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| Wind Turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass |
The entrance to the Coachella Valley from the east is
through the San Gorgonio Pass which is a narrow valley between two of the
highest mountains in North American.
This pass funnels wind into the valley, creating one of the windiest
places on earth thus creating an ideal
place for wind generation. We decided to
learn more about this so we took a Windmill Tour.
The tour guide was obviously an ex-utility person as he was
full of megawatts, kilowatt hours, PPAs, and CTGs. Judging from the questions from the rest of
the tour, it sounded like all eight people were utility folks, too. We fit right in!
There are thousands of these wind turbines in the Pass and
they date back to the mid-20th century. We drove through the farms and got out of the
bus at one point to listen to sounds made by the turbines. You don’t want to get out much in the Pass
because it’s like standing in a sand blaster!
We got to visit a solar panel installation as well as two CTG
units. Utility geek heaven!!!
And, a little tidbit about utility rates. Our guide’s electricity bill last month was
over $1000.
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| Where's the cache? |
After the tour, we got in a little desert geocaching which
is very different from Midwest geocaching!
You really have to watch your step: it’s very rough terrain, there’s
Jumping Cholla cactus just waiting for you, and you never know what kind of
critter you might find. No rattlesnakes
so far…just hummingbirds, a roadrunner, and a ground squirrel. (We did have an encounter with a rattlesnake
on our last visit to 1000 Palms. Note to
self: need a bigger stick!)
In the afternoon we went over to relax in the Desert Springs Marriott Hotel lobby. This lobby is like no other we’ve ever seen…it is huge! It’s so relaxing to sit here in an easy chair with a drink and people watch. Not to mention watching the boats come in and out…and listen to the parrots. We are pretty much Marriott People and this place always feels like the mother ship to us. (BTW: Marvin picked out his next birthday present while here!)
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| Native palms at an oasis created by the San Andreas Fault. |
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| Another hummingbird! |
As mentioned before, the Coachella Valley is home to a long
segment of the San Andreas fault line.
This is where the Pacific and North American Tectonic Plates meet. The plates are going different directions and
are creating mountains, bubbling hot springs, and earthquakes as they crash
together. If you go up in the mountains
you can look down and clearly see the fault line stretch along the length of
the valley. You can also see a wide
range of evidence of the fault…spanning from fences, once straight, but now
crooked because the land has moved; all the way to huge rocks pushed up at 60
degree angles because the plates are smashing together.
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| Daily earthquake map. |
Because of all this seismic activity, earthquakes are a part
of daily life. There are approximately
100 earthquakes a week here. Most are
not felt because the sand tends to absorb the shock waves. Earthquakes are so routine that earthquake
maps are in the daily paper, just like weather maps. The quake map shown here indicates that there were
about 8 quakes in the valley just yesterday.
We didn’t feel any of them.
Next up is February 29th! We’re going to our first Flash Mob and to a
show. Can’t wait!
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