Indio, CA: Last time I was staying at some dive because the 6 was full. A train stopped across the street on the tracks. I went to see the train close up and got a tour - real nice guys!! They said Indio used to be wilder and all the railroad guys would stay at those motels and poke the ho's. They then pointed out a brass plaque on a post or wall at the gas station/truck stop across the street. They told me the story and I went over to see it later. That is where Jimmy Swaggart got caught with his second working girl - III HAAVE SINNNED - AGAAIINN!! Funny stuff. Even funnier, I was in the area hunting waterfowl the weekend he got busted. They put the ho's photo in one of the desert papers - calling her coyote ugly is cruel to coyotes!

The Jimmy Swaggart mongering memorial in Indio, CA:



Jimmy deserves this lifetime achievement monument for raising the bar "off the scale" for hypocrisy.

There is no reason to go to Indio for mongering. The scene has been shutdown (atleast on Indio Blvd.) for
years.

This is Clark's Auto Truck Stop.


The plaque is on the pillar to the left. There is a large truck washing area left (out of the picture). Note the Motel 6 in the background. The other motels are behind the camera, and one large one behind and across the street from Clark's. The street is Indio Blvd. The bridge in the background is Monroe St. (exit from the 10).

This area is past its time of relevance, but I was passing through and had to photograph it. Jimmy's tragic downfall fascinates me like the scene of a bad car accident.

On the Road in America

EC

EC,
Thanks for posting this...Swaggert was one of the BIG televangelists of the 1980's...and cousin to Rock 'n' Roll Original Jerry Lee Lewis and Country Crooner Micky Gilley (all out of Ferriday, Lousiana). I used to watch Swaggert on TV back in the '80's, and say what ya will, the cat could boogie on the piano with his left hand bass work - just like Jerry Lee....but he was a lyin', persecutin' self-righteous hypocrite. (Ironically, the Assembly of God church right next door to AB, is the church of Swaggert )...
Would-be USAG Ashcroft is Pentacostal...a sub-group of these guys handle venomous snakes (rattlers, copperheads, water moccasins..et al) as a ritual during religious services, believing that if they get bit, they will survive by divine protection...
Guys like Swaggert talk the walk, but they themselves are typically the most virulent of violaters...Amazing that America is so influenced by these self-serving, frightened (and frightening) hypocrites...
Let there be light!
KRICO

Actually, you can still find a few drugged up skanks on the neighborhood steets to the West. All in all, though, its under an hour to Mexicali.

Jimmy really raised the bar on televangalism. He could perform like no other, both musically, and with a scary pop star charisma that gave him power over people's emotions and checkbooks. Then he was at the center of it all crashing down along with Oral ("send me your money or God will kill me") Roberts and Jim & Tammy Bakker.

The Indio arrest was Jimmy's second prostitution arrest - following the first one in New Orleans and his famous impassioned "I have sinned against you" public mea culpa....his most loyal minions cried with him and welcomed him back. Then he sinned again . Before this fiasco, he was front and center in the attacks on Jim Bakker after Jessica Hahn ratted him out. Ah, the good old days!

These good ole boys also opened the door wide for characters like Gene Scott to make it big by offering sharp contrast to the classic conservative hypocrites. If you guys haven't seen the Rev. Scott with his bimbos in tow, you are really missing something. If Pete Townshend was 23 now, he'd write a rock opera about this new age clown messiah.

Swaggart ( sorry, I've been misspelling it...)also had a stack of porno mags under the seat of his Volkswagen at the time of his arrest, if I remember correctly. He has his own website today...and what I find intriguing is the fact that his denomination has a church butted up directedly against AB...
It's a real "Elmer Gantry" scenario...Looks like Freud would be able to analyze this group's mindset very quickly...
"Sex bad but me want...me must combine sex with religious justification...Debil made me do sex...Me sorry....ooops! Me do it again....Me must be crazy...."

KRICO

Hey! Jesse Jackson just admitted to having aa affair and a child out of wedlock last year.

These preachers got it goin' on!

I sure am glad we have purified leaders like this to guide our youth!

Perhaps I should join the clergy - apparently that's where all the action is

Minuteman, Is it SERIOUSLY under an hour to Mexicali? By Helicopter, perhaps? I have never doone that trip, but in looking at it on a map, it would seem to me to be at least 90 minutes each way, and possibly longer. And I have a very capable sports car, although I need to keep the speedometer reading in the double digits, rather than the triple digits, in order to retain my driving privileges in California.

This issue is highly relevant to me, since I have a vacation home in the Palm Desert/La Quinta vicinity, and as you apparently know, there is precious little action to be had in the Coachella Valley. I have had to pay big bucks to get ladies to travel in from the San Bernardino/Ontario vicinity.

Dman, with due respect to Minuteman who may be running a Lamborghini down there with a police escort, I have made that drive a few times (Indio to Mexicali) - don't remember how long it took, but it seemed well more than an hour. It's not very far, but it is slow going getting out of Indio, then you encounter 2 lane stretches along the Salton Sea with lots of trucks and agricultural vehicles to pass and slow you down. Then it is slow going again as you drive through Brawley and El Centro and to the border. Definitely a much faster drive late at night than during the day.

As someone mentioned Palm Springs...is there anywhere to go there (strip clubs, massage)??? I am going to play golf in May with some friends and even a mediocre strip club would be good. We are actually staying in Palm Dessert but I had heard there is a neighboring town with something.

Any ideas?

Islandboy,
There's nothing in Palm Desert itself. The only strip club worth going to is Pope's in Palm Springs. I have heard that some of the girls there escort on the side, but I cannot confirm this with my own experience. There is also a VERY POOR strip club in Cathedral City, off of Perez road (I forgot the name it's so bad - i.e. no contact on table dances, no full nudity),

Also, Erip & Minuteman,
According to the Yahoo mapping site, it is 95 miles from Indio to Calexico, and the drive should take over 2 hours due to the conditions sighted above. And my car (an Acura NSX) is faster than a Lamborghini when gas station time and mechanical repair time are amortized against top driving speed. But I suspect that it would still take at least 90 minutes if one didn't want to lose one's license.

Islandboy, if you don't mind traveling 35-45 minutes west to San Bernadino, you can visit a strip club called "Flesh". It's an upscale club operated by the same guy who owns the two nastiest clubs in SoCal, Tropical Lei and Hawaii Theatre. It's a nice club and the dancers have very liberal attitudes in private VIP all nude lap dance areas, but it is pricey at $40/dance to go back there. You can get $20 topless laps in the main area, but you won't get the kind of mileage that is available in the back....not even close. More info and maps at www.tropicallei.com and www.zbone.com.`

That drive from Indio to Calexico is over 2 hours and it is not on freeways. It is 2 lane paved roads accross alternating farm land and waste land with a couple of toxic rivers clouding the sky with stench.

The one time I did that I parked at a shopping center in Calex and walked a ways. I would not do that for over night.

I defer to those who have actually made the drive. I've been going by my observations of maps and without knowledge of the traffic conditions North of Brawley. I've thought of making the trip each time I've been in the Palm Springs/Indio area- good thing I didn't try it as it apparently would have blown my schedule all to hell.

Pope's Nude Bar. Interesting place. Picture Mitchell Brothers at about a 1:10 scale, set up to cater to the biker crowd. $18 to get in when I was there, and the girls wern't all that great looking, but, they sure did get nasty on the stage. I tried one of the $40 nude laps and the girl gave what she promised ("... I allow touching ..."). She was pushing the 15 minute session for either $100 or $115 - I was thinking the way she described it that there would be at least some hand action involved.

From 29 Palms Casino to the border is 75 min early evening. I have done it several times. The problen is the many small towms or crossroads with lights. You can run at 80 in a reasonable car the road is not that bad.

694me-
That's a Pretty good clip - 95 miles in 75 minutes over 2 lane roads and going through traffic and local streets in several towns. You didn't by any chance ever used to work for NASCAR?

Minuteman: Mitchell Brothers??? That is a bold statement. Plus, I have never seen a biker in MB. Thanks for the info, though. I will check it out. Even the hope of something MB like would be worth looking into.
Erip: Do you know the city "Flesh" is in so I can map it (am from No. Cal so can't relate to 45 minutes west of Palm Springs).

Thanks Guys

Dman: 230 horsepower helps. There is not much traffic since the road is used by the produce trucks. Never seen a CHP and only a few sherrif cars. The distance is more like 85 miles from the casino I eat at.

Islandboy, Flesh is on Hospitality Lane within the city of San Bernardino - this street has an exit from I-10 (I think). And check out the 2 websites I referenced - they have reviews, address, maps and alot of other information.

Mitchell Bros. was kind of tounge in cheek. Pope's is a small hole-in-the-wall type bar with one stage and apparently only one private lap dance area in the back. Its Pope's that looks like a biker bar.

I just checked the Yahoo map deal. Indio to Calexico is 94 miles and 2 hours and 46 minutes. They plot their course down the west side of the Salton Sea.

I have always taken the eastern shore route (CA HWY 111) through Niland. It always takes me 45 minutes from Indio to the Wister Waterfowl Area just north of Niland. For the border you have another run of over an hour.

I do regularly see CHP units on 111. I also regularly see a fair number of Imperial County Sheriff's deputies (White vehicles with green stripes). Even more omnipresent are the forces of the Border Patrol. You will pass through a checkpoint on your way back north. On 111 it is just north of Niland. They interdict a huge volume of drugs here. I used to keep a trailer across the highway from the checkpoint. The locals would watch through binoculars at the drug busts.

If you get tired of the drive you can always check out the night life in Brawley or El Centro. Hah! This aint God's country. The American Legion post in Bombay Beach has the best burgers and cheap beer.

El Cabrio,

You stated that you had seen the photo of Jimmy Swaggert's Ho, and that "calling her coyote ugly is cruel to coyotes!" I feel that it is my DUTY to educate y'all on just what Coyote Ugly means: It has NOTHING to do with Coyotes being ugly - In fact, they are quite majestic beasts. Rather, the term refers to a particular survival technique of coyotes when they get caught in a trap: They chew their arm off in order to escape!

Coyote Ugly refers to when you wake up next to somone who you went to bed with in an extremely drunk state, and when you awaken and see just how ugly that she is, and she is asleep in your arms, YOU WOULD CHEW YOUR ARM OFF IN ORDER TO GET OUT OF THERE WITHOUT WAKING HER UP! That, my friend, is UGLY!

I'd second that, but it's really hard to type one handed....

Awhoooooo....

CURIOUS
Can you e-mail me,I seem to have lost your address in my file.I would like to hear from you.

My regards to DMan.
I just saw a coyote tonight with my yellow lab in the truck. Yes, they can be, and are majestic at times. But I wouldnt let my bitch be fucked by one. Nor Jimmy.

Jesse's Press Statement: The Rough Draft (many many many forwards deleted):

This is no time for evasions, denials or alibis,
The rainbow ended between her thighs.
I fully accept responsibility and will pay restitution
For using donor money to finance prostitution.
I am truly sorry for the way I acted,
But more so for not using a prophylactic.

Please allow me to express heartfelt contrition
For my unwanted commission of an elicit emission,
As I employed the missionary position.
Please forgive my misdirection,
For I was thinking with my erection
And did not use any protection.
And in retrospection,
Gave that girl a nine month infection
With my hot beef injection.

Finally, I ask you to believe
When I hit that booty I did not perceive
The crap would hit the fan and that ho would conceive.
Had I known that she was in a state of ovulation,
I would not have participated in copulation,
But rather would have settled for oral stimulation.
Now please accept my apology,
AND SEND THAT CHECK TO THE COALITION .. ASAP!

Sincerely,
Reverend Jesse

Speaking of Jesse....