The Dans Take the Leisurely Way Eastbound: Picacho, AZ Camp/Ride

Pancho and Lefty Play the hits of Charley and Ewan: The Dans take the Leisurely Way Eastbound



”Man, I gotta get away. This job has been sucking lately.”

“I hear ya, brother. Where to?”

“I’ll think of something. Be at my place at noon tomorrow.”

And so on Saturday I headed to my good friend Dan's place in Escondido for a mystery ride, thinking about where we might ride/camp. Big Bear? Idyllwild? The Hillbilly Haven north of Lake Henshaw? My only caveats were: Limited highway and back by noon on Sunday.

Pulling up to Dan’s place, I could see he was ready to ride.

“Yuma,” he said.

“No slab!” said I.

He nodded, hit the throttle and we were off.


The route was Valley Center, Rincon, the 76 to San Felipe Road, the 78 to Ocotillo Wells (where we stopped for a cold one at the Iron Door), Westmoreland to El Centro via the 111.

Then the I-8 to Winterhaven where we stopped for Mexican chow before fueling up and heading to Picacho Road. It was 18 miles of a fun gravel/sand road to the Picacho State Recreation Area. There are quite a few burros in the area and I saw a mother burro and little burrito along the way. At the end of the road was a well-maintained campground right on the pretty Colorado River.

There was only one other occupied campsite so we paid the fee and chose a place near the water and the showers (yes, there are HOT solar showers).

We set up camp, broke out the stogies and tequila and commenced to relaxin’. We quickly dispatched Dan’s tequila (the last of the Frida Kahlo) and started on my Patron.

The sun went down and the full moon came up, lighting up the campground like a streetlamp. We sat and talked about bike stuff and work and retirement and other Very Important Subjects. After solving the world’s problems, we retired to our tents, like Old Guys are prone to do. Neither of us had put up a rain fly and I drifted off looking at the starlight display.


On a related side note, I recently bought a compact cot and I’ve used it twice now. (OutAd Ultralight Camp Cot, a Chinese knock-off of the ThermaRest one: See my Amazon review here: http://www.amazon.com/OUTAD-Aluminum-Ultralight-Moisture-proof-Stretcher/dp/B019OFR68K -- yes, it IS that purple)

I gotta say, it’s quite an addition to my camping kit. Could I live without it? Sure. But I’m at that age where comfort takes a back seat to minimalist camping. I slept so well that I’ve pretty much made up my mind to keep using it.

We were up and having coffee by 6:30. As we sipped on the java, there were some vultures eagerly eying the chubbier rider in our group. Nuff said.


A nice park employee stopped by to chat with us as we were enjoying the cool morning and she recommended that we take an alternate route back.

Pointing to our bikes, she asked, “Those things have 4-wheel drive, right? Cuz’ you’ll need it to get to the really good places…like Taylor Lake).”


That sounded like a fun challenge, but, alas, it was not to be. I had to get home by noon for a family function and couldn’t do any more exploring this weekend. That’s OK, it’ll be our next 2 or 3-day ride…


We packed up and headed home riding quite a bit faster on Picacho Road on our way out. We hit the I-8 and slabbed it all the way back through some blowing wind. Good for green energy, not great for ADV bikes…


Of note, I waved at a group of bikers coming up fast on my left. They waved back as they passed us and it was only then that I saw it was a 6 pack of Hell’s Angels. Shortly after, a much larger group of them passed us…and they waved, too. Interesting. Maybe I’ll join up. Start an outlaw dual sport club. Yeah, I can see it now: OMG indeed.


Dan peeled off at the 67 and I was home right at noon. Nice, quick camp/ride. Already making plans to head back and see the rest of the area.

My first motorcycle friend (ADV post)

Just saw this on ADV and it really hit home.

I'm certain some of us can relate to the post.

LINK

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/my-1st-motorcycle-friend.1142557/#post-29325890


I first met Robert at a small hotel in a ski resort. I had just graduated college and he was a concierge and I was a front desk employee. Even though he was 35 years older than me he was a cool dude. He had funny stories to tell and he rode a 1985 BMW GS. Robert got me into motorcycles.

One of my first rallies was Sipapu in New Mexico. We sat around the campfire drank his whiskey and just BS'ed.

Robert liked to travel. He had the adventure spirit.

To me Robert was a badass. Robert was a great travel partner. Yeah being older he was stuck in old ways and a bit stubborn as well but he always had a tale to tell or a song to sing around the campfire. Robert was a like an uncle I never had.

Sometimes we dreamed big. We dreamed of cross country trips together.

San Diego Coast Ride: Torrey Pines to Dana Point and the Del Dios Highway

Good times!

My friend Dan, who lives right up the street from me, rides a 1984 Honda Nighthawk 700. He uses that bike mainly for commuting to work (less than a mile total both ways) 5 days a week. But a couple of times a year he uses that old Bird for the reason it was designed.

Our last few rides were to Puerto Nuevo for some Baja lobster, Sunrise Highway to Julian for pie and old Highway 94 to Tecate and Jacumba Hot Springs for BBQ and beer.

Today's ride was simply a rough plan to cruise as much of the coast as we could from Pt. Loma/La Jolla to Dana Point, riding up Historic 101. That's about it.

If you're familiar with those parts of San Diego and Orange County, you'll know that there's no real "coast highway" that's easy to ride, per se. The coast road goes through small towns -- and many, many stop signs -- along the way.

But that's no problem, we had the entire day to just enjoy the nice weather.

He rolled up on his dusty old bird after 9am and we discussed our plan. Here's how it went:

Hey, great to see you.
Yeah, you, too.
Need gas?
No, you?
No I'm ready.
OK, let's roll.

And we were off.

We'd hooked up an intercom system in his helmet so we could talk as we rode...and we talked the entire frickin' time.

So we started the ride at Torrey Pines, the view of the coast looked so nice I could tell right then that it was gonna be a great ride.

We rolled rough Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside. The traffic wasn't bad at all. We stopped at O Side and walked the pier then hit the I-5 for about 15 miles until we reached San Clemente. From there we got back on the coast route to Dana Point. After a quick lunch at the marina, we headed back down the I-5 to Del Mar...and that's where we picked up the Del Dios highway.

Now the Del Dios is a cool little road between the I-5 and the I-15. The road is rough in some spots, but the smells of the eucalyptus trees and jasmine as the road winds eastward make this a most excellent bike ride. There's a hidden little gem of a place (Hernandez HideAway) that offers San Diego County's best margaritas. But we couldn't stop for margaritas today. The road follows Lake Hodges for a while then ends at the I-15. What a great little highway.

We rode southbound the last few miles into San Diego, finishing the very fun little ride right before 5pm.

And doesn't everything look better in slo-mo? Yeah, it sure does.