I had to go to Tucson for work so Linda and I decided to make a trip out of it by taking the scenic route through San Diego. this is the last part of the California coast we have not rode on our bikes.
This is the complete route, What I loved about this ride was all of the new roads we took some great routes that were just fantastic.
First day took us to Death Valley, Linda and I have already been though the park and seen Scotty’s Castle so we took the South exit to Olancha. Well that was the thought. Guess what it is 173 miles if you go that way without a gas stop to Olancha. I know that because Linda’s bike could only go 172 miles. If you talk to Linda she would say “I ran her out of gas” but I went another 50 to Pine and back to get gas and made it back. So just using the logic of she has the same motor as I do, her bike is much lighter than my bike and she is much lighter than I am. Then logic would say she ran herself out of gas.
Looking over Death Valley
Funny thing was at the fork in the road at Olancha my GPS told me the closest gas station was 24 miles North to Pine and 36 miles South the direction we needed to go. So with myself low on gas I decided not to take chance and head North I picked up a gallon of gas and headed back to where I left Linda. That is when she informed me that was preparing to start walking, she was only going to give me another ten minutes. So I asked her where you going to walk too???? So if you get the chance to talk to Linda tell her two things. 1) don’t ride your bike so hard that you run out of gas and 2) never leave your bike because no one will know where to find you.
Linda out of gas on the side of the road
Ok so I put the gallon of gas in Linda’s bike and we decide to head South because I’m sure she can go at least 36 miles on a gallon. Well we turn South and right down the block was a gas station. Never trust your GPS because we were only a mile and half from gas.
The gas station in Olancha had a sandwich shop right there so we decided to grab something to eat. They made this great sandwich and it did look great… until Linda took one bite… the meat was rotten. So we took it back bought a frozen sandwich and dude charged us for the rotten, and this guy was not going to budge so he finally just made us pay the difference between the fresh and the frozen sandwich.
We made it to Victorville and stayed at the Holiday Inn.
The next day we started off for San Diego by way of Dana Point. I picked Dana point because we have ridden our bikes all the way North from Dana Point all the way up the Coast to Vancouver Island so I wanted to ride this little part South just to complete the West Coast. We also found out that Dana Point is like Utah when you just order coffee… We stopped in at this nice outside cafe and ask for some coffee, we were told that we must order food if we want coffee. Utah it’s beer Dana Point it’s coffee.
Over looking the Harbor at Dana Point
We met up with Eileen and her family at the hotel Coronado and had a fantastic dinner with her and her family, then we met up with Bobby’s Wife Claressa and had dinner with her and a few drinks.
Eileen and Me
Coronado Island
The next morning we started the ride to Yuma. I was hoping to get further than Yuma but it was so HOT we just had to stop. I’m glad we did because we stayed at the Radisson Hotel. Great hotel and the food was fantastic even better than the food was the service. Plus they have a player piano that we had a little fun with.
In front of our Hotel in Yuma
Here is Linda just standing outside of our Hotel in Yuma. It was so hot that we could not go out during the day.
Because it was so Hot we started off on Tuesday to Tucson at 7:00. HWY 8 is the ASS. 250 miles of nothing but ASS.
Linda and I both dropped off out bikes at the Harley Davidson in Tucson because she needed a 10K and I needed two new tires
I had three days of meeting at the JW Marriott WOW what a great hotel to bad I didn’t get to see much of it because I was in meetings for sun up to sun down. Linda on the other hand took full advantage… She went on nature hikes and sat at the three pools they have there and she said they made the best Bloody mary’s she has ever had.
JW Marriott inTucson
The funny thing was when we drove up on our bikes the staff didn’t believe we were staying there and asked me who we were visiting. I guess Harley riders don’t stay at the JW Marriott very often.
Linda just having a beer at the Hotel.
On Friday we picked up our bikes and started off on our ride.
Saguaro national park is a must see.
Hwy 77 is such a great ride up to Globe. If you have not done it I would recommend doing so.
We found another great ride is HWY 60 out of Globe. I will tell you the High Desesert is amaging to see, there is not a lot of places to pull off and take pictures but again If you have the chance take it.
We rode from Globe and wanted to get to Blythe CA but as you can imagine, Linda riding fast and hard we were there by 1:00 so we decided to push on to Lake Havasu. we have always love HWY 95 on the California side but another great road is the one from Parker to Lake Havasu
Linda standing at the Bar at the London Bridge Hotel bar. You can see the London Bridge behind her.
Love the roads and the view.
If you get a chance stay at the London Bridge Hotel they have three pools and a view of the river you will nerer forget.
From there we headed back to Mesquite by of Kingman and the Hoover Dam and one of my favorite roads Lake Mead HWY. I just cannot get enough of this rode.
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