A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 252 miles from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona.
Author: David
Travel from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona
We drove our coach 252 miles, about four hours of driving, from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Entering I-10 East:
We got a little bit of fuel at California prices:
Back onto I-10 East:
Foggy:
Rest area closed:
Another rest area:
Interesting homebrew van:
Paladin in a box:
Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone:
Welcome to Arizona:
Arizona Centenial:
Airstream trailer:
Interesting mountains:
Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident:
Another fuel stop to top up, since we’ll be in one place for three months:
Filling diesel:
Filling DEF:
Exit to AZ-303 North:
Overpass:
Exit to Bell Road:
Arriving at Paradise RV Resort:
Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded:
Guided to our site:
Duran Duran concert in Palm Desert
We attended a Duran Duran concert in Palm Desert, California.
A not-great DJ played some 80’s music as an opening act:
Duran Duran arrive:
After a couple of songs they had technical difficulties, losing sound from the stage, which put the show on hold for about 20 minutes:
They eventually got it working; on with the show:
Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures
We visited the Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures, large metal artworks of various animals (and a Jeep) around Borrego Springs, California.
Our approximate route from the campground:
We first went to the Montezuma Valley Road Lookout for a picnic lunch overlooking the valley:
Then back down the hill and explored the sculptures, which are scattered around outside town. Most you can drive right up to, but some you need to walk a short distance.
Joshua Tree Hidden Valley Nature Trail hike
We enjoyed a stroll around the Hidden Valley Nature Trail in Joshua Tree National Park.
A new entrance station from the last time we visited; further along the road to avoid blocking roads outside the park, and more capacity for busy times:
Hidden Valley Nature Trail:
We had dinner at the adjacent Hidden Valley picnic area:
Thousand Trails Palm Springs
We stayed at Thousand Trails Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our fourth stay here. Like all other Thousand Trails campgrounds, they have switched to assigned sites, which is more of a challenge here, since many sites are tricky to squeeze into, with palm trees and sewer ports in random places.
This campground is split into two: the left side (from the front) is 30 amp pull-through sites, and the right side is 50 amp back-in sites.
We were initially assigned a pull-through site on the 30 amp side of the park, but the gate agent assured us it had 50 amp. Of course, once we got there and tested it, it did not. So we contacted them and asked for another site, and were eventually assigned a back-in site on the 50 amp side, which wasn’t too hard to get into (for TTPS anyway).
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-12-14
- Check out: 2026-01-01
- 18 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps 69-80°F, lows 55-60°F
- Negligible wind, gusts to 9 MPH
Noise:
- Some freeway road noise
- Some train noise, but no horns most of the time
- A little neighbor noise
Site:
- #339, back-in, sand
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Somewhat level site; high in back; used hydraulic leveling
- Sand site about 65 feet long by 26 feet wide
- Just sand between sites
- Picnic table
- Tall palm trees
- Somewhat clean site
- Elevation 120 feet, front facing NE
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located behind site
- 60 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located behind site
- Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than 1 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 95-190 Mbps down, 25-30 Mbps up, 39-40 ms ping
- RoamLink: 35-52 Mbps down, 40-52 Mbps up, 95 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
- AT&T: 600-670 Mbps down, 46 Mbps up, 25 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
- Campground Wi-Fi: paid; not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Pool
See our previous reviews on Campground Reviews.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
The site we were initially assigned: “No 50 amp!”, which my tester confirmed:
Other sites:
Holiday lights:
See posts of our previous stays for more pictures. We’d be happy to come back here again.
Video: Orange to Palm Desert, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 103 miles from Orange to Palm Desert, California.
Travel from Orange to Palm Desert, California
We drove our coach 103 miles, about two hours of driving, from Orange to Palm Desert, California.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Leaving our site; it was a bit tight, so we backed out, which meant we were facing the wrong way:
Toading facing the wrong way; I walked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear before we headed out:
CA-57:
Entering CA-55 North:
CA-91:
“100 Years of Freedom”:
Interesting hills:
Overpasses:
Exit to Indio:
Snowcapped mountains:
Uphill:
Rest area:
Wind turbines:
Exit to Washington Street:
Hills:
Arriving at TTPS:
We were assigned a site that didn’t have 50 amp power, despite the gate agent assuring us that it did:
Then we got a new site assignment, and moved to a site that actually has usable power:
Actually getting into our site was a bit of a challenge, as it always is at TTPS (due to all the palm trees and other obstacles), but we managed it without too much difficulty.
Disney California Adventure Christmas
We visited Disney California Adventure to see their Christmas decorations. Not as many as Disneyland, but some. We also ate a lot of churros.
No line for the tram from Pixar Pals parking structure; a much more pleasant experience than the Toy Story parking lot:
Tram selfie:
DCA Christmas tree in daylight:
DCA had six special holiday churros around the park, so we decided to sample all of them:
Starting with the carrot cake churro:
Cannoli churro; we ordered one, but they (intentionally) gave us two — a little Disney magic:
Jenn had a craving for Mickey waffles:
Guardians of the Galaxy skit:
Loki:
Captain America:
Strawberry basil churro:
Cars Land Christmas:
We were waiting for another churro when the neon lights came on in Cars Land:
Apple pie churro:
More festival food:
Yet more food:
Fresas con crema churro:
Jenn got a Christmas necklace:
Firefly lights:
Fluffernutter churro:
Christmas tree:
Disneyland Christmas
We went back to Disneyland after New Zealand, to see their Christmas decorations.
We accidentally went to the Toy Story parking lot, which we regretted, due to the very long and slowly moving line for the shuttle bus:
An hour later, arriving at the entrance:
Christmas tree:
Main Street and castle with Christmas decorations:
Dinner with holiday stuff:
It’s a Small World:
We wanted to take a train ride, but they announced that it’d be stopping for fireworks, so didn’t:
Dessert:
Fake snow:
Christmas Mickey:
Back to the parking lot:
We popped back into Disneyland a couple of days later, after visiting DCA, just to do the train ride:
Christmas tree from train station:
On the train:
