Tank to tank is correct! It was long and HOT! I did not stop for pictures because they would have been distant bumps and flat space or bumps leading to flat space. So much of the land supports no life and looks like big dirt piles. Like after Armagedden. There was a stream of traffic and brutal wind. I stayed comfortable by stopping frequently and drinking water plus soaking my shirt. That would last about 30 miles.
I covered 431 miles today. The satellite pictures on Google Maps show as much as I saw. The white areas on the sat pics are sand collecting around the edges of each basin I passed through. So I will give you what was in my head rather than what was in my eyes.
Hurricane is pretty cool. You just drop on large switchbacks into a valley which is Hurricane. As you leave, it gets rapidly hotter and flatter. As I got onto I 15, I was the slowest thing running down the highway. I think I was passed by a granny driving a 50 foot camper with a boat in tow. And I was speeding. So to entertain myself I had an internal dialogue going all day. Here are clips of it:
Hmmmm...I wonder if I can miss the reflectors every time I change lanes?
Hit...no
Hit...nope
Hit hit hit hit hit.
Miss whoo hoo! Wait. Is that good? Doing what I want once only?
hit hit...maybe I should TRY to hit the things.
miss miss miss
sigh ...I still did it once. I could look at the record differently. It doesn't have to be a failure. Guys hit on girls and even nope, no way, never, go away, get lost, ....(a hundred hits later) OK, is a win. That's it, I will think like a guy.
hit...hit...hit...miss...WHOOHOO!!!! I win.
Maybe I should ride the rumble strip while singing Row Row Row Your Boat.
IS that an officer?
I should stop and take a picture of that. Can trucks really have three trailers behind them? It is like a train on the road. Geez it is hot. I hate the way the tires wear flat in the center. Good thing the wind is blowing hard and making me ride leaned over. No engine braking? hehehe I am so lawless.
Things I have learned while on the road this trip.
1. Margaritas don't replace electrolytes
2. Soaking your shirt with water at a gas station gets attention...especially if you do it like you are in that Flashdance movie.
3. No matter how you pack the duffle bag, what you need is on the bottom.
4. Your lower legs get sore.
5. Yoga positions can be done while riding.
6. I have now experienced a desert BREEZE and breeze, my butt.
7. When you are enthusiastically gulping water down and find that you are being watched, belch loudly. That way they will not be embarrassed alone.
8. When you cool off, heat up, cool off, heat up all day, your sweaty pants will glue you to your seat.
9. All of your finger nails will eventually break.
10. Don't pass up gas.
Miss....hit hit hit
Fractions could be entertaining....I have done 30 miles out of 431 Will that reduce?
Now 31 out of 431 Pretty sure that won't reduce.
Miss
I am hungry!
Shut up stomach. You are not the boss of me.
Car load of guys! Suck your gut in... Yeah...what do you think of me now?
Wait sit in the cool ride position! One hand on hip and one on handle bar.
I'm bad all right. I mean, I am bad because I drifted into that drivers lane. Sorry. Stop trying to be cool cause you can't pull it off.
I am hungry
Shut up
hit
35 out of 431
Good song!
I am hungry
Shut up
hit
missmiss miss
Vegas!! I have been there. The day I married my 'baby daddy' (learned that from my kids I teach), Mark came to see me and asked me to not get married. I had no idea. So he moved away. It was good for him, too. I found him 2 years after my divorce. He had me fly to see him in Vegas where he lived, but flew to work every day on the airline with no name. It was known as JANET...Just Another Non Existant Terminal. He showed me a great time there...Hoover Dam, all the sights, dinner in the Statosphere. A great guy!
hit
I am hungry!
Shut up.
231 out of 431
Boron
Borax...hey that reminds me of the Twenty Mule Team Borax Ads.
Well look at that....Twenty Mule Team Borax Street
I thought Boron was a gas. What is that stuff those trucks are carrying that looks like cotton balls. Get back in your own lane missy.
Pay attention cause you could die out here.
hit...
miss
miss miss miss miss I am getting better. Why does the GPS say Bakersfield is 78 miles away and the road sign says 98? HEY! Zzyxz Road!
Dang...if I had another kid I would definitely name it Zzyxz.
This trip reminds me of the last year of grad school when the Intramural Department sent 18 of us to San Diego.
Is that an officer?
I am hungry
Shut up!!! Don't make me turn this bike around.
We went to San Diego in two OLD airport limos. One was a Checker and the other was a Pontiac. On the way out the 9 in one car bought water pistols and ambushed us at a stop. We owed them. So on the way back, the plan was to do a group Mooning. It was a great plan. I was the only girl so I drew driver. There was one guy for each window down the side and two guys for the back window. they all got posed for the moment and told me to go. 8 Butts to glass, we shot by. We had been riding for over 30 hours straight at that time and we were riding with windows down. It was at the climatic moment of the Moon that we quickly realized the weak point in our plan as the aroma of 8 butts with 30 riding hours hit us all at once.
That has to be an officer.
Yawn
Why am I going 50 in a 70? There really is an officer.
hit miss miss
343 out of 431. Is 431 prime?
Ok the GPS says I am here, but I am at Tehatchapi. Fun roads. Oh...I see Bakersfield National Cemetery.
I am hungry...
OK there is a room for 38 bucks with a Mexican restaurant in the parking lot. You have been good and can have a Margarita.
431 out of 431....now that reduces.
You know you do it too.
I called Fitty in Stockton. I am headed up the coast, but I won't make Stockton til the next day. Fitty is cooking up a meet up at a cool biker hang out and a ride back to his place. I get to see ocean tomorrow!