About Us

Two Guys.
A Very Full Passport

A home base in Palm Springs, a decade of travel notes from across the map, and one desert home we still love enough to share.

Meet Your Hosts

Hi — we're Jim & Rod.

We met in Minneapolis, fell in love over long-distance hikes, and discovered Palm Springs the way most people do: a five-day trip in February that wasn't supposed to be life-changing and absolutely was.

One trip became two became a standing March reservation became — eventually — buying a house here. Then writing about it. Then more writing. R&J Property and Travel is what came out of it all: a Palm Springs travel journal, one home we still hand-host, and a way to point readers toward the places, people, and experiences we've loved along the way.

We're still based part-time in St. Paul, but you'll usually find us in the desert. Sometimes we'll meet you at check-in. Always, we're a phone call away.

2016

First Trip

150+

Journal Entries

★5.0

Guest Rating

42%

Repeat Readers

How We Do It

Three Things We Won't Budge On

A short list of principles that's stayed the same since the first guest walked in.

01

The home should feel ready.

Coffee in the cabinet. Soap that smells nice. Towels folded properly. Whatever you needed at home, you should find here — and a few small luxuries you didn't know you wanted.

02

The price should be the price.

No resort fees. No cleaning fees that double the quoted rate. No mystery service charges. The number on the booking confirmation is the number you pay.

03

The host should be a human.

We pick up the phone. We answer texts. We've personally handled every guest issue since 2019, day or night. There's no support queue. Just us.

The Story

How we got here.

2016

The First Trip

A long February weekend with friends. We came back with sunburns, a Pendleton blanket, and an unshakable feeling that we'd been missing out.

2018

Single Story Slice of Heaven

We bought our first Palm Springs home — originally just for us. Friends kept asking to borrow it. Eventually we put it on Airbnb. The phone hasn't stopped ringing.

2021

The Journal Begins

Guests kept asking for our restaurant list, our hike recommendations, and where we sent friends for spa days. We finally wrote it all down and put it on the internet. It surprised us by taking off.

2024

Biltmore Retreat

A second home for the big trips — a five-bedroom resort-style property we keep mostly for family and long stays. We open it up when the right group asks.

Today

A Journal + One Home

Our energy goes into the journal now — new guides monthly, curated partner recommendations, and the occasional preview of open dates at Slice of Heaven. We simplified. We're happier this way.

Why Palm Springs

This place does something to you.

Palm Springs slows you down. The light is different. The pace is different. You walk slower, you eat outside, you sleep deeper. The mountains do most of the talking.

We're not the first people to fall for the desert and we won't be the last. But we are pretty determined to make sure that every guest who stays with us gets to feel even a little of what we felt that first February.

Say Hello

Come Stay With Us.

Three homes, one standard, two hosts who actually answer the phone.

Or call us — Jim 612-716-4002 · Rod 651-329-9172