Road Trippin’
with Steve McCarthy
Indio-Part TWO! 


Ok, you’ve had a good night’s sleep and are raring to hit the road for day two. I really hope you’re doing this in early spring (although in early spring, it might still snow in the mountains you drove on day one! Timing is indeed ‘interesting’ for this trip!), if not, get an early start because we’re talkin’ HOT DESERT and I don’t mean Baked Alaska! 
We’ll be heading south along the shores of the Salton Sea, that oddity that used to be part of the Gulf of California until a turn of the last century earthquake raised the land south of there and cut off this arm, making it a land locked salt sea (hence it’s name). At one time it was touted as a Wondrous Resort, but as the salinity has increased (imagine this, an Ecological Bad Thing, NOT caused by either humans OR Republicans OR Big Oil), the fish die off more frequently and really stink up the place. Sadly, it’s pretty much closed up, taking people’s dreams of living on the New Riviera with it. There’s a kinda hard scrabble flint edged attitude amongst the inhabitants in their scruffy trailers and sometimes engine-less motor homes. It’s a bargain for Snowbirds on a Budget. 
About half way down the western edge, your gonna turn west, through the Anza Borrego Desert. This place gets REALLY hot, so if you’re a top down kinda traveller (like us), plenty of sun screen and even long sleeve shirts that have SPF protection and some kinda hats are deregiuer. Just like Death Valley, if there’s actually been some rain, the little wild flowers, eking out an existence are marvelous. Even without the flowers, there is an awesome beauty to the landscape. Lunar is the term that usually comes to mind. 

Heading south out of the Borrego, you’ll hit the town of Ocotillo. This road was part of the Great Overland Stage Route, and it’s hard to realize what that must have been like. Long, hot, dusty, and unbearably slow, it took some special people to travel this route regularly. Make sure you gas up in Ocotillo. There isn’t much opportunity along I-8. Yeah, OK, I said it. The “I” word. You know I wouldn’t send you on the Dreaded Interstate unless I had to, but, there is no other way through Carrizo Gorge. Even though it’s Interstate, it’s a pretty neat drive. Deep rocky canyons and spectacular rock formations are the order of the day. Just past the gorge, we’ll get onto the Old Road. This is the remnant of US Hwy 80. It’s less travelled, has no trucks and obviously is preferable to I-8. If you want, you can keep on I-8, they parallel each other. Old 80 is just more interesting. About where the interstate shifts a bit north, we’ll head for the hills and lunch, by taking the back way into Julian. Most people have at least heard of this old mining town that’s now famous for it’s Apple Pies. Yep, another Pie Stop! There are a couple of places in town, but to me, Mom’s is THE place. They were the first and make all their pies from scratch! If you time it right and hit Julian early, you can smell the baking pies as you hit town. MAN, there isn’t much better than that! The only equal would be hitting Gilroy at Garlic Pickin’ Time! See, THIS is why I love an open car! The ability to smell the world around you is far superior to our usual air-conditioned-bottled-air-’freshener’-scented isolation in modern cars. Now Julian is tiny. Parking is a pain. A lot of the shops have the usual happy crappy in them, but there are some neat ones. In addition to Mom’s, there are other eateries, B&B’s and places to get organic honeys and jams. Check out http://www.visitjulian.com/ for more info.
 

Now if you have a group, or don’t want to fight the parking, here’s a tip. Mom’s has a place just north of town in Wynola. It’s on the highway and is hard to miss. Wynola actually looks even neater than “downtown” Julian. There are some antique places and even a guy who makes HARD CIDER! Tough to beat that. The Mom’s in Wynola is really just for pies, but hey, pie for lunch? What’s wrong with that? 

After Julian, we’ll be heading east again, back through the heart of the Anza Borrego to a town called Borrego Springs. To do this, we descend Montezuma Pass. This is a Montezuma’s Revenge of a different sort. This is a really great road, but be careful of the Motor Home Idiots. A month or so ago, one went “sailin’ on out there”. I guess it’s not an irregular occurrence. 

Through Borrego Springs we’ll head back to the Salton Sea, then back north to Indio for night two. Although it’s been a short jaunt (under 200 miles), it’s been a challenging trip, and one where you actually have time to dawdle and still get back to the joys of a cool motel pool in time for the real heat of the day. 

Next month, in part three, we’ll hit a couple of museums, Joshua Tree, and lovely Mecca. Until then, keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down. 

Day 2

Tropics Motor Hotel

82297 Indio Boulevard

Indio, CA 92201-3129

1. RIGHT on Indio Blvd toward Palm St 2.9 mi

2. CONTINUE onto CA-111 S/CA-86

Continue to follow CA-86 18.2 mi

3. LEFT ON CA-86 N/81st Ave 0.3 mi

4. RIGHT ON CA-86 S 27.4 mi

5. RIGHT onto CA-78 38.5 mi

6. LEFT onto County Route S2/Great Southern Overland Stage Route of 1849

Continue to follow Great Southern Overland Stage Route of 1849 29.4 mi

7. CONTINUE onto County Route S2/Sweeny Pass Rd

Continue to follow County Route S2 17.8 mi

135 mi – about 3 hours 0 mins

Ocotillo, CA

GAS UP HERE! 

8. SOUTH on County Route S2 toward Opal Rd 0.3 mi

9. RIGHT to merge onto I-8 W toward San Diego 23.5 mi

10. TAKE EXIT 65 for Ribbonwood Rd/CA-94 toward Campo Blvd 0.4 mi

11. LEFT onto CA-94 W/Ribbonwood Rd 0.6 mi

12. RIGHT onto CA-94 W/Old Hwy 80

Continue to follow CA-94 W 12.6 mi

13. RIGHT onto Buckman Springs Rd/San Diego County Rd S 1 9.6 mi

14. LEFT onto Old Buckman Springs Rd 0.9 mi

15. SLIGHT LEFT onto San Diego County Rd S 1 27.1 mi

16. RIGHT onto CA-79 N 5.8 mi

17. LEFT onto Main St (signs for Julian) 0.3 mi

18. LEFT onto Washington St 0.2 mi

19. CONTINUE onto CA-78 W/CA-79 N/Julian Rd

Destination will be on the right 3.8 mi

84.9 mi – about 2 hours 12 mins

LUNCH STOP! AND YEAH, EAT THE APPLE PIE! WE’LL VOTE TONIGHT ON THE WINNER!!!

MOM’S PIE

4510 California 78

Julian, CA 92036

AFTER LUNCH:

20. RIGHT on CA-78 W/CA-79 N/Julian Rd toward Springview Rd 2.8 mi

21. RIGHT onto CA-79 N 11.4 mi

22. RIGHT onto County Route S2/San Felipe Rd 4.7 mi

23. LEFT onto Montezuma Valley Rd 17.4 mi

24. RIGHT onto Palm Canyon Dr 1.4 mi

25. At the traffic circle, continue straight to stay on Palm Canyon Dr 4.4 mi

26. CONTINUE onto Pegleg Rd 2.4 mi

27. CONTINUE onto Borrego Salton Seaway 13.1 mi

28. CONTINUE onto Borrego Salton Sea Way 7.5 mi

29. LEFT onto CA-86 N 14.9 mi

30. LEFT onto CA-86 S/81st Ave 0.3 mi

31. RIGHT onto CA-86 N/Harrison St

Continue to follow CA-86 N 19.6 mi

32. CONTINUE onto Interstate 10 Business W-INDIO BLVD 1.7 mi

33. Make a U-turn at Sun Gold St

Destination will be on the right 0.1 mi

102 mi – about 2 hours 36 mins

Tropics Motor Hotel

82297 Indio Boulevard

Indio, CA 92201-3129