I woke up around 6:30, dug my poncho out of a sac where I'd stuffed it last fall, rolled my blanket up inside my poncho, bungee-corded it to my handlebars, replaced the harnessing pin on my kickstand, pulled my boots on, and was out of the house by 8pm.
Friday we took our time getting around and having coffee, making last minute tie-downs. Randy and I hit the road around 11, making a stop at the military surplus store, and then off to the meeting spot at a brewery in Escondido. We wound our way down pathways and diners, to a cozy little lounge area with wood benches, a huge stone slab table, and flowering vines enveloping the overhead trellis.
At 1pm we all anxiously ran out to our bikes, saddled up, and headed out the 2 laned roads for Julian, CA. There we met up with another group or riders, and our formation doubled in size.
We took off heading south-ish and then jumped off on a left shoot to wind over the river and through the woods to grandmas house (aka. Blue Jay Lodge). This was hands down the most awesome place I've been...maybe ever...but I can't commit that honor quite yet, just cause my memory is a little foggy of a few adventures, and I may have been somewhere cooler before, but this place is sure in the top somewhere. We sat round on, get this...tractor seats. Yep! Tractor seats for bar stools! So rad! Hydration was in order. Most of us walked around and admired the decor, wealthily stocked with taxidermy such as bears of all ages, rabbits, buffalo, deer, and Bullwinkle.
It was a bit cooler up on that pass, but it was totally worth the sweet little ride through the forest, and the visit to that cozy little oasis.
A couple miles down the road and we dropped off onto hwy 8 and headed east towards our last meeting spot at a casino, for camp beer and fuel, where I managed to find a .50 cent mustache, and a .25 cent golden ring. Golden finds indeed. After we were all together and loaded up, the cooler trucks and supplies carriers, we headed down the road a couple o' miles to a po-dunk little town. I happened to notice they had a thrift store...just peeked my interest, that's all. N.E.Way...we made a left past the HP giving a poor little old lady a ticket, and rode mobishly under an 8 overpass. Went past a few chopped power structures, somewhat resembling an American version of the Eiffel Tower (probably those darn UFO's been slicing em down, they fly so fast through those deserts, ya know?)
We finally left the pavement for the glory that be an old dirt road carved through the desert. We scurried as fast as our bald little tires would let us on that sifty little road. We even had one guy take one for the team. Nothing like breaking in a new bike, eh? A little looky-loo once over, and some dusting off, and he was back on the bike, and we were motoring on into the high desert like a bunch o' rally racers. The view up top those ridges were epic.
We rode over, scratch that, we rode through a river, and into a thicket of tall dry oaks where we called home for the night. First thing I found was the 6 pack of beer that I donated to the party. Second thing I found was the bonfire. And the 3rd thing I drunkenly found by the time they were done was the BBQ hotdogs. Someone brought a battery powered amplifier and an electric guitar, and they were keeping the troops entertained for sure. Someone even came up with a camp song...I was trying so hard to remember the lyrics, but at least the tune was for certain still in my head when I was leaving the next morning. I managed to make a stealth exit to make something of my measly accommodations, of a small fleece blanket, a donated mexican blanket, and my poncho. It was pretty darn breezy up there in those hills, and the temperature was about 42 and dropping. But that fire sure kept us warm, otherwise you just had to keep drinking. |
| where the magic happened |
I woke up and was out of camp by 8am, in order to make it to work by 1pm in Glendale. Up on those ridges the sun was beaming down, and it was just me, the open dirt road, and the birds chirping all along...until I realized that chirping was coming from my front end somewhere. I could see that my direction of westerly travel would be leading me into some loomily evil thunderheads and wind chill was getting much cooler than it was on those sun crisped ridges. Basically, I was losing feeling in my fingers and toes...always fun. So the morning trip was a little rough, and the weather was right up there with a few fall trips I'd taken. Being that I had to thaw out I stopped at the casino for coffee, gas, and spent some time sitting on the bathroom counter rotating frozen limbs under the hand dryer. But time was a wasting, and I just kept quantifying mileage with time frame, and well, the physics tells me that the faster you ride, the sooner you arrive.
I stopped for breakfast, and this is what my hot sauce told me...
