tunes like Phantom Planet’s California, California Love by 2Pac, Hotel California, etc.
Much of the drive between Phoenix and Palm Springs is very pretty, and south of the 10 near Tonopah is a nice mountain. I have driven to the Palm Springs area many times but never approached from this direction. We descended quite a hill down to Indio.
We made it back to Los Angeles at 1 pm, having driven just under 12k miles. And it was literally 75 and sunny. We closed with a bottle of Moët, just as we began our first night camping at San Simeon. For some fun stats summarizing our three-month road trip, see the post here that we wrote at that time.
November 8, 2013 (Friday)
AL Is Not Lost 