Made it to LA -- guess I have some catching up to do

Wednesday -- Day Six. Cameron AZ - Kingman AZ

So, we left off a couple of days ago, with me in that ticky tacky hotel before the cut-off to the canyon road. before i went to bed i'd worked on a number of things for the office, as well as loading up pictures from this trip and trying to get the garmin updated with the western states (the biggest problem with the Quest 2 -- its built-in memory isn't large enough for the entire USA, as I discovered when I got to Colorado. that is, it has the nationwide basemap, but not the detail. So, after a half hour on the phone with garmin support I learned how to do the update, and started it to running. Unfortunately, when I work, it stll wasn't finished, so i left it to anotehr day. Good thing Laurie was able to give just two-turn directions to her house, because cali isn't loaded either.

ok, let's back up. there really isn't a ton to write about today. It was a day to visit the grand canyon. and that i did, taking my time, checking out the signs and markers, the verious different views. stopped at the general store in the town for some fruit and a smoothie for breakfast/lunch after, then back on the road.

after following the main road south, the plan was to do the westward leg of the day on old Rte 66. Started with Williams, which is just below where I got on, just a little loop. lots of the places in town are pitching to the tourist trade, with their matching trinkets, etc. Also, the town had put up little plaques showing what used to be in the various storefronts on the main drag, so you get a feel for how it was. Only thing I didn't like were the several police cars along the strip, which had something like a 15 mph limit. if they're trying to draw in the tourists and get money from us, that's one thing. but to do so with speeding tickets, that just doesn't feel right.

ok, so after that I proceeded further along 66, the plan being to go as far as Kingman, about 125 miles west, find a hotel room and get work done -- and hopefully update the maps on my garmin. on one stretch 66 seemed to disappear, and I had to pop back onto I-40, but then it was back and I could take it the rest of the way. Finally got my burma shave sign sighting. first set was something like 'twould be more fun/to go by air/if we could put/our signs up there/burma shave.' 'if daisies are/your favorite flower/keep on pushing/those miles per hour/burma shave' There were several other sets along the path, in a similar vein (funny that one was something about going a mile a minute -- not, and of course at that point I was going around 85).

Anyway, at a town called something lke Seligman, which was again pushing for the tourist trade, i ran into a group of harley riders, being supported by a pickup full of suitcases. they -- like many of the tourists I'd encountered along the trip so far -- turned out to be europeans, swiss I think from the mix of german and french being spoken. there were two guys with the pickup and i made a comment like 'bringing a bunch of tourists around?' to which they replied 'no, we are the tourists.' turns out their group had flown into Vegas, rented not only the bikes from eagle rider but also the truck, and were taking turns who'd drive the truck and who ride the bikes as they rode from vegas, along 66, up to the canyon and then the utah parks zion and bryce before working their way back to vegas to return it all and fly home. they'd all brought our bought old school riding kit for this stretch of the ride at least, the women in appropriate harley biker chick gear etc. i asked if any of them had harleys back home, of course not, but they were having fun playing it up.

so i finished the day riding into kingman, getting a room (note -- no reason to check into one of the ones on the near edge of town. I was ripped off, there were tons more, and cheaper, closer to the I-40 cutoff). But no big deal. After unloading I rode into and thru the town, which also had its share of back to life establishments (the more interesting were the ones obviously really from the era that were abandoned), and ate at a place that was in road trip america. actually a quite good chicken fried steak, and bottomless homemade root beer that was really tasty.

another failure loading the garmin while catching up on the work mails and uploading more pix. then trying to plot my route for the next day. the big question was, head straight for LA along more of 66, or head up to Hoover Dam. My dad being a civil engineer that kind of thing is in the blood so I was really inclined to go there, and a couple of strong votes from friends online that I do so made the decision. So that would be the next day. Get off 66, head north to the dam, go thru vegas (where I've never been except for the airport) and then down to LA on the slab.

Thursday, day 7. Kingman AZ - Los Angeles, CA

Thank you those who suggested I go to the dam. I failed miserably trying to photograph it, but have enough burned in my mind to make it worthwhile. (I guess Rachel Madow has access to much better photographic equipment, and probably could be in places I couldn't). Anyway, another scorcher, but I parked, and walked across, and went and just toured the visitor center. I wish I had the time and money for the big tour, to go inside the dam and power plant or whatever they do, but this was good enough. They actually have some very good exhibits in the visitor center talking about the genesis of the project, the process of construction, that thanks to dad I could really appreciate. and lots of interesting factoids too, like how the amount of concrete they used could make a sidewalk 4' wide and 3" thick around the equator, or a 2 lane highway from SF to NY) Suffice to say, I stayed longer than I thought, but thoroughly enjoyed.

Then continued north about 30 mi to Vegas. There was a route that would skirt the town on the south and connect to the highways to LA, but I thought I couldn't be that close without riding down the strip. I guess it was the right decision, those places are gargantuan and interesting to see in that sense, but i didn't stop, just rode thru and caught I-15 at the other end of the strip.

The ride was again really hot, fighting lots of wind. as i said to a friend somewhere when i stopped to gas and rehydrate, i have had enough of the desert by this point. I just rode the ride, down I-15 till I-10 and that straight into LA. Getting there in time for evening rush hour. Oh, I forgot about the joys of 'civilization'. There were lots of bikes splitting the lanes and zooming thru but the combination of the width of my C with bags, and my disinclination to wind up a statistic kept me, like back home, just waiting it out with the cars. The issues with the garmin were a problem here as I didn't know exactly where i was going. Fortunately my destination was just a couple of turns off the freeway (i was going to type highway, but when in rome....) The best thing I could dsay was that it was so much cooler in LA -- maybe only in the 70's, so sitting in that traffic wasn't that big a deal. And so, finally, I made it to LA. Leg one of the trip complete. A celebratory beer then off to eat at an oddly named Asian place called ChinChin (a french toast) which was a really nice change from the heartland diner food I'd been eating for days. A chance to just chill and catch up with an old friend. Slept like a log, up early, garmin back (as I suspected, it was the weak hotel wifi that was the problem, once i got to a good home network I was able to load the western data and update it just fine). So ready for the next day. (oil change at the dealer, maybe back here and change the front pads, and then to our LA office and maybe even a work meeting. we'll see how it goes). Signing off. I need caffeine.