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KAT's Joshua Journal June 29, 2001 The Great Race comes to 29 Palms Today it was about 104 degrees at 11:30, when the Great Race was scheduled to roll into 29 Palms for a lunch stop. We were there waiting with a screaming (you should have heard it) camera in hand. And waiting. And waiting., until the first car arrived around 12:30 to the cheers of an enthusastic crowd. This is the second-to-last day of the 19th annual Great Race. The History Channel will be running a program on it August 3rd this year. There were over 100 classic cars, mostly pre-WWII, but up to as late as 1959. Click photo for larger view of red convertible. Spectators could see the parked cars and meet the drivers. The drivers had one hour for lunch and gassing up. This is a RALLY race, involving expert navigation and split-second timing. As of today, the top three cars were withing three seconds of each other on a nearrly 4,000 race. John & Sean talk to crew of this chain-driven firetruck, driven by firemen. Click picture to see a larger view. The crowds thinned as the temperature approached 106 degrees toward 2:30 p.m. As the last cars came in, it was time to leave or pass out from heat exhaustion. A few hadn't made it through the last leg of desert. This Indy car is covered with Ace awards, and driven by Dick Burdick, one of the greatest Great Raceers. Click photo for larger view. Click photo for larger view The last car rolled in around 2:30, and after three hours in the desert sun we were ready for lunch and a nap. As we drove home, we passed this great racer on the highway. Back to 29 Palms in the evening for a short but excellent concert by the Dick Dale Family Band. Dick Dale on guitar, 9-year-old Jimmy "Sticks" Dale playing as well as seasoned professionals on durms, and better half Jill Dale playing a mean bass. June 30, 2001 July 1, 2001 Went down to Palm Desert for a bit of shopping.. Ate at excellent veggie restauraant attached to a tea house. Went to Best Buy and Costco before returning home to the disappointing news that neither my new nor my repaired camera, both due in by today, had arrived. Off to pizza, then to the concert in the park, featuring Kevin Banford and the Bakersfield Boys. No, they're NOT from Bakersfield, and none of the photos came out. The Hometown Buffet restaurant in Palm Desert has a sign in the ladies room stalls requesting that toilet paper be put in the commode.. I wondered why they felt the need to tell people that until seeing THIS sign inide a stall of the veggie restaurant in the same center:. Ugh! No flushing used toilet paper? We saw Disney's Atlantis at the local movie theater. Good voices, without the squared off character animation and lack of songs will make this one of the few Disney animations we don't buy for home. And the sun sets o another interesting desert weekend.