The First Week (A Look Back)

As I write this I am lying down on a hard bed in a pretty cheap motel. $30 a night doesn't get you much, but it does get you wireless internet, a warm shower and a warm place to sleep. The past few nights have been cold but fun and cheap. Anyway, here we go...back in time to the first week of the trip:
After the third day (Thursday February 3), we headed from Palm Desert to the Salton Sea. What a ride that was! It was almost down hill the whole way. The Salton Sea is 240 ft below sea level so it is only obvious that it was. It was a little breezy but not too bad. We ended up taking the CA111 the entire way. Not much to view. When we started, we saw a huge white cloud in the distance and we both thought we were heading into a dust storm. What a nice way to start. First a bunch of wind on day 2, now a huge dust storm. Anyway, onto more of the trip.
We kept riding and riding and riding away. We came to a small town and decided to get some lunch there. The first place we stopped at was called Loco Toro. However that place was a market of sorts. We didn't want to get food to make, we just wanted to get something to eat and be on the way. As I left the store and was telling Streetz about the store, a woman came out of the store and recommended a place down the street.
We pulled up and set our bikes to the side of the door. A couple of women walked into the restaraunt and one of them told us to lock our bikes up. We told her it would be pretty hard to get away with them because they are so heavy, but she responded that 'you don't know the people here. I would lock them up.' We took her advice and locked them together. While we were eating a gentleman came up and asked us where/what/how/why we were doing. We told him some things and asked him about the dust cloud from earlier. He told us they burn off the crops in the morning so everything smells funny and that is why the cloud was there. Nice. That question was answered and it put out the idea of a dust storm. Now the day looked really easy and almost done.
As we came closer, we could see the sea and were getting excited about almost being there. We kept riding until we came across a camp site. This first site didn't allow tent camping and we had to continue down the road for one more mile. Off on the road again.
Once we got there and checked out the camping spots, we were stoked! There were a few spots at the very end of the site that were right on the beach. We posted up, used the restroom, then I went to pay the camp hosts. They gave us a hiker/biker deal but we couldn't stay at the spot we started to set up. So we moved directly across the parking area and still had a really good spot. After setting up, we got out our cameras and went to the beach/shore of the sea. We were in shoes, luckily, and were noticing how crunchy it was. Then we saw why all the birds were around the water line...TONS OF DEAD FISH!!! It was crazy! All these dead fish and all the beautiful scenery behind it. Then we realized what that crunchy sand was...FISH SKELETONS!!!
I mean, WOW! Then the sun was setting and the colors were coming out on the sky and the water, the birds were out flying on the water and the bones of the fish were something else that added a weird beauty to it.
After taking tons of pictures we started a fire and began to have our dinner. That was a pretty fun night. I didn't put up the fly on my tent that night and I'm glad I didn't. It was beautiful underneath the stars out there. It was a good night to camp and a good night to think.
The next morning (Saturday February 5) we headed out and needed to get a lot of riding done. We needed to make it to Brawley if we wanted to be on schedule to be in Yuma on Monday. Back to the grind again. We had a snack and were on the way.
After a few miles of riding we saw a turnout for Bombay Beach and decided to get sme food there. As we turned in we saw a big painted sign that said 'Fish Fry Today.' It was at the local American Legion. We thought that was pretty neat, but it was later in the day and didn't have time to wait so we kept riding the Legion. To give you an example of how small this town was, there were 5 streets and they were named appropriately: 1st street, 2nd street, etc.
We passed what looked like a house with a marquee outside that said 'Ski Inn: Cold Drinks, Good Food. It looked like it hadn't been touched in years but there were cars outside. We decided to pass that and go to the market that was right down the street. I checked out the market and came right back out. Nothing for us in there. The market man told me the Ski Inn had food and drinks, so that is where we went.
We pulled up on our bikes and put them off to the side and walked in. To our surprise there were about 10 people inside having drinks. It was the local bar and restaraunt. An older couple asked us about our trip as soon as we walked in, so we told them a little about it then we headed to a bar stool and sat down. After asking for a food menu and ordering a couple drinks, we soon realized that this was probably the coolest little bar we would find.
It had super cracked tile, dollar bills stuck on the walls and ceiling of the bar, a sign that said 'Don't talk about yourself while you're here, we'll do enough of that when you leave' and a real local/hometown feeling to it. There were people from Slab City, Canada, locals waiting for their sister from the valley. Listening to them talk about the sheriff, who posted up down the street waiting for people to leave the bar, was pretty funny. The bartender was an older gentleman and he was telling these stories about how crappy but cool the sheriff is. Once we ate and had a couple drinks in us, we began to become integrated into the conversation. The couple next to us were from Slab City and the dude was trying to tell us about it and that we should go. He couldn't get much out though, it seemed like he had a stroke or something so his speaking was difficult to understand, so he used his hands a lot and was able to get his point across. At one point we ordered a shot, because it was so cheap, and he got oooober excited for us. It was like he had never seen anybody order a shot in there before. It was pretty cool.
We told the bartender we were headed to Brawley and he said we would want to leave as soon as we got there. Not a very nice spot. I kind of chuckled to myself because everybody is telling us these stops on the trip aren't very nice and we will want to get out as soon as we get there. I had been taking that sort of talk with a grain of salt.
We said our goodbyes to our new friends and went back outside to our bikes. We both thought that bar/restaraunt was probably the coolest thing yet, besides the sunset from the previous night.
Off we went with a good feeling for the day and food in our bellies. Along the way, we kept seeing abandoned houses so we decided to take a look in a few of them and see what was there. The first one was in the middle of nowhere and had lots of land behind it. There we grabbed a bunch of insulation for the stoves we would be using for camping and we checked out the land. There were a couple stripped down trucks in the very back and just a bunch of random, old, rusted out stuff. Nothing we needed for the trip. The next two were side-by-side and looked like they were homes at one point. These were in a small town and just off the HWY. There we got some pretty cool pictures and I found a decanter that was from a golfing championship in 1971. I didn't want it, but Streetz said he would hang onto it and decide later if he wanted to keep it.
It was starting to get late, so he headed out and tried to make up some of the time we lost while we were goofing around. Night fell and we still weren't there, so we turned on our lights and pushed through. You have to realize that night falls around 6ish so it really wasn't that late at all, just dark.
We finally cycled into Brawley and it looked like a run down peice of a ghetto town. Buildings closed up, people out on the streets and just a not too good feeling when we arrived. We stopped off at a market to get some food for camping and such. We both went inside but soon Streetz had a bad feeling about our bikes outside, so I went out to stay with the bikes as he got some things for camping.
It is a good thing I went when I did because some dude was right there looking at them and when I came out he immediately asked me for change. He did not look like a guy I wanted to be talking too. I told him I'm in the same boat he is, sorry. Then he walked on and another sketchy looking character came rolling up with a big trash bag slung over his shoulder. He dropped off the bag by our bikes and walked to the parking lot on the other side of the market door. He came back with a man and they were looking at the bag and trying to barter for something, all the while Streetz and I were trying to hurry up and get the food packed and get out of Dodge!
We finally did and decided to go to a Jack in the Crack to replentish the calories we just burned off in the day. As soon as we pull in, a weird lurker came and sat outside with us. He didn't go inside or anything, just sat down and started talking to us. I told Streetz I was going in first to get some food and I'd watch the bikes so he could go in after I ordered. I ordered, then it was my turn to talk to creepo.
He just looked shady and gave us a bad feeling. With the questions he was asking and what he was saying it almost seemed like he wanted US to offer him drugs or wanted to get into our pants or something, either way he just wouldn't go away. Once I saw my food come out I went to grab it and noticed that a table inside near the door had opened up. I set my food on the table and went back out to grab my bike and Streetz and get away from this dude. As we were pulling our bikes into the dining area, he told us he would watch them for us and we could just go ahead and eat our dinner. Ha! Yeah right! Thats alright. We'll just bring them in.
We had only been in town for maybe 15 minutes and already wanted to leave, just like the bartender told us. And it was only 7ish! After eating we checked the map for camp sites and couldn't find one so, instead of camping off the road with all the creepers lurking about, we decided to hotel it another night.
The next day, Sunday February 6, was a beautiful day. Warm and with the wind to our backs. To look at Brawley during the day, you would not expect to see what we saw at night. It was so nice out that we decided to ride shirtless and try to get some color.
Riding, riding, riding. Oh, I did something sort of note worthy: I peed from my bike while riding! That was interesting. Anyway, we were passing fields and fields of green crop to burned off crop. When we hit Interstate 8, we found that we could not ride on it so we had to take the back roads that paralled it. Rough roads and heading into the wind made for a long ride. We stopped a few times, once next to some hay bails to refill our water bottles. It was so warm out we were going through water like nobody's business.
We found HWY 115 that paralled the 8 after our side roads ran out. That was a terrible road. It looked as if it hadn't been repaired in years. It was hard to find any smooth spot that didn't have 4inch cracks in it. Once we got through that, we had to get on the 8 for about a mile. We found a side road and climbed through the barbed fencing to get to it. We were officially in the sand dunes.
That was so hard to push the bikes through. I'm not sure how much my bike weights but in soft sand in just sinks. It was rough, but we found a place to camp and we didn't have to pay for it. As the sun set, we ate our dinner and passed out after a good day of riding.
Monday February 7, the day we would arrive in Yuma! We got up with the sun and packed our things. Again we had to get on the Interstate, but this time there was a bike sign that led us onto it. Phew! At least now we were allowed to be on it!
Riding and riding again. We got off the Interstate to follow a frontage road and came across Center of the World Drive. As we rode on this street, we passed a granite museum of something and came up to a Highway Patrol station. I wanted to go inside and see if we were on the right path and what to do about riding on the Interstate. Sheryl, one of the desk ladies in there, answered our questions and said just keep going you're almost there. She informed us that we could be on the Interstate as long as there is no frontage road following it. That was just what we needed to hear, almost there and it was ok to ride on the Interstate.
Just after that, we crossed over to a gas station and got a couple things for breakfast. We had time to kill so we stayed there and ate and goofed around. Then we had to be on our way. It seemed real easy to cross over into AZ and over into a new time zone. We followed the directions I had right into the middle of Yuma. At that point Kenny called me and said he was at the hotel and would be coming to get us soon. So we stopped in an alley way next to a cemetery. Just as we stopped they called and said they were on the way and off the Interstate, asking for directions. About 8 minutes later they were there to pick us up.
They took us to the Quechan Hotel and Casino, where they had booked the rooms, and boom! off to Mexico we went. Streetz didn't have his passport so he stayed back at the hotel while we went international.
I'm going to leave this one here for now, I've got to get ready to leave the hotel I'm staying at and I want to shower before I hit the road. Thank you all for your continued support. Just keep updating yourselves here and you may be surprised with what you find.