Monday, June 23, 2008

Playing in the Desert

Hey, Ya'all... Remember me?
I thought you might get a kick out of my trip last weekend (June 13-15).
My wife's family has a time-share in Palm springs that they all like to go to every year (in the summer for some reason). Well, the family Matriarch decided she's done with it & intends to let go of the time-share. This being the last year, My wife decided to take the kids along with her & her Mother, her mother's friend and My Brother-in-law & his family. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I agreed to ride out for the weekend. Since I have to work and I already have my vacation scheduled, I had to come home Sunday night. And since my trip was kind of a quick one, I got to take the bike!
My wife decided to wait until after I got off of work on Friday to leave so she could follow me out.
I should preface this by telling you that I had JUST gotten my new Leather T-bag and chaps from Fox Creek Leather... A truly fantastic outfitter if ever there was one. Everything I've bought from them so far has been the highest quality. I cannot extol their service enough. Scarlett, If you read this, You're a doll. The chaps were a perfect fit, no trimming required.
OK, where was I... Palm Springs... How was it? Hot!, Duh!. Rode up the 15N to the 215N, Then to the 60 east... We stopped here at a Wendy's for a quick drink then got back on the highway, Followed the 60 to the 10 East, then to the 111. That takes you right into Palm Springs. We stay right on the outskirts of the city.
After we got checked in, we went to dinner & then back to the hotel to swim for a little bit.
Ya know, that's really all there is to do in Palm Springs... Swim. Too hot for anything else.
I did get up Saturday morning and take Kate for a ride to Palm Springs Harley. I didn't even get a shirt. The only special thing I saw there was a Beautifully painted leather patch. Even that didn't fit me, personally, but it was nice. After that I couldn't WAIT to get back to the pool.
Saturday we had a cook out, with the whole family coming over... Can you guess who got stuck with grill-duty? Alone? While everyone else was chatting in the room, I got to cook for them all on a hot grill in the desert heat. Frankly, I got the better end of the deal. Shhhh.
After the food it was back in the pool. Sunday we went to a local restaurant for breakfast for Father's Day... For sake of interest I'll just skip to the part where I get to ride home...


I Geared up & prepared to leave at about 5 PM Sunday. It only took another half hour to get everything taken care of & leave. I filled up with Gas at Palm Springs Shell at 5:38, Then Hit the road... Thinking ahead, I grabbed the camera.


I HAD to show you...
First off, for those who are Eco conscious, on the highway leading into Palm Springs, there is a HUGE wind farm, where they use modern wind mill turbines to harvest energy from mother nature in a way that is nearly completely nature-friendly. I just think they look cool as hell! So, I stopped & took several pics of Kate with these as a background. This is my favorite...


SHortly after remounting & getting back on the road, I caught the 10W. About two exits down the road there is a place to stop where the (ancient) past comes alive. If you've ever seen Pee Wee's Big adventure, these should look familiar...


Yes, I know, I have to have Kate in all of my Pictures... It's a quirk I have... I don't mind.


After several minutes of taking photos we again got back on the highway. I thought I'd just bee-line home from there, but just a little ways down the 60W I found myself traveling through a pass that gave way to a beautiful view. I had to stop one more time to share this with you...
After several attempts to get this pic without passing cars in the background, I realized how much daylight I was losing and I wanted to get home & get something to eat., SO I got serious & went home.


I pulled into the gas station down the street at 7:34. 1 hour & 56 minutes to ride back when it took us 2 1/2 hours to get out there... & I stopped more!
Not bad, 300 miles in the desert for the weekend.
Now, I'm ready for my next trip. I leave Saturday morning for the 2,000 mile trip from San Diego to Kansas City. Yes, I'm taking my camera... Yes, I'm taking my laptop, and Yes, I'll be posting from the road...
Till then, Keep the shiny side up. I'll catch you on the Road...

8 comments:

"Joker" said...

Well, howdy stranger. Great pics - looks like you had a nice little vacation. One question though...if it's hot as hell out there in the desert, what's with the chaps? Only thing I can figure is, based on the long shadows in the pics, you were leaving shortly before sundown and it gets cold quick in the desert at night? You'll have to forgive me, us Mass-holes don't know too much about desert riding!

I'm looking forward to more pics from the road. Good to see you back brother.

Ride Safe.

Camron said...

Hey Joker, Well actually, it started out I was just wearing the chaps on this trip to try them out & maybe stretch them a bit, But after this trip I swear, I'll wear them everytime I go out there. I didn't get the vibrato in my jeans that I usually get if I ride long enough . Plus, With my bike, The rear jug Head sits RIGHT next to my inner thigh, and my bike runs hot. I generally start burning my thigh after a half hour or so of riding in warm weather. The Chaps were a perfect kind of pot holder, heat shield... I love them plus, additional leather is additional padding in case I go down...
It's good to be back. Work's been kicking my tail, but I think it's under control now.. Take care

Mr. Motorcycle said...

Glad you are back to posting! Goood to hear from you again! Looks like you had a good trip!.

I n regards to wearing the chaps in the desert heat, I can "kind of relate to what you are saying. I love to ride without as much hot leather clothing as possible when it gets warm, but when it get's really hot, it just about protects you from the heat, as much as it holds it in.

Later Bro!

Ann said...

Glad you're back, we missed you!

Looks like it was a nice trip! Like Joker, I'm originally from Mass, but I now live in Phoenix, and I was VERY surprised to see you wearing chaps! I know how hot it was that weekend! I can't imagine wearing chaps in the summer out here! But I understand why you wore them after reading your comment.

Have a fun trip to KC! Post lots of pics!

Lady R (Di) said...

I want to say welcome back too! Life just doesn't stop for us to post our stories, does it! Oh well, we definitely understand, and it's good to hear from you.

I'm glad you were able to get a nice ride in and make some family brownie points at the same time. Harley rode through the desert a couple summers ago. His memory of it was, when the sun starts to go down, you can go from blazing hot to shivering cold in a matter of minutes!

Don't stay gone so long!

One Harley Rider said...

Thanks for sharing the pics from the other Coast! I have only been to Laughlin River Run once and unfortunately is was not on a Bike, but a business trip (sort of). All I can say is that it was HOT out there in the west. Thanks again for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great trip! Glad to hear that you are out there riding. Love the windmills! They just approved (after a long drawn out battle) an offshore wind farm here in Delaware. Personally, I think it will be cool to see all of those windmills off the shore when we go down to the beach! (Besides, I have never understood why we don't invest more in natural energy sources like wind, water, and sun).
Ride safe!

FLHX_Dave said...

Thanks for taking us along. I found that leather in the heat of the desert works great. I wear my heavy leather vest, even in 120 heat. It keeps the sweat from evaporating so fast, thus keeping me cooler and slowing dehydration. I get funny looks out on the road, but I look in better shape than riders just wearing the t-shirts. Glad you had a great trip. I'll be looking for the 2k trip posts. Ride safe brother.