How Old People Travel

This is not a first-hand account but more of an observational posting.

My family regularly uses a highway that is highly used  by people traveling to and from Palm Springs, among other resorty-vacation destinations outside of the greater Los Angeles/Orange County area. This makes for a lot of interesting people watching.

We see a lot of trailers. We see tent-trailers, boat trailers, and trailers towing sea-doos or ATVs. The trucks towing these recreational vehicles are usually filled with multiple people. And the drivers of these trucks frequently do not have the patience to wait in traffic and like to use carpool lanes. Except that. It's against the law for a trailer to be in anything but the two right-most lanes on a freeway. Did you know that? Lots of drivers of trailers either don't know that or they like to take their chances. We see them pulled over.

We see lots of cars loaded with suitcases and duffle bags, too. Sometimes these items are piled high on the roofs of cars and mini-vans. The people that crack me up are the ones who seem to have lots and lots of space inside their cars but have chosen to pile their cargo on the roof of their vehicles anyway. What's that about?

But here's the one that puzzles me the most. Not in a "Why do that do that?" kind of way but "Why does only this one group of people do this?" sort of way:

Have you ever seen old people with the closet rods hanging from the backseat of their cars? And then they have their clothes hanging on them? Like they don't want to wrinkle their clothes so instead of using luggage, they're going to just bring their closets with them.

Yeah, them.

I'm sorry to sound stereotypical here but it's ALWAYS old people. I never see anyone who appears to be under the age of 80 with these things in their cars. 

It's the people who are doing 55 in the carpool lane, even though the posted speed limit is 65, (or 70!) because, well, there's two of them dangnabit it, and even though there is no traffic on the rest the freeway, they're going to drive in the carpool lane. 

With their clothes hanging from the rod going across their back seat.

Here's the part that prompted this post - because the old people in the carpool lane going 55 MPH or less wasn't actually it - The license plate frames on their cars always, always indicate that their cars were purchased in Palm Springs, Palm Desert or Cathedral City. What's up with that?

Now we all know that the Coachella Valley area is not the only part of California with a higher than average population of retired senior citizens. And the freeways we travel boast license plate frames from several of those other areas including but limited to Hemet, Victor Valley, Sun City, Murrieta and more. And yet, those vehicles don't carry traveling closet rods. Usually.

Is there some big company in Palm Desert that specializes in mounting closet rods on car ceilings? Is it a regular Dealer Option that they figured out would sell a lot more cars to old people? Is there some obsession with wrinkle free wardrobes in Palm Desert? Are people in Palm Desert just too lazy to take their clothes off the hangers and pack them in a suitcase?

I don't know what it is.

But next time you are traveling on any of the east-west corridors of Southern California and see a car with a closet rod installed in the backseat, bet me the license plate frame will reveal that the car was purchased in the Palm Springs area.

And then you will think of my perky self and hopefully you will smile.

Before you say "Dangnabit, she was RIGHT."