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Best time to go: Anytime it is cool. it was 108 when we landed

Fuel: None unless you can burn Mogas

Food: Yes, there is a cafe, Mini Mart and a Ice Store

Remarks: Lhp for 26 from Downwind to Base its a little tight due to the hills south of I10

 SkyVector Chiriaco Summit

Chiriaco Summit, as it is now known, is definitely established as a desert landmark. Joe Chiriaco, the founder, came west in 1927 to see Alabama play Stanford in the Rose Bowl. He never returned to live in his home state of Alabama; instead he found employment with the Los Angeles Bureau of Water and Power as a surveyor.

He made his first trek into the desert when his work brought him into a desert area known as Shaver Summit. After several years he gave up his job with the Bureau and settled down at the Shaver Summit site, which he later purchased from J.E. Cram of Mentone, California.

In the early 1900’s, there was a gravel road out of Box Canyon that passed by Shaver Summit, running east toward Blythe. With rumors of new paved road between Indio and Phoenix, Joe began constructing a building, and on August 15, 1933 Joe Chiriaco opened his gas station and general store. He had one dollar in his cigar box till, and that dollar remains at the Summit. That same day, the new two-lane blacktop U.S. 60 also opened. passing in front of Shaver Summit. With the new U.S. 60 road opening, the gas station and general store thrived. And Joe Chiriaco as well.

General George S. Patton Memorial Museum was established to honor the late General George S. Patton and the thousands of men who served with him at the Desert Training Center and overseas. The museum is located off Interstate 10, about 30 miles east of Indio at Chiriaco Summit, which was the entrance to Camp Young, command post for the DTC during World War II. The site was donated by Joseph Chiriaco, one of the first area residents General Patton met when he arrived to set up the center.