Malki Museum, housed in a traditional one-room adobe building on the Morongo Reservation in Banning, California, is a walk through time, displaying in all its grandeur the history and culture of the Cahuilla (spoken as: ‘Caw-we-ah’) Native Americans. The pride shows, and the journey is well worth your time. Morongo is a word of Serrano…
Originally built in 1947, the diner was your typical 1950s style eatery, catering to motorists making their way through the desert.
It was small— 3 booths and 9 counter stools— but managed to stick around for a while, despite being in one of the hottest places in the United States.
Peggy Sue and her husband Champ reopened the diner in 1987 and attempted to restore and preserve it in its original state. Before moving to the desert in 1981, Champ worked for Knott’s Berry Farm and Peggy Sue worked in the movies.
The diner was the perfect place to display their extensive collection of movie and TV memorabilia…
Driving along Pearblossom Highway (Hwy 138), it’s just you and maybe a few hundred cars and trucks passing by in both directions. Perhaps lost in thought, or just concentrating on surviving the drive, you look ahead and the roadway becomes a beacon to place unknown to most people, even though they may pass it every day. You’re approaching the ruins. Soon, you will know what others don’t. The history of a failed dream. Welcome to the Socialist community of Llano Del Rio…
Twentynine Palms Museum is housed in the oldest public building still in use in the Morongo Basin and provides visitors a chance to experience a 1920s era schoolroom. Townsfolk moved the city’s unique 1927 one-room school building to National Park Drive and redesigned the building to wind up as the Old Schoolhouse Museum. The Campbell…
While we have been known to move around a lot in the style of a comedic witness protection program, this is the first time we have actually written about our current hometown. That says something about La Quinta, California. Located in the Coachella Valley surrounded by the Colorado Desert, La Quinta was founded as a…
UPDATE July 9, 2025: Will the 625,000 acres Chuckwalla National Monument in Riverside County keep its designation? This spring President Donald Trump asked the Department of the Interior to consider removing those protections. In May the Department of Justice concluded that the president “can and should” reverse the monument designations. Many thanks to La Quinta…
Have you ever wondered what it used to look like in the Mojave Desert in yesteryear? When ingenuity and pure desert grit was king? Do you want to learn secrets the desert has to tell?
Please join us for Part One of many trips through time illuminating the Mojave Desert’s amazing past and present. Trip the light fantastic with us–the desert way…
We had an amazing adventure exploring lovely Afton Canyon. The Mojave River flows above ground here and ranges from a small creek to a couple of feet deep depending on seasonal rainfall totals. Afton Canyon lies in part along the old Mojave Indian Trail, near the 35th parallel, that extended from the Colorado River to…
The Bristol Mountains rise between Ludlow and Kelbaker Road like a long, sun‑scorched barricade, the kind of range that looks less formed than forged. On one side, Route 66 snakes past in its slow, nostalgic way, carrying the ghosts of road‑trippers and the last stubborn believers in Americana. On the other side of that big…
We recently had the good fortune of discovering Cochise Terrace RV Resort on the internet. It got great yelp reviews so we made reservations for three nights. Cochise Terrace RV Resort is a 70-space RV park located in Benson, Arizona. It features spacious, terraced lots, full hook-ups, 50 amp service with pull through and back-in…