Cool, almost chilly morning. I kept telling myself I was storing up the cool for when it got hot this afternoon. Sorta worked. The first few miles were definitely cool. All my cold weather stuff was buried so I just toughed it out. Only lasted less than an hour.
Just a few miles down the road there was a Bottle Farm. It was probably an acre or more of bottle trees, all colors, with a sign at the entrance that welcomed you to walk through. I didn’t take time to do that but I got a couple pictures.
Today was so different than the last three. We got into civilization and it was odd to be going through big towns, still in the desert. Much more interesting though.
We had a long gentle climb out of camp that took us to the top of Cajon Pass. The climb was tedious but the downhill was way steeper and hairy. Plus the downhill was on the interstate. Four miles of 6% grade. I stopped three times to rest my hands and make sure my rims weren’t getting hot. I just pump my brakes and try to keep it around 30 mph. Getting chicken in my old age, I guess. Just don’t like speed.
The signs at the top warned about keeping your speed down and said that there was 12 miles of steep downhill. Fortunately, we only had to ride a third on the interstate, then we got off on old rte66. So much more pleasant.
All in all a good day. We will be in traffic all day tomorrow for our last day. I am ready to be done. The body is tired.
This has been a good trip and I’m really glad I didn’t do it alone. I like rural and small towns but the Mojave desert had mostly ghost towns. You could ride for 60 miles and see no one. Just a little too sparse for me. I guess of all my riding across America, MT and ND were my favorites. And as I mentioned before, OK, TX, and NM were my least favorite.
People ask, what’s my next trip. I honestly can’t say at this time. I need to stay home and take care of my business in the summer months but I might consider going to Australia in the winter, their summer. All I can think about right now is getting home and putting my house back in shape. I have stuff in storage, carpets need to be cleaned, gardens need to be winterized, and my Explorer needs attention (as in dead battery). No rest for me for a while.
I noticed I had wrong days and dates on a couple previous posts. They have been corrected.
62.5 miles today. 6164.6 total
BikerAl Across America 2018 