PATTON & THE CHIRIACO FAMILY

Our drive from Lake Havasu City to the fairgrounds in Indio wasn't an all day affair, so, with plenty of time, we finally stopped at Chiriaco Summit on I10, about 30 miles east of Indio. This is one of those places that I've passed on multiple occasions, vowing to stop one of these days, and check out the General Patton Memorial Museum. Yesterday was that day.

"Old Blood and Guts" was the nickname for General George Patton, and his place in history is firmly implanted. He wasn't your run of the mill military leader, he was unique in many respects. The story of Patton, and a host of other military displays inside the museum make the $5 admission fee well worth the expenditure. Without knowing, the average person might wonder why in the heck there's a museum dedicated to Patton, sitting here in the desert of Southern California. The short story is that right after WWII broke out, the fighting in the North African Desert wasn't going very well for the allies. Patton figured out right away that in order for an American fighting force to effectively campaign in the desert, they would have to trained in the desert, not in the swamps of Georgia. He established the desert training center, with numerous camps located in CA and AZ, and the headquarters was not far from where the museum is now located. Soon after Patton spearheaded the desert training center, he was sent to Europe as a Major General and as they say, "the rest is history". He was killed in a car accident, not long after the war ended.

In 1925, Joe Chiriaco came west from Alabama to attend the Rose Bowl, and never returned home. He heard a rumor that a paved highway was going to be built from Blythe to Indio, so he purchased land at what was then called Shaver Summit. In 1933, the new road was opened as Hwy 60, and Joe was ready with a gas station and general store. In the mid 1930's, the huge aqueduct project to bring water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu to Los Angeles was begun, and Joe worked for the water district as a surveyor. In 1942, when Patton's desert headquarters was established near Joe's well stocked general store, the soldiers flocked to his desert oasis like "bees to blossoms". In 1989, the Bureau of Land Management, in cooperation with Patton's estate and the Chiriaco family, opened the current museum complex. Joe and his wife died in 1996, about 4 years before commercial power was connected to the visitor facilities at Chiriaco Summit. For approx. 77 years, electricity was provided by diesel generators.

This West Coast Vietnam Wall sits outside the Patton Museum, and honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice to our nation.

Who in the world would consider breaking in to this motor home with such a vicious attack dog standing guard?

We arrived at the Riverside County Fairgrounds in mid afternoon, and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with friends. I watched the end of the Denver - Pittsburg NFL playoff game that was won by Denver in overtime. Go Tebow! About half of our group walked to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner, and we called it a day.

This morning, we will caravan in order (I think we're #16) to the fairgrounds, where we'll get parked for the next 6 days. The rally starts on Wednesday.