That's what it seems like. She may have been heading South, or could have pinged from Coachella itself.
In rural areas cell towers often have a farther reach, because there are fewer of them.
In rural areas cell towers often have a farther reach, because there are fewer of them.
If you are looking at a map of the Coachella Valley, from left to right, the towns go Palm Desert, Indio, Coachella, Thermal, Mecca, Desert Shores.
IMO Palm Desert is considered central Coachella Valley. Anything right of the city of Indio would be considered east Coachella Valley. Once you get to Desert Shores you are halfway to Brawley, and that is no longer within the Coachella Valley.
I saw that someone had posted a while back that they looked at where our local cell towers were, and that there was one in Thermal, but not another until you got to Desert Shores, which seems correct. That area isn't very populated, as it is mainly agricultural. I'm not sure how many cell towers "Eastern Coachella Valley" actually has, but it seems like a rather vague term for anything right of Indio. The city of Coachella is heavily populated, but once you go east of that it gets very rural. AM could have honestly pinged at one of several towers within her hometown. Or she pinged at the last tower leaving town on her way to Brawley...