Hi Everyone,
This issue of our newsletter is earlier than anticipated simply because so much has happened in the last two weeks or so.
Picking up the Harley in Los Angeles as planned, we signing the paperwork formalities and packed our bike with enough stuff for the week, all safely stowed in the hard side panniers and spacious top box. Our main bags were stored for free in the bike shop, and after a few minutes instruction and familiarization with the many buttons and controls we were off on the road. Quickly escaping the traffic chaos of L.A. we hit the stunning Pacific Coast Highway 1 towards San Diego, engaging the electronic cruise control and putting on some choice tunes on the bike's stereo. We stopped at Oceanside for a snack lunch and a walk along the pier to see the pelicans, as well as several other places along the way too. Arriving in San Diego it was like a walk in the park compared to LA, and we were early enough to take a ferry ride to nearby Coronado Island, giving us great views of the city-scape from the sea, and of the deep water port which hosts the largest naval fleet in the world.
The next morning we headed inland, east on I-8 towards Yuma which was our destination for that evening. Our route quickly took us off the Interstate and up through the mountains on some superb twisty roads to the historic mining town of Julian, where we stopped for a bite to eat. The temperature had dropped considerably here as Julian is over 4000 feet above sea level, but it was refreshing after the dry heat on the coast and after carving through another fun set of twisties back down the mountain we hit the heat of the desert, over 80 Fahrenheit registering on the analogue air temperature gauge on the Harley's dashboard.
Yuma provided our bed for the night but was otherwise unremarkable, and we set of the following day for Lake Havasu Ciity, stopping on the way in Parker to sample some homemade beef jerky. It was an easy ride and a relatively short run to Lake Havasu, famed for having London Bridge. Yes, it is the actual London Bridge, bought from the City of London in 1968, disassembled block by block, transported here and rebuilt as a tourist attraction. There was a bass fishing competition in full swing on the lake, which was a huge party with loads of things going on and plenty of boats taking part, among them a fleet of demo boats, one of which we got out onto the lake with and even managed to have a test drive. It was a huge tri-hulled party barge with a ridiculously huge outboard engine, which was great fun to drive and handled surprisingly well.
After a good nights sleep and filled with bacon and eggs for breakfast, we headed towards Palm Springs, taking in a great section of the historic Route 66, and also riding through the fantastic Joshua Tree National Park. Arriving at Palm springs with the temperature well into the 90's we jumped into the hotel pool to cool off after a long but enjoyable day on our steel horse. Having a free day in our itinerary, we chose to ride the short distance to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and made the trip in the unique rotating tram car up to the top of Mount San Jacinto. The views from here over Palm Springs and the surrounding desert towns were truly spectacular, and we enjoyed the fresh cool air that was such a welcome relief from the high temperatures in the bottom of the desert valley.
Our last day on the Harley was the longest, riding from Palm Springs up through the San Bernadino National Forest, to Big Bear Lake, then on through the Angeles National Forest. Most of our route was through spectacular mountain scenery in perfect riding weather and on stunningly twisty bike-perfect roads. Well, at least until we hit Pasadena when we were quickly brought back to the the reality of the LA traffic madness. Time was tight and we boldly threaded our way through the traffic on the downtown LA freeway to get the bike and us safely back to Eaglerider with just ten minutes to spare. The experience of riding over a thousand miles in 6 days on a Harley in Southern California is one that we thoroughly enjoyed and has given us many fantastic memories that we will treasure forever. Its also a trip that we thoroughly recommend to everyone who enjoys riding bikes in great weather through spectacular scenery, and is well worth putting on you bucket list.
After a good nights sleep in an LAX airport hotel we picked up our long term hire car. Our first car had a huge bulge in the front tyre, and it went back after just 3 miles. The replacement, in fairness arranged at very short notice, was dirty and generally unpleasant, and we didn't accept it. The third car would have been fine, but on starting it up informed us on the dashboard display that it was overdue an oil change. Not great, and by now we're starting to get really frustrated. The fourth car looked perfect, but alas didn't have a parcel shelf to cover our luggage. By now we had been in there for nearly two hours when we inquired how much it would cost us to upgrade to the shiny white car that had just been pulled up into a parking space. The lady assisting us, who in fairness had been very helpful and friendly, took a look at the key tag, and said "I'll give it to you for the same price" ! So, although it was a bit of saga, we got upgraded at no charge, and now have a lovely 2014 Hyundai Elantra 4 door saloon which had just 500 miles on the clock.
We drove to Phoenix in Arizona, a mere 6 hour, 380 mile drive from LA. In Phoenix we visited the amazing Desert Botanical Gardens, drove the stunning Apache Trail, through the Superstition Mountains, stopping at the historic Tortilla Flat near Apache Junction, and visited the Tonto National Monument, Stopping for the night we went onto Flagstaff via Sedona, visiting the awesome meteor crater, the small town of Winslow - famous for the lyrics "standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see" as any Eagles fans will recognize, and then onto the amazing Petrified Forest National Park. After another nights sleep in a motel we headed north towards Page, visiting the south rim of the Grand Canyon which took most of the day and nearly wore out our camera !
It's a good job we have unlimited mileage with our car rental, because we have already put over 2000 miles onto it. The distances here are truly vast and despite knowing it was big before we came here, we are only now beginning to get a real feel of how large the United States really are. We have already travelled several thousand miles by bike and car, but have only covered an area equivalent to about one square inch on an A4 map of the US. Yesterday we returned from a 400 mile round trip from Page, AZ, driving through Monument Valley and then on to the Four Corners which is the only place in the US where four States - Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, all meet. However distance doesn't faze us one bit and we are fortunate to have a car that returns 45 mpg, with a tank full of gas costing us less than it would to take a taxi from the airport to town in Jersey.
Despite all these fun doings, we've also been dealing with the boring stuff like booking motels, online banking and researching where to go next, as well as laundry which is a bargain at one dollar per wash in most motels. Food is overwhelmingly abundant and very affordable, plus when we do eat out we can get any leftovers "to go" making a quick and easy supper as most motels have microwaves and fridges. Everyone is very friendly though we are beginning to tire of explaining to the many people that we get to chat with that we come from a very small island which is close to France, and no its not New Jersey, or the Channels Islands in California !
So that's it for now, thanks to those of you that actually read this far and we'll write again soon. We might even slow down a bit and have less to tell you next time, but that's unlikely !
Craig and Sel.xx
