Joel Perlish; USA/MEXICO/CANADA DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY & THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008 by Joel Perlish

Joel Perlish; USA/MEXICO/CANADA DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY & THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008 by Joel Perlish

July 17, 2008 - Thursday - Day 17
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
-- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 240 - Total Miles - 4457
Kingman,AZ- to Barstow,CA
Routes 40W and 15S
(-staying at a Red Roof Inn -)
(AZ-CA)
- THE HAIRDRYER EFFECT! -

It was a wonderful awakening in the room there on the mountaintop. And I got right to work on tightening up and finishing yesterday's journal page.

Clark went to the grocery store for some soy milk and to the post office - and sure enough there was the package I had expected - with the Life Is Good caps - one tan, one blue. It was terrific that the package came in time, and it sure brought a huge smile to my face.

I was invited to stay another day, and I decided to do so - BUT then I realized that it would be close to a 500 mile travel day on Friday to make it to Ensenada. And that would be surely too much. Also, I had to be at the meeting place with Charles by noon.
I made some calls to check about the Mexican MC insurance. And it's a good thing I did. The dates on the policy were wrong. They were promptly righted.

Clark and I had much more wonderful conversation, and then we went on a little walk around the property and the little house next door that Clark had had built. It will make a great bachelor pad for his son it seems. Or he may rent it out. The downstairs was a workshop for Clark, and the upstairs was a cozy little apartment. It still wasn't quite finished, but one could sure see the potential. I noticed a small tree on the property, and Clark proudly noted it was planted as just a twig only a year ago.

The far mountains seemed to be in a fog or something. I mentioned it and was told it was smoke from the recent California forest fire disaster.
I asked if we might walk up to the little ridge, but Clark said there was a little problem - the snakes. I decided to forego the trek.

Clark solved the unfathomable mystery of how to fold the motorcycle cover into it's own pocket. I've tried to figure it out many times, and asked others to help me. But no one could do it. I only wish I had watched him more closely.
I was obsessing a bit about the gravel I'd have to be going over to leave that garage, but Clark chimed in with, “Hey, if you leave a lot later, it'll be dark. Then you won't have to worry about it.”

At about 4ish we went back to the garaged bike, and after a bit of conversation with Ginny, Clark led the way while I mainly duckwaddled the Nomad down he driveway, out onto the dirt road, and then, finally, to the paved portion.

We said some more good-byes, and I headed down old Route 66 for about twenty miles to then meet up with I-40 and headed west.

Want an idea of what much of today's riding was like? Okay, here's what you want to do: First, get yourself one of those handheld hairdryers. Set it on the low setting. Put it up against your hands and face. Leave it like that for say, an hour and a half. Then occasionally put it at Medium. And then maybe four, five, or six times an hour put it up on the HIGH setting. And you'll then have a good idea what it was like out on a motorcycle on the highway today. Oh, your hands. Also put them occasionally into a skillet that's about to fry something. That's the way the chrome on the bike felt. Seriously, I couldn't leave my fingertips on it for long… I checked with the National Weather Service. When I left Kingman, it was 102 degrees. When I was passing through Needles,AZ, it was 110 degrees.

I was surprised to come up to an inspection station at the California border. The chap there waved me right by, but several cars were stopped and inspected. I saw several pieces of fruit were confiscated. I was asked if I had any food with me. I said how I had a couple granola bars, and then he told me to go on…

Around 5:30pm I rolled along the edge of the Mohave desert.
It was a lot of steady riding today. I headed into the western evening sun, head down, and blasted down the highway. At Newberry Springs I paid the highest for gas of the trip so far - $5.19/gal for premium.

I really had wanted to make Victorville - in the very least to honor my friend and co-worker at home (Victor), and for the most part to have less miles to travel tomorrow to meet Charles Grey, 1959 Haverford grad, who was going to escort me through the border. And then we'd be going on to his home, about 100 miles south in Ensenada.

I hadn't run this morning on the mountain, so I loped over to the nearby Subway this evening for a superb salad sandwich with some avocado cut and spread on it.
Back at the Red Roof Inn room I caught up on emails, began writing these journal notes, and also did some planning for tomorrow's big day.


To view many of the photos from today and the whole trip, you can check out
http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=45&user_id=42473&event=196141. Some folks have reported trouble with this link, but most find that it works. Sometimes it takes two tries… Also, you can check out the past day journal entries by going to joelperlish.com, and clicking on the appropriate trip down at the bottom on the left hand corner, by going to http://www.joelperlish.com/blog/blog.html... and/or you can just email me back and I'll put you on the daily send list.)