Today, under threatening skies, we head south to the Palm Springs area. Jon’s band, Hookslide, has a benefit concert at Rancho Mirage High School on Friday and are opening for Joan Rivers on Saturday at a nearby casino. The wind is howling and the skies are dark as we depart I-15 at Nipton Road and head off through the Mojave Desert Preserve.
After a while we reach the Kelso Depot, an historical train station built during WWII. It is our plan to eat lunch at their 40’s lunch counter. Unfortunately the lunch counter has closed and we are now hours away from anywhere we can find some lunch. We take a few pictures and look at their small museum. Back in the car, we pass the singing sand dunes of Kelso. They should be singing in all this wind but there is too much sand blowing around to open the car windows.
Finally after wind and rain we reach our hotel in Indian Wells. In short order we head off to the concert. The venue, a new auditorium in a new high school, is impressive. The high school kids sing a couple of songs and then Hookslide takes to the stage. They do an amazing job and the kids are really receptive. They follow up the concert with a Saturday workshop for the choral groups which goes really well. Their opening for Joan Rivers on Saturday night is equally impressive. But we must be on our way home early on Saturday.
