Trip to the Palm Springs Windmill Tours a must

It is rumored that a couple of fellas were standing along Interstate 10 northwest of Palm Springs one fine spring morning a long time ago.

“You know,” one fella said to the other. “In Holland, they use windmills to generate electricity for many of their needs. Perhaps we should think about it.”

The other fella looked down at the ground. “The Dutch!”

So, it began in 1982, when the Palm Springs wind farms first started dotting the desert landscape up the San Gorgonio Pass.

As stated in the book, "Backstories of the Palm Springs Windmills," "The Palm Springs wind farms have become the most iconic feature of the area, greeting motorists and air travelers worldwide as they arrive in Coachella Valley.’

Iconic, not sure about that, but they do stick out across the vastness of the desert leading to the cities all along Interstate 10 toward Indio.

I wouldn't say I like the sight of windmills. Big, swirling blades cutting across the blue skies look like a bunch of blenders without a bowl.

Of course, I am a person who enjoys viewing nature as it should be considered – without obstruction.

Now, that is all I will say on that point, understanding the need for ways to produce energy in our ever-growing world.

Palm Springs Windmill Tours takes visitors on a journey through history

So, I visited the Palm Springs Windmill Tours office to learn more about these fan-dangle windmills littering the hillsides.

Walking into the small modular building that houses the Palm Springs Windmill Tour office, I noticed it was very dark.

“We don’t have any electricity,” the female docent told me.

I nodded. “Yes, I see that, or I could if the lights were on.”

Odd that a place with a zillion windmills which produces electricity didn’t have any electricity. Rather like a beautiful yacht with no hull.

“It’s a wonderful boat but sinks a lot,” the captain may say.

I smiled in the darkness.

“Don’t blame us. It’s a Southern California Edison issue,” the docent said.

I turned on the flashlight on my phone and made my way to the desk. “I have an appointment to tour the grounds,” I replied.

The Palm Springs Windmill site offers the guest two different ways to get around the large property while looking at this thing or that thing.

A self-guided driving tour or a golf cart guided tour.

The golf cart guided tour includes a golf cart and a driver who is an expert on everything windmill. I chose the self-guided tour since I am not an expert in much and didn’t want to look foolish asking too many questions.

“Why do the turbines spin?” I might ask.

The guide in the golf cart may roll his eyes. “The wind. That is why they are called windmills.”

“As the Dutch have,” I may have replied.

I asked the docent how many people visit the windmill farm.

“Oh, we get anywhere between five to forty people a day touring here,” she said. “Locals and out-of-towners seem very interested in what we have here.”

“That’s understandable,”

Self-guided journeys on golf carts offered

After receiving the directions and map for the tour, she gave me one more bit of news.

“At the end of the tour, take a right on the paved road and then left, and across the street is the Windmill Market. Best date shakes around.”

Not having a date shake since I was a child traveling with my parents around the Palm Springs area, I thought that might be a great possibility.

Though, I did wonder if there would be dates in those date shakes since there was no electricity at a windmill farm.

I left the office and headed for my vehicle, map in hand.

There is a self-guiding app I could have downloaded on my phone. It would enlighten the guest about the windmill farm.

I didn’t download it – I wasn’t sure how and didn’t want to appear technologically ignorant. So, I bought a book about the place and counted on the numerous plaques around the tour, which would give me what I needed to understand this windmill gadgetry better.

The tour was quite fascinating.

Beginning in the 1980’s folks worldwide knew there had to be more options for creating energy than simply fossil fuels. It was a risky environment, with each barrel of oil costing more or less according to the whims of a few country's leaders.

“We will gouge and gouge the west,” it is rumored someone in Saudi Arabia said.

Nuclear power seemed the answer until a meltdown here and there showed there could be a disastrous and deadly event at any given moment.

“Het, that Chernobyl fire was not good,” it is rumored a Russian said.

Solar was and is excellent for most parts of the planet. But even this has proven not to be the answer for all.

“Look, Genie,” said a husband after a powerful winter storm in Texas. “The hail broke all the solar panels.”

The history of wind farms

In 1978, Southern California Edison teamed up with the California Energy Commission to see if wind farms could produce much electricity in the San Gorgonio Pass. Here, wind speeds were pretty constant at 15 miles per hour.

They were working already in the Altamont and Tehachapi passes.

“If it will work in those places, why not here?” asked one mucky muck from SCE.

“I don’t know,” replied another mucky muck.

Soon, commercial wind farms were littering the desert floor near Palm Springs.

It was trial and error, as I learned while driving through the acres of the windmill farm. Plaques explained which windmills worked and which did not function as they should have.

I learned about Vertical Axis windmills. I learned about Upwind windmills. I learned about Downwind windmills.

I already knew not to be downwind of our Pug when his stomach grumbled.

I learned a lot on tour.

The first commercial windmill was the Carter CWT25 in 1982. They worked great until they didn’t come in 1995 when they were removed due to the consistent malfunctioning.

Other types of windmills were the Jacobs Wind Electric, the Storm Master Model 12, the ESI, and the Danish Wind Turbines – I heard they came with wooden shoes too.

The Kenetech DVS-33 was built on a base that resembled an Erector Set. The three-bladed turbines habitually broke and sent one of the blades into space. The problem that showed up years later was the whole structure seemed too weak to face the harsh conditions of the desert year-round.

“NASA,” one astronaut was heard over the intercom. “We have a problem; a long windmill blade flew by the shuttle’s main window.”

The final DVS-33s were removed in 2011.

There was so much to see and experience as I drove around.

Windmills are controversial

On the ground were the remains of early model windmills, generators, turbines, used blades, and the like, which portrayed the metamorphosis of the windmills from the past to the present.

Today towers 200 feet and more reach the heavens seeking that ever-present wind. Just 68 windmills can produce enough electricity to power 100,000 homes per year.

But not all locals favor the development of windmills across the desert. In an article for the Desert Sun Newspaper on Feb. 13, 2020

‘All desert cities and local Indian tribes should oppose this ill-conceived development because so many of our area’s most important scenic views have already been sacrificed to industrial wind turbine and billboard development along the Interstate 10 corridor, on Highway 62, in North Palm Springs, Indian Avenue, and West Garnet.’

And that pretty much sums up the article written by Les Starks and Jeri Vogelsang.

Guess they don’t like the windmills much.

But, as I stated earlier, we humans need electricity.

How can we Tweet without charging up our phones?

This is a plaguing dilemma for a world caught between the search for green energy while still utilizing a lot of fossil fuels.

I’m not a scientist, though I wrote about one in my novel, Hunted, so I don’t know the answer to our energy needs.

Perhaps windmills are an excellent way to produce almost free electricity, but do we go there disregarding mother nature's aesthetic beauty?

A trip to the Palm Springs Windmill Tours is a must for those who want to study this chapter of progress for a more sustainable energy future for all of us.

And to make up their mind.

An hour and a half later, the tour was complete, and I found the adventure rewarding.

Windmills have a place in our lives.

I pondered what I had learned over a date shake at the Windmill Market.

The docent had been correct. It was delicious.

For more information: https://www.windmilltours.com/

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Trip to the Palm Springs Windmill Tours a must