Drive Day 2 - Palm Springs, CA to Flagstaff, AZ

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We had a great time in Palm Springs, but we are so ready to be out of the heat.  We drove out of Palm Springs on US-111 so we could go through the desert cities.  Quite an interesting drive.  Palm Springs led to Cathedral City, an average town.  Then to Rancho Mirage - this is where the money is - no strip malls, only high end car dealers (Lamborghini, Bentley, Jaguar, Porsche, etc).  There was a nice little park on the main street dedicated to cancer survivors.  Next was La Quinta, another average town and Palm Desert, a little more upscale.  Last in the line of cities were Indio and Coachella - definitely lower end towns.  Getting onto I-40 was a trip as our GPS kept wanting us to turn onto a street that was barricaded.  After going round and round, we stopped at a fast food place to ask for directions - Loretta didn't know street names but did get us going in the right direction.

Our trip through the desert was uneventful, but very long and hot.  We made it to Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge (surprise stop for our Anglophile friends).  We stopped to have lunch, take a few pictures, and drive across the bridge.  It's monsoon season so it was very hot and humid.  We decided we had enough of that so we didn't hang out too long.  Then it was off to finish our drive to Flagstaff.

The landscape was ever changing - from desert and scrub brush, to rock outcroppings, to a beautiful section along the Colorado River, to pine trees.  We want to take pictures of each state sign when we cross over, but we didn't see one in AZ.  We think it's because we were on a "blue highway" and crossed the Colorado River onto Indian Tribe land.  We got hit with a rain storm in Kingman, AZ complete with a lightning show and thunder.  Of course, by now the temperature dropped significantly - total drop about 40 degrees.

Posted speed limit on I-40 is 75 mph and we made it to Flagstaff about an hour earlier than I guessed we would.  We had dinner at Oregano's - a very good Italian restaurant about 1/2 block from our hotel - now we're kicking back.  Tomorrow, the Grand Canyon - stay tuned!