Turned out to be not a bad day, a bit of wind but not too much!
John and I decided last night we would trek out 30 miles east of Indio and check out General Patton’s Museum. We got there at 10:30 and the day turned out to be real nice.
This is a private Museum, however it is loaded with all kinds of things left over from the war. This Museum also stands on what was known as the Desert Training Centre. Gen. Patton opened up this training centre for soldiers in 1942 to train men to go and fight in North Africa. It worked!
Inside the front doors of the Museum is a very large relief map of Southern California and Az. It was built by engineers in the late 1920’s to convince Congress to fund the California Aqueduct, which can move 1 Billion gallons of water a day, from Lake Havasu in Az., over to Los Angeles area to supply drinking water!
Below is a great view of the Coachella Valley, and the Salton Sea. We spent 20 minutes looking at this map! It is great!
I found this original picture below, of American Troops pulling Sadam Hussein out of his fox hole, when he was captured during the Iran War!
General Patton lived over near Los Angeles, and commuted to the Desert Training Centre by flying himself in an airplane! He actually had his pilots licence pulled because he always failed to file a flight plan. They eventually gave it back to him after he wrote a letter of apology! He refused to take his salary, and donated it back to people who entertained the troops.
Gen. Patton liked the Army Jeep, and the Tank as tools to win the war with!
At the peak, the Desert Training Centre had 190,000 men. Conditions were bleak to say the least, men got 1 gallon of water a day! No power! You stayed for about 6 weeks.
After a couple hours inside, we headed outside to take in the tanks on display…
They had about 10 different ones on site with some other military hardware. Overall, not a bad day spent at the museum.
We headed back to Desert Hot Springs, and took the Dillon Road home. You can see dust being kicked up in the Valley today from all the wind!
We made it back for “Happy Hour” with Pat and Judy, and then took in the great “Leaf Victory”, yes that was a shootout victory tonight against the Panthers in Toronto (aka “the centre of the universe”). Once again life is good!
Till tomorrow…
sounds like a 'man day'..no quilt shops?..what the heck???
ReplyDeleteI didn’t know this museum existed, thanks for the really great tour!
ReplyDeleteJohn
relaxedrush.blogspot.com
In our travels around that area of the southwest we have noticed Patton's training operations left a very large footprint stretching all the way down to Yuma. We were contemplating boon docking near that Museum last year while spending a couple days at Johsuha but it didn't work out. Maybe this year........if we ever get out of where we are!!
ReplyDeleteWhat great info on the museum... we h aven't been there but it will be on our list now. Great coverage and photos!
ReplyDeleteHave fun & Travel safe
Donna
Great tour of the Gen. Patton museum. We've passed it a half dozen times or more on various trips but Paulette's not big on tanks!! I guess I'll have to do what you did and take a trip on my own one day.
ReplyDeleteSure glad we escaped the big winds last night!