Day 2 - 476.4 Miles

Long Beach, CA to Needles, CA

San Diego, Mexican Border, Joshua Tree National Park, Desert, HOT

Tuesday, May 8, 2001, 7:45 a.m. - Mile 538.6 - Long Beach, California

A little later start today than on the first day.  I feel well rested and ready for another day.  I check out of the hotel and I'm ready to be on my way.  There are bugs on the windshield, but I'll get them cleaned off when I get gas, soon.

Highway 1 goes east out of Long Beach, right into the sun.  At least it's up high enough that it's not a problem.  I need to wear a hat, though.  The road soon turns south-east towards Huntington Beach, moving the sun off to the side a bit.

8:50 a.m. - Mile 572.9 - South Laguna

I stop for gas and receive a nice comment from the attendant about the car.  Highway 1 ends and becomes I-5, which moves along quite well.  On I-5, at 80 mph, more cars pass me than I pass.  I also watch the Metro Link train pass me by doing more than 90 mph.  The only other place on the whole trip where I get passed this much is New Mexico.

When I get to Oceanside I leave I-5 to drive on S21, which follows the beach, but at a much slower pace.  I stop at a Ducati dealer in Oceanside, that has just opened.  They have a Monster S4, which I've never seen in person.  The dealer is run by some racers, so they at least know their bikes.  I wish they were located in the Bay Area, in place of some of the less knowledgeable dealers we have.  This is the last time I think about how it would be riding my motorcycle during this trip.

The little towns on S21 from Oceanside down to Torrey Pines State Beach are all quite picturesque.  They look like nice places to live.  It's foggy most of the way, so I don't see much of the ocean in this section.  I notice that Encitas has stop signs in the down town area.  That's the only town besides Pleasanton that I've seen with stop signs in the main downtown area.

10:30 a.m. - Mile 630.8 - Torrey Pines State Reserve

It looks like you can drive through Torrey Pines State Reserve on the map, but I drive in and have to turn around, since the road is closed on the south half.  Even though I had originally planned to drive along the beach at La Jolla, Pacific Beach, and Mission Beach, I had been there last December, so decide to take I-5 into San Diego until I can cross over to Coronado.  I don't even bother taking any pictures of San Diego, even though it's a pretty neat city.

There was a really interesting sign that I didn't get a picture of, warning of illegal aliens crossing the road.  It shows a Mexican man, woman, and child running.

11:00 a.m. - Mile 653.7 - Coronado


I find my way to the bridge to Coronado, across San Diego Bay and take a few pictures by holding the camera up above the windshield and hoping some of them turn out.  A couple of them look good.  I stop at Silver Strand State Beach to walk out and touch the ocean.  This is a very long, flat beach, with quite a bit of stuff washed up on it.

11:50 a.m. - Mile 672.6 - Mexican Border (San Ysidro)

I had long ago given up on crossing into Mexico, but I drive to the border at the point where people are dropped off to walk across.  I hop out to take a couple of pictures to prove I was there.  A Mexican guy asks me about the car.  He says he drag races a CRX.  He peeks in at the instruments and asks me how you can tell how fast you're going with no speedometer needle.  I turn it on and show him.

About half a mile north I stop for lunch.  I know I should eat Mexican food here, but I stop at a Chinese place instead.  At least they were playing Mexican music inside.

I take 805 north towards Telegraph Canyon to try out some roads I've never been on.  The line on the map has lots of wiggles on it, so I have high hopes for these roads.  I was not disappointed.  The roads out of the San Diego area are wonderful.

Basically, the route I followed was like this:

1:25 p.m. - 718.8 - Somewhere in Cleveland National Forest

Out in the desert it's hot.  This is not the best time of day to be driving through here.  I finally give in and turn the air conditioner on.  I'm amazed at how well it works with the top down.  It wouldn't be nearly this good if I hadn't installed the Mingster Aeroscreen to keep the air from blowing in from the trunk area.

I continue on to Highway 79 and Cuyamaca Ranch State Park.  There are many blind curves on this road, but it's quite fun at a moderate pace.  It's a great road through the state park.  Also, there's no toll gate at this one.

I come up on a Honda Accord that is going painfully slow.  There's no way to safely pass it, so I finally pull off in a shady spot to get a clear road for a bit.  I'm waiting for the next vehicle to come around the corner, then I plan to pull out quickly in front of it and at least enjoy the pace until I catch that Accord again.  The next vehicle was a yellow Suzuki TL-1000 that came by so quick there was no way to get in front of him.  It should be interesting following him anyway.

Before too long, we both catch the Honda and he has trouble getting around too.  In fact, at one wide spot in the road the Honda actually moved left over the center line to block the Suzuki, what a jerk.  The Suzuki rider finally gets by and another half a mile down the road I take a little bit of a chance and get by too.  This is where I break another one of my resolutions, not to flip off anybody, as I pass the Accord.

I met lots of slow people on the rest of the trip, but nobody that was such a jerk about not letting people by.  For *everyone* else, I always gave a friendly toot toot on the horn and a wave (with all fingers extended).

I followed the Suzuki for quite a while, noticing that more people pulled over to let him by than pulled over for me.  Eventually he gets out of sight and I never see him again.  I would love to ride these roads on my Ducati.

At Julian, I get off of 79 and take 78 eastward.  This is another great road.  Eventually I got behind a motorhome that wasn't interested in letting me by.  I stopped to write down some notes, then caught up with him again.  Although there were many turnouts, the motorhome never tried pulling off for five seconds to let me get by.  It seems that that the slower the vehicle, the less likely they are to pull off to let you by.  Anybody catches up with me when I'm not behind somebody else that is slow, I always let them by at the first opportunity.  It would be nice if all drivers understood this.

2:20 p.m. - Mile 760.6 - Anza-Borrego Desert State Park


I turn left on S3 to Yaqui Pass Road.  This goes through Borrego Springs, then on to S22.  The temperature is easily in the upper 90's and it feels HOT!

2:30 p.m. - Mile 766.5 Borrego Springs

I come up on the Salton Sea.  What a sight.  You're out there in the desert and suddenly see this big blue lake off in the distance.  There is all kind of agriculture around the edges of the lake.

3:00 p.m. - Mile 798.4 - Salton City

I pull into a gas station at Salton City to top off the tank.  It's not really empty, but the next one could be a long way off.  I get a drink, fill out and send some Mother's Day cards, and generally find any excuse to stay inside where it's cooler.  A guy walks in and says it's 112 degrees outside.  I don't know if that's right, but it's definitely over 100 now.  I hear a comment to the effect of "100 degrees ain't hot".  I resolve that I don't want to live around anybody with such an opinion.

When I was putting in the gas, I spot a shady side of the building that looks like it has room enough for two cars.  When I come back out from paying for the gas, there are two cars in those spots.  Rats!  I get a couple of comments about the car.  I keep the interior covered with a blanket so that I'll be able to sit on the black seats when I'm ready to drive off.

At 3:25, I head north on 86.  The S2000 1-2 grind shows up in this heat.  I'm trying to keep as much of my skin out of the sun as possible, so I button my top button to save the back of my neck.  I also need to do this in the cold morning fog.  I'm thinking: "Duh! why not just put the top up?"  I would rather fry than do that, unless it starts raining.  I'm resolved to drive with the top down absolutely as much as possible.

816.4 - 195 north to Mecca

Now I find myself doing something really geeky.  I put my handkerchief on the back of my head, hold it on with my hat, and turn the had sideways a bit to better block the sun.  Fortunately there is nobody around to see me looking like this.

I had attached a string to the had to keep it from blowing off, then attached the other end to a shirt button.  For some reason, I removed the string at this point.  A truck passes by the other way and nearly blows it off.  I reattach the string for most of the rest of the trip.

3:50 p.m. - Wait for a freight train

Waiting for trains and road construction always bunches up the cars and it always takes a while to get everyone sorted out.  Fortunately, most of the people in front of me had local destinations and the way was soon clear again.  I follow the signs towards Box Canyon.

4:15 p.m. - Mile 844.9 - Crossed I-10

4:25 p.m. - Mile 852.0 - Joshua Tree National Park


I make it to the entrance of the first National Park.  Nobody is there.  I pick up the literature that every National Park has and get a drink of water.  I'll have to wait until the next National Park to buy a park pass.

There are many interesting plants in Joshua Tree National Park, but I only stop at a few places to look at them.  This the first of a dozen National Parks that I don't spend enough time in.  Because of the heat, this one was quicker than most of the others.

5:15 p.m. - Mile 887.4 - Leaving Joshua Tree by the east entrance

5:20 p.m. - Mile 891.2 - Crossroads with Highway 62

I need to make up my mind which route I'm going to take.  I decide to go straight on Amboy Road then left on National Trails Highway towards Essex and Needles.  I'm really out in the barren desert now.  There's nobody around at all and it's still hot.

6:02 p.m. - 940.1 Miles - Odometer hits exactly 6000 miles.

I still have hopes of this trip being less than 5,000 miles and maybe finishing my trip with less than 10,000 miles on the odometer.  (I only missed that by 842 miles.)
I'm on the National Trails Highway.  The speed limit is marked at 55, but I totally ignore it here.  It's so straight that I'm running between 85 and 95 for most of it.  The road is also a bit rough in spots.  I wonder what would happen in an S2000 with 18 inch rims and the one inch sidewalls.  Those sidewalls are required to absorb the rough edges on this road.

I'm thinking about dinner as I pull into Amboy.  The sign says population 20, founded in 1858.  There is absolutely nobody here.  Forget about getting food or gas.  The town of Essex is no better.

6:40 p.m. - Mile 987.9 - I-40 East

I finally reach I-40 eastbound towards Needles.  There is some traffic now and I return to my more normal speed of not more than 9 mph over the posted speed limit.  I'm getting low on gas and realize that I must not have filled it all the way at the last gas stop in Salton City.

I also make another startling discovery.  My trip odometer has just zeroed itself.  I quickly figure out that after 999.9 is 0.0 on a digital odometer.  For some reason I couldn't figure this out in New York a few weeks earlier when the Buick LeSabre I was driving did the same thing.  I'll experience the odometer doing this four more times before the trip is over.

I also notice that the air conditioner is not worth much when I get behind big trucks.  Anything that destroys the smooth flow of air over the top disrupts the cool layer of air in the cockpit too.

7:02 p.m. - Mile 1014.7 - Needles, California

I finally pull into a real town.  I fill the tank with gas first.  It takes 11.428 gallons, which is not too close to the 13.2 gallons that it's supposed to hold.  I fill it to the top and manage to spill a little down the side.  I wipe it off and make sure I don't do that again.

I check into a decent looking motel and go find some dinner.  Based on the people I met at the gas station, hotel, and restaurant, I conclude that good competent help must be hard to come by in Needles.  The people I met the next morning were a bit better.

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Copyright (c), 2001 by Scott R. Nelson
Page last updated July 9, 2001
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