No, I wasn't crazy. Although about half of the people I talked to thought it was a bit delusional to tackle 12 hours of driving (not including stops) on the first day of my trek across the U.S. The truth was that didn't know what to expect along the way. All I knew was that I wasn't interested in testing my odds with COVID. It was more fun to test how fast my new car would fly down Highway 5.
I skirted Los Angeles and headed east along Highway 10 to my first major stop, Palm Springs. Why Palm Springs? Well, it kept popping up as a great destination to "get away" while I was living in San Francisco. If I was going to be driving by anyways, it seemed like a great time to check it out.
But what I had been attracted to was the poolside photos of people enjoying their leisurely vacations - in the privacy of their homes. Behind walled gardens. Why I thought I'd be able to get a flavor for Palm Springs by simply passing through in my car was a bit misguided, to say the least. In hindsight, I'm not sure what I was thinking.
So, I simply stopped for gas, said hello to a lovely attendant, and continued on through the desert. After the sun set and 870 miles were logged for the day, I arrived in Tucson.
