Our flight was due to depart at 9am. We decided to get to the airport early to allow time to get through the TSA crush. We caught the 6am shuttle to the airport. The check in and baggage drop was surprisingly very efficient. Our boarding passes have TSA PRECHK printed on them, We had no idea about this before but because we filled out the ESTA before coming to America we are considered as TSA Pre Checked and This allowed us to go through the express lane. Not even five minutes to clear security. Got through and ready to fly by 6.45. About 1.5 hours to sit around before boarding. DFW is massive, at least four runways operational at any one time. Walking from our hotel to the bar last night we could see four rows of planes stacked up to the horizon all coming in to land at DFW. Looked like about four planes a minute landing. Boarded at the normal time but storms surrounding DFW. We sat on the Tarmac for about 40 minutes then routed north around the storms. It was definitely a bumpy take off and climb. Where DFW was orderly and appeared well organised LAX is organised chaos. Even picking up the hire car, you get a bus from the terminal to the hire car sites, all buses packed and you hand to fight to get on, makes it all the worse when you are lugging two suitcases each plus carry on . Once you get to the hire car office you have to take a ticket and sit around waiting. They had 20 attendants dealing with customers and we still waited 30 minutes. We ended up with a big Ford Explorer that is only 3000miles old. It is much bigger than the jeep, bit of a monster actually. The boot is that big I can fit three large suitcases and a big bag. If I had to chose between the two I would take the jeep. The ride seems soft, wallows on the road and when overtaking truck wallows a bit when you hit their turbulence. It is fine for the California freeways though. We hit the freeway and within five minutes were in a traffic jam, however LA have really good HOV+2 lanes (High Occupancy Vehicles) on their freeways and once in these lanes we ripped along. It is about 160K east to Palm Spring, normally once we clear LA and get out near San Bernadino the traffic eases up. Not this time though, packed all the way. Right next to Palm Springs is Mt San Jacinto, 10800ft above sea level. It is 33c driving along and we are looking up at snow. Will take the Aerial tramway up there over the next few days to have a look. Heading in to Palm Springs is the largest wind farm I have ever seen, they are even installed up the side of the mountains. They are located in a valley between two large mountain ranges and I am assuming this becomes a wind tunnel. Palm Springs is a funny place, an oasis in the middle of the desert. They call it a retirement village because of the great climate, close to LA and all the golf courses. It is however a very vibrant place with lots of cafes and bars. It is surrounded by mountains which make for some spectacular scenery. It also has a big casino right next to the city centre. It is a great place to wind down before we head home.