Had a great solo trip! :thumbup
Thursday I rode down hwy 1 and spent the night in Morro Bay. Was a pretty wet and cold ride with a surprising amount of Thanksgiving traffic but I was able to get around most of it fairly quickly.
The original plan was to cut across from the coast on 166/33/95(Hudson Ranch Rd) through Frazier Park and make my way down to Joshua Tree while avoiding slabbing it but there was a lot of snow in the mountains from Thursday/Friday and therefore many road closures.
So instead I opted to continue riding hwy 1 all the way down to LA then took hwy 10 out to the Salton Sea to set up camp at the Salton Sea State Rec Area. :ride Unfortunately there was a lot of BLK Friday traffic on 210/10 so I had to lanesplit for what seemed like forever with a rather loaded down bike. :wow
Saturday I rode up through Joshua Tree but a kink in my chain had decidedly gotten worse and so I ended up getting a new chain installed at Desert Cycle Works in 29 Palms. They were able to take me in immediately and had me out of there with a new chain installed in less than half an hour for a very good price. Their shop dog was also very friendly especially after I started giving him some doggy treats that I keep in my riding jacket.
From there I decided to ride down to Morongo Valley to the Hi-Desert Rod and Gun Club to sight in my new Trijicon RMR red dot on my 10/22 takedown that I installed a few days prior. :sniper It had been installed on a Sheriff friend's AR prior so it needed some adjustment but it wasn't too difficult. I decided to ride back through Joshua Tree back to camp and was getting ready to do a hot lap but got lit up by a ranger pretty much right away. Luckily he didn't pull me over but I had to take it down a notch after that.
Sunday it was time for some much needed hot springs for a good soak. I had made a list of local hot springs prior to leaving but the best and hottest one was in Holtville on BLM land. Met some nice people there along with a traveling comedian from Seattle.
After getting a proper soak in I headed back to camp at the Salton Sea and decided it was time to take a special coconut oil pill a friend had given me along with some psilocybin (local, free range, grass fed organic) boat neighbor of mine at the marina gave me.
From there I went on a long walk/hike along the nature trail and on the beach of the sea. Eventually I made my way back and contemplated a lesson on empathy my 7th grade social studies teacher gave me twenty years ago while sitting on my hammock watching the fire.
Monday I had a late start with packing up all my gear but decided to head over to the Berdoo Canyon Shooting Area (BLM) near Indio to use up the rest of my ammo (weight reduction) before heading back towards home. Unfortunately the new picatinny mounting screws kept loosening up after ever mag and I completely lost the zero on the red dot from a few days before which was a bummer. Shoulda used loctite!
Leaving Berdoo Canyon my check engine light came on (uh oh) but nothing seemed to be amiss and all was running well. I made my way back towards hwy 1 while keeping an eye on the engine light but it somehow magically turned off by the time I got to Santa Barbara.
Ended up staying in Morro Bay again at a nice Inn and had a good fish dinner with a couple Guinness at the Great American Fish Company on the shore.
Tuesday morning I started heading back up the coast but it was now cold, raining and very windy and so I decided it was best to just slab it up 101 so I could get to work in time (swing shift) and not get tossed around in the wind as much.
Overall it was a great solo camping trip and I had a wonderful time!
Thanksgiving 2019 I am thankful for Goretex, merino wool, heated grips and Michelin Road 5's!
44.8 mpg average.
1,638 miles total for the trip.
14,183 total miles on 2018 Versys 650.
arty
