A Happy Camper's Guide to the Desert
Where to Rent
El Monte RV
This RV-rental chain has top-of-the-line motor homes like the one we rented. No special driver's license is required, though it helps to have a fair amount of confidence behind the wheel. (Guzzler stats: We filled the 75-gallon tank twice in a week and averaged about 7 1/2 miles to the gallon.) At some of its 54 branches, El Monte offers a Fly-Drive option, providing RV-ers with a ride from the nearest airport to the motor home. $1,500 to $2,000 a week.
When to Go
Head to the desert parks any time of year except summer—avoid the area in July and August because of the extreme heat. The region is particularly stunning during March and April, the peak desert-bloom months.
Where to Stop
Sam's Family Spa
This 1970s-style RV park in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, offers four natural hot-spring pools, a swimming pool, and a variety of exotic birds on its nicely landscaped picnic grounds. Claire loved the carved wooden statue of Sam Weinberg, who founded the place 30-odd years ago; his three daughters run the park today. From $44 a night.
Palm Canyon Resort
Located within the beautiful Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, this is an RV and condo resort with huge motor homes, lots of snowbirds (retirees who head south for the winter), and a healthy smattering of the dirt bike–dune buggy crowd. You'll find spectacular wildflowers in the spring, bighorn sheep in the local hills, and decent Mexican food in the nearby town of Borrego Springs. From $32 a night.
Mojave National Preserve
Joshua Tree and Death Valley are popular destinations for RV-ers, but this preserve, located between the two, boasts similarly great landscapes, fewer people, and a more relaxed attitude about camping (basically, anywhere you like). In Kelso, train buffs will appreciate the little railroad museum, while hikers will relish the dunes to the south and the lava tubes (cavelike channels created by lava) to the north.
Indian Cove Campground
Although the nine campgrounds on Joshua Tree's 800,000 acres can be crowded in the spring, we snagged a spot at the often-overlooked Indian Cove. The campsite lacks RV hookups, but on the upside, we discovered a perfect family hike nearby, 1 1/2 miles each way, to the hidden oasis of 49 Palms. By my count, there weren't quite that many palms, but the oasis was real, with clear water trickling from pool to pool. From $15 a night.
Manzanar National Historic Site
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government imprisoned more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans who resided along the West Coast. About 10,000 of them were held here, under the massive wall of the eastern Sierra. Little remains of the camp itself, but there is an interpretive center where kids and adults alike can learn about the internment—and the fragility of civil liberties in general—through photos, films, and models.
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