Phoenix to Wrightwood

I left bright and early Wed. morning and started my drive out to California.  I made pretty good time until I got to Chiriaco Summit where I stopped for around 2 hours.  What's in Chiriaco Summit? Well, its the site of the General Patton Memorial Museum. Its in this area that General Patton was given the task of establishing the Desert Training Center, at the very beginning of WWII, to train US troops for desert warfare in North Africa.  The Museum was awesome and I enjoyed it immensely. After the Museum, I had lunch at a little cafe next door and then it was back on the road.

By the time I left the museum, the temperature had risen quite a bit. It was round 103 F outside and the drive was miserable. Like driving in a blast furnace.  I am glad I took my buddies advice and purchased a Camelback hydration pack so that I could drink water while driving but even with that, I had to stop frequently at gas stations just to go inside and cool down.  Here are a few pictures of the desert landscape along the way.

By the time I got to Wrightwood and drove up into the mountains, the temperature cooled off considerably.  I decided to camp for the first time of the the trip.  I found a spot and started to set up my tent.  It was then that I was attacked by swarms of tiny little flies. They were in my hair, eyes, nose, ears, and whenever I opened my mouth, they tried to fly in there too.  I quickly got my tent set up and my small sleeping pad and sleeping bag inside. 
 I learned that as long as you weren't in one spot for too long, that the flies didn't bother you, so I decided to go for a walk and have a look around.  It started to get dark and I was feeling wiped out so I decided to call it a night.  I managed to get inside the tent without letting in too many of those damn flies in. Since it didn't look like it was going to rain, I had elected not to put the rain cover over the tent. This allowed me to look out through the mesh top, while lying in the tent, and see the stars and watch the bats flying around and having a feast on the flies. I fell asleep quickly to the sound of the little screeching cries of the bats.

Unfortunately, I did not sleep very good. It turns out that even with a 1/2 thick, self inflating mattress, the ground is still hard.  I spent all night in a losing battle of trying to get comfortable and woke up feeling sore and stiff all over, and almost more tired than when I went to sleep.


I quickly tore down camp and packed everything up, heated up some water for a cup of instant coffee, and then got out of there. 

My first campsite

Heading to the

Coast

 The morning of Thursday June 16, started out perfect. The weather was warm, sun was shining, beautiful scenery, and very little traffic. I was driving along and enjoying the scenery and as I came around a corner, wham! I hit a decent sized rock in the road, and while it wasn't enough to make me crash, it sure did give me a scare.  As it turns out, the road I was driving on, Highway 2, seems to have a lot of rock that falls off the hills and cliffs on a daily basis and onto the road. So much so that they have snowplows driving up and down the road all day, just to plow the rocks off the road.  The next group of pictures are of the drive towards the coast after leaving my wonderful campsite.

Rocks on the road, a very frequent site on this road.

Area of an old fire

As I started to descend down the western edge of the mountains, I reached the fog that you can see in a couple of the pictures above. Things then got damp and chilly and I was not dressed for the cooler temps at all.  I was too lazy to stop and unload my backpack and dig out warmer clothes so I just toughed it out.  It remained overcast and cool the whole day.  I had to stop just outside of Ventura, CA at a Starbucks and get a coffee and warm up. While there, I met two local bikers and we talked for about an hour. They were very interested about my trip and they told me about a trip they had just taken a month earlier. 


After I felt warmer, I climbed back on the bike and drove for a little bit and then I finally reached the ocean.  I stopped for a bit and watch some surfers. I stopped at a number of motels to check for rooms but they all wanted way too much money.  During a stop for gas, I talked to another biker who was filling up and he said that anything along the ocean would be expensive and recommended I stop in San Luis Obispo. He said it was a college town and far enough away from the ocean that prices would be more reasonable.


So, that is where I am now, San Luis Osbispo. I got a room at a motel called the Vagabond Inn, unloaded the bike, and because I was chilled to the bone, took a long, hot shower. Then I went looking for some food.  I found a little Thai restaurant and the food was delicious. After dinner, I stopped by an Irish pub, Mc Carthy's, and had a Guiness before coming back to the room to update the blog. I am not really sure where I am going tomorrow but I will be picking up the Pacific Coast Highway here in San Luis Osbispo and driving along the coast all the way to San Francisco. Not sure how far I will get tomorrow since I am sure I will be stopping a lot and taking my time.  I may or may not post something tomorrow. Depends on whether I stay in a motel or try camping again.

Below are a few more pictures.
Cheers