Salton Sea 2011
Spotwalla/Spot tracking
Total: 472 miles
Total: 320 miles
Estimate time: 12 hours
Day
1 - [ Friday - July 8, 2011 ]
It's a short two day trip so we're traveling light. Once
again, the R12R as opposed to the 8GS. The choice is made
mostly because of laziness in maintenance.
Ortega HWY/Lake Elsinore.
Fools (Alphaville - Prostitute)
Pala Casino for brunch.
Funny things about the reflective tape...
It's nice and cool in Julian. What a quaint little town.
The people are really nice and we didn't even have to lock up our
stuff.
Thinking About You (Ivy - In the Clear)
This is just the start of the heat. The temps climb higher
as we get further into Anza Borrego.
The only way to survive the heat, wetting the cool vest.
It's freakin' HOT! 108-114F through Anza Borego. That
tops my record of riding in the heat without trying to purposefully
find heat (e.g. Death Valley). The last time I involuntarily
rode in 111F heat was when a heat wave struck Pasadena (Hell has nothing on
Pasadena!). Minh's thermometer showed 119F. The
cool vest took the temps down to the 75F so it was survivable.
However it only lasted for about 30 minutes. There were
several times I lifted my face shield only to be greeted by the hair
drier blast.
You can't see it from the video due to the wide angle lens, but
there was a car a blaze in the middle of a field. Crime
scene? Pyromaniac? Perhaps it's somebody who doesn't
realize that parking a hot car over tall dried/dead grass will lead
to a fiery, stinky, and smoky end for their mode of
transportation. BTW, here is proof that Hollywood is full of
it. Cars don't explode when they catch on fire. They
simply burn. The notion of gasoline boiling and pressuring the
gas tank to the point of exploding is completely bogus. There
are vent holes in the gas tank. Then again if you believe in
Hollywood physics, you should check yourself into the near mental
hospital, or you can simply use your cell phone to have Scotty beam
you up off of this crazy planet. Warp factor 9 Mr. Sulu.
Engage!
At last! The Salton Sea. Things have changed. Minh
and I are caught standing for a short time to reasses the situation
from the last time we were here. I can't believe it's been
more than three years already. It looks a lot better.
Like somebody wanting to revive the area.
The North Shore Beach & Yacht Club was previously an abandoned
restaurant, or something like that. There was also a two story
crumbling hotel that no longer exist.
Apparently Riverside County has decided to resurrect the area.
It can only be guessed as to how much money was sunk into this area
for this level of revitalization. At the same time, this
building looks recently completed and doesn't appear to be
populated. Either that or people are on an extended 4th of
July weekend. Who knows.
Total: 152 miles
Estimated time: 6 hours
Day
2 - [ Saturday - July 9, 2011 ]
9:00AM in the morning and it's already in the 96F. It's going
to be a hot day.
Empty...
Empty...
Loaded...
... traveling light.
Instead of taking the I10 straight home, we went the roundabout
direction. In other words the 74 and the 243 HWY. Once
we got into the higher elevations, I'm reminded that I'm riding in
Yosemite or the Inyo National Forest. Awesome! It's so
cool to have such an environment so close to home.
What I didn't realize this entire day was the battery pack I was
using for the helmet cam had a chaffed cable. As a result, I
wasn't able to video any of the ride back home.
At the outskirts of Idyllwild we stop for a break at the three way
intersection. Next thing we know, we're greeted by a train of
Porsches. One, two, three, four, ... and on and on.
There must have been at least 30 Porsches. These people
definitely has some bucks, or they owe a lot of bucks.
What's the deal with all these Porsches? ...
Here's another train...
Oh... that looks like the last of them...
Nope! Here's that last one.
Once we touch upon the I10, we're pretty much home. Except for
one crazy ass charter bus speeding at 80+ MPH, it was an uneventful
trip home.
Written on: July 9, 2011
Last modified: July 26, 2011
