Holiday USA SW Road Trip in Apr 2022: Day 3 – Las Vegas to Rancho Mirage

We headed back to the hotel and packed our cases in the boot.  The new Mustang doesn’t need to reserve space in the trunk for the roof anymore, so even though the trunk was full with stuff, we were able to put the hood down for our trip to Rancho Mirage.

First stop was just down the road from Las Vegas though.  We needed another Starbucks and needed to do our CVS shopping to top up on liquids.

We both had second breakfasts at Starbucks and we were then ready for the road.  We slathered up with suntan lotion, the roof came down and we enjoyed the sun and the breeze as we drove through Nevada into California.

As we left Las Vegas, we noticed three bright towers reflecting light.  I had noticed them on the flight between LAX and Vegas yesterday and wondered what they were all about.  I found out more online.

The Ivanpah system consists of three solar thermal power plants on 3,500 acres (1,400 ha) of public land near the California–Nevada border.  Fields of heliostat mirrors focus sunlight on receivers located on centralized solar power towers. The receivers generate steam to drive specially adapted steam turbines.  Total cost of about $2.18 billion.

The drive to Rancho Mirage involved an apparently convoluted route via the I15, Nipton road, through the Mohave National Preserve, Kelso and Twentynine Palms.  As we headed south, it got more and more chilly as we climbed up into the mountains.  We briefly stopped off at Boulders Viewpoint to stretch our legs and to take a couple of photos.  We decided to put our jumpers on at that point.  From then it got warmer and warmer as we dropped back down on the way into Rancho Mirage.

We finally arrived at the HGI in Rancho Mirage at 2pm.  It was scorching by the time we arrived.

Follow the whole story here: Holiday USA SW Road Trip in Apr 2022