July
2, 2012
Lake
Forest CA
Yuma
AZ
Left
Kettleman’s early with the sun shining….how nice. Headed south and immediately hit the
construction one lane delays….except there were none at this hour on a Monday
morning. Rode all the way to the
Grapevine and missed the exit where the In-N-Out is located. But took the next one and found a Denny’s
there….so I treated myself to a good breakfast.
When
I went to fill up (I wanted a full tank to go over the big hill….just in case)
at the Shell station I was shocked to see they were charging $4.80 a
gallon. That is pure thievery!
The
ride over the hill went fine. But
getting through Burbank was hell. The
roads are really rough and traffic is crazy.
Downtown LA was flowing good but again, crazy drivers all in a
hurry. I should write a note about the
franticness of Americans when on the road.
Anyhow, I was unable to merge to the left for the I-5 continuation and
was forced to go onto the I-10W. So I
took the first exit and ended up in no man’s land. Left turns weren’t allowed so I just went
into a recycling place and backed the bike out onto the road and headed to
where I thot there might be a ramp.
Oops, no luck….but found a road going parallel under the freeway and got
lucky…a ramp directly to the I-5! As I
headed towards OC I noticed the other side of the freeway heading into LA was
bumper to bumper at a slow crawl. And it
is only 2pm.
Finally
in OC I stopped first at the Harley store to buy a pair of goggles that can fit
over eyewear for my night riding. Also
tried to get a mount for the Garmin that I bought….but no luck.
Back
home it was good to see the kids and grand kids. They welcomed me warmly and treated me to a
Thai dinner and a glass of Modelo…nice!
I
tagged up with Jerry, my neighbor down the street and we decided to put clamps
on the flag poles near the point where the one had cracked. We used standard hose clamps with a
tightening screw and it looked like it was going to do the job.
I
began sorting my gear and eliminating items that I didn’t use or need. This lightened my load a lot. Also began attacking mail and paying bills,
yadayada.
The
next morning was more of the same with business at the bank, clearing stuff out
of the back yard, doing all the little construction cleanup things that the
kids can’t do so Jerry and I took care of it.
It
was 4:00 pm when I finally departed for San Ysidro, San Diego. The ride south was actually cold and very
congested with traffic. When I arrived
at the town I obtained all the needed stuff, phone number of Coco’s, gas
receipt and went to the PO for a photo and mailing the form letter of evidence
to the SCMA.
While
there another rider, Andre Gareau from Ottawa Canada, arrived from Key West
heading for Blaine. So we took pics of
each other and exchanged stories. He
warned me of going over the pass on the I-8 that it was very cold. So I wore my rain jacket since it is a great
windbreaker and I was fine.
It
was a long ride to Yuma to the hotel where I had a reservation but I made it
finally around midnight and got a good rest.
Hope
tomorrow is a little better.
C ya mañana,
Gonzo
Twitter:
@GonzoCrossUSA
Email:
GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
Cell: 949-433-0761
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