Okay, back the the story of my recent drive from Arizona to San Diego. We left off with me almost running out of gas at the California/Arizona border. I found a gas station with 12 miles of fuel left in my tank… and, speaking of tanks… I do like a tank with a clear message. Although, that ‘keep off’ sign is not a memento of some tank crew, but rather was put there by the people who run a small museum.

It is a museum dedicated to this man, General George Patton.

I had no idea the museum was there, in that little town nestled in that mountain pass.

I walked around behind the museum… I didn’t pay to go inside, but I might do that someday. I found the tank graveyard, where they put the wrecks that they might someday refurbish and restore, or maybe just use to cannibalize parts for other tanks. It really did look a battle had been fought there years before.

A Sherman tank, the main battle tank of U. S. forces in World War Two. This is the tank that Patton led against the Nazis. It wasn’t as strongly-armored as the German tanks, and the gun wasn’t as big as the German guns. But we made a lot more of these than they made of theirs. Patton died… in a vehicle accident… shortly after the Germans surrendered, so he wouldn’t have ever seen many of the tanks in his museum.

But I am sure he would approve of the museum. He did like any kind of publicity, and the high mountain desert does look a lot like parts of North Africa where he first led our troops against the Nazis.

And then, I was back on the road.

I was heading down out of the mountains, heading towards Los Angeles.

Okay, see you soon.