Wind Power, Hundreds of wind turbines, North of Palm Springs. Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. It accounts for approximately 19% of electricity production in Denmark, 9% in Spain and Portugal, and 6% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland (2007 data). In recent years, the United States has added more wind energy to its grid than any other country; Yet, U.S. wind power production was 1% of the USA total power in 2007. Texas has become the largest wind energy producing state, surpassing California.  U.S. Department of Energy studies have concluded wind harvested in just three of the fifty U.S. states could provide enough electricity to power the entire nation, and that offshore wind farms could do the same job. Want to know more? Click Here.

The Salton Sea

One of the communities on the edge of the Salton Sea.

Palm Spring from the Aerial Tram at 8550 ft = 2606 m.

The Palm Spring Aerial Tram takes you from about sea level to 8550 ft = 2606 m. At the top of the San Jacinto Mountains it is 72 F = 22 C, and there is lots of hiking.

Am now at Lake Pleasant, about 30 miles north east of Phoenix Arizona.

Had a good time in the Palm Spring area. Remember the last blog, In the summer it is very, very hot.

One day took the scooter to the Salton Sea. About 35 miles south of La Quinta CA. The Salton Sea is the largest lake in CA. Yap, is bigger than Lake Tahoe. Furthermore, it is 12 ft higher than the lowest point in the USA, which is in Death Valley (282 ft = 86 m below sea level).  Want to know more? Click Here.

As anyone who has been to Lake Tahoe will attest, it is a beautiful place to visit with nice cities/communities around the lake. In fact, there is a bike ride around the lake, usually the first weekend of june, and is called “America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride.”

With that in mind, I charged to the Salton Sea. It was horrible, I visited two towns/communities and they were both composed of mostly dilapidated structures. Hopefully, there are nice places for camping and recreation on the other side of the lake. Will have explore that next time. Because of the heat, I made the exploring short and explored only the south west part of the lake. I later found out that most of the camping is done on the more popular north east part of the lake. When exploring on the scooter, I try to be back by 10:30 am, and spend time in a cool coffee shop to read the paper.

On another day, Cindy reminded me that it was cooler at the top of the Aerial Tram in Palm Spring. So I went there, it was about 35 F cooler than in the valley. It was nice, did some hiking at the top. I highly recommend a visit to the Palm Spring Aerial Tram. At the top, briefly talked with some 20 something folks. They were carrying mattress like backpacks, and no other gear, so I asked what are the mattresses for? A young lady eagerly responded, they are called crash pads and we are going “bouldering”. They climb boulders without any other equipment. They lay down the crash pads below the boulder they are climbing in case they fall. The spotters makes sure that the mattress is always below the climber. Want to know more? Click Here.