August 19 - Skirting the Mojave Desert and Reaching a Key Milestone
What an adventure! I love driving through deserts. There is something so exciting about being in a hot, dry place with hardly anyone around that makes me feel like I am an explorer. I love the slight thrill I get knowing that hydration and gas stops are essential – going without either could have serious consequences. Today I got to skirt the Mojave Desert on my way from Laughlin Nevada to Julian California.
I headed west out of Flagstaff today with a heady sense of anticipation. After overcoming 8 mechanical or operational problems with my bike in the last 11 days, I was excited about touching down in the last two of my 48 states this summer.
The drive west on Interstate 40 from Flagstaff was beautiful – wide, sweeping vistas of fields of grass, sprinkled with trees, and outlined with rows of yellow wildflowers. Rolling green and brown hills surrounded me and the air was calm and cool.
As I approached Nevada the temperature got markedly hotter, and the landscape turned browner but no less beautiful. Rocky outcroppings and cliffs parted ways for me and the bike, and the sun beat down from the blue sky above.
After gassing up in Laughlin, Nevada I turned south on old route 66. This stretch of road was so darn fun. I felt like I was a part of history, traveling on a road frequented by so many others in the past. I especially liked the numerous dips in the road. I suspect they were put there to discourage speeding. However, I sure did like the feeling of weightlessness I got at the tops of the bigger ones. The landscape here was more in keeping with a desert -- all in different shades of brown – light brown dirt and darker brown cliffs with light streaks of yellow, grey, and brown.
I continued south on highway 95 with many of the same wonderful dips and natural brown landscaping. It almost felt like being at the beach because it was so hot, the sky was so blue, and the light brown soil on the side of the road was much closer to sand than dirt. I decided to take a picture of myself on the sand in a section of the desert apparently called “Thermal.”
I skirted the Salton Sea, noting the bright and shimmering blue water. Then I passed through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park on my way to Julian. I was glad there were not any particularly good places to pull over to take a picture so I could just focus on enjoying the desert landscape and the multitude of curves.
I arrived in Julian in time to have a wonderful dinner at Romano’s Restaurant, an Italian eatery within walking distance of my hotel. I very much enjoyed the hearty antipasto salad, rich meaty lasagna, and creamy homemade strawberry cheesecake. It felt like a fitting reward for reaching one of my key goals for summer – visiting all 48 contiguous states.
