I have to run to the hospital for a bit shortly so this will have to be short.
Yes, yesterday I wrote quite a bit about why I thought they could go to Deer Springs instead.
Frankly I don't really see it as THAT out of the way, and I absolutely (and very strongly) think it's far, far, far more likely they did NOT intend to go the back way to La Quinta (again, no restroom stops possible for Dianna as has been said she needed, more desolate, a "harder" drive, etc)
I think it's far more likely they were going to take the major route - which really is NOT much longer because you can drive at freeway speeds, don't have the frequent issue of getting stuck behind a slow car on the winding one lane road, etc. - and were going to take 15 to 215 to 60 to 10 - especially since THOSE are the roads they'd know more from driving out their normally from home!
As far as pinging at Deer Springs instead of going north to Gopher Canyon, like I wrote in GREAT DETAIL yesterday, I am quite sure that much of coming down Lilac / Old Castle that you could ping the Deer Springs tower - and so if they went off the road coming down, that wouldn't surprise me.
There are other reasons Deer Springs wouldn't surprise me - YES it's 4.2 miles from the Old Castle Road they could have taken down from Valley View vs. .2 to Gopher Canyon - but there are many reasons they could have done that that I don't see as odd, especially since you can drive quite quickly on Champagne Blvd, so speed wise it wouldn't be very low and it's really only like 4 minutes from Old Castle to the Deer Springs entrance, it's not like a 10 mile detour that I think some are seeing it as.
Things like taking a different turn coming down from Valley Center Road (assuming they actually went left instead at the intersection where the white cars went right) is a very easy one, especially since there are SO many options from up at the top of the hill over to the freeway.
Deer Springs is also more of a "main" entrance/exit to 15 than Gopher Canyon is, in that it's the more main route to go to things like the Lawrence Welk Resort and other attractions over on that side of the freeway.
It's also got "services" at that exit, which many others don't on the ones immediately north of it.
That can be a HUGE thing and absolutely make it a more memorable exit than something else would be. And when you've got a couple who already spent 2+ hours in the car driving there, and then had another 2+ hour drive to the desert (with a lot of that also having stretches with minimal services) they might have known that was an easy gas option from passing it.
Like I said, many of the few options further north end up with huge delays getting off the freeway (the one at the south end of Temecula, and absolutely if you wait until you're nearer to Temecula proper, etc.) and without a doubt I'd stop at that Arco / AM/PM at Deer Springs if I needed gas or even a bathroom break.
More on Champagne in another post revisiting my highlights from when I wrote (and included pictures) about the specifics of the terrain and what they'd pass briefly before I go to the hospital, then I'm out of here for now.
