Salton Sea And Coachella Valley - Road Trip!

Back on the Grid

For those not looking to camp out at Slab City or crash at some farmhand flophouse in Brawley, one nice thing about being so close to a big tourist area is the infrastructure. You can spend the day feeling like you're a thousand miles from nowhere, and dine at a five star restaurant for supper. Not that we did that. We split the difference, and used the plentiful availability of rooms to cut a sweet deal at a couple of fairly nice joints.

Our first trip we stayed at the Indian Wells Resort Hotel (formerly owned by Lucy and Desi Arnez, we hear) for $50/night to be closer to food, nightlife and State Route 74. It wasn't totally swanky, but it did have some old-school charm with big chandeliers and such. Really, any nicer and we'd feel weird coming in all nasty from a day of riding. Indian Wells is roughly in the center of the golf coursetopia that is the Greater Palm Springs Area, so just about any touristy good or service can be had in the immediate vicinity. A word of caution though, the speed limits are low, and the lights take all day.

Our second and third trips, we stayed up in the lower-rent, but (oddly) more expensive berg of Desert Hot Springs. This was far more our speed, as it was more out of the way, with less lights, and lower cost (but still high quality) food. We stayed at the Miracle Springs Resort, which was close to $100 a night, but true to its name, has a number of hot spring pools to soak in after a long day in the saddle. The best part is, you can take alcohol (in non glass containers) to the spring-fed hot tubs. None of our two groups complained, but if you have a problem with working class folk hanging out where you eat and rest your head, best stay in Palm Springs.