General Patton Memorial Museum – Chiriaco Summit, California

We drove west on I-10 to California crossing the border and going through the Inspection Station. The line moved quickly and soon we were on our way to points further west.

We had departed early this morning and we knew we had a few hours to kill before we could check into our campground at Anza Borrego and we had planned to stop in Box Canyon, eat lunch and play for a few hours. But as we reached Chiraco Summit we decided to stop at the General Patton Museum and spend a few hours there. We have driven past this museum countless times and always said we should stop but we just never seemed to have the opportunity. Well today is the day.

The museum is directly off exit 173 on the north side and there is both parking in front of the museum which was plenty big for motorhomes and there is also parking across the street where trucks park and other motorhomes park. Both lots were fairly empty when we visited.

The museum is at the original location of Camp Young so it was fitting for us to visit here!!

Not only does the museum have an indoor exhibition area and theater but it also has a tank pavilion outside, the Matzner Tank Pavilion.

In addition to the tank pavilion there is an outdoor area with vehicle displays so we wandered around those too.

General Patton Memorial Museum Chiriaco Summit California

Which is which…..military tank vs recreational vehicle tank? Ha, ha, ha…..

We spent a few hours enjoying the museum and having lunch in our rig. We both enjoyed the museum. We then continued on west on I-10 to exit 168 where to the north is Joshua Tree National Park along with some dispersed camping just outside the entrance and to the south is Box Canyon which leads to Mecca. We love our yearly pilgrimages to Mecca.

Box Canyon can sometimes have lots and lots of bike riders heading both up the canyon and down the canyon especially on weekends. It is not really a problem unless you come around a corner and there are 20 or 30 of them taking up the whole road. When we drive it we proceed very slowly around the corners as there always seems to be bike riders somewhere along the road.