I can tell this entry is going to take a while to write as it is tricky to find any time to do it. I'm sure no one told me trying to learn how to fly in 4 weeks was tough!..... Well maybe they did.
So I think I was heading to Vegas last time I wrote. I spent the day sweating furiously by a large wheely bin at the edge of the Mojave desert as it was the only shade I could find. My plan was to ride over the desert to Vegas in the wee hours of the morning so it seemed to have turned into a waiting game. During this time killing exercise I visited a quite impressively tacky tourist attraction called Calicot ghost town (or something like that) It really was most impressive how totally unoriginal the tourist industry can make a historical piece. I'm sure almost every rock and building was embossed with the Walt Disney logo. So I wondered briefly round this 'historic' silver town, past the gold panning hut (note it was a silver town, so I'm still confused as how they can claim tourists can pan for real gold!) and finally went back to my wheely bin for a bit of shade.
After trying to get to sleep early so I wanst too tired for my 4am start, I decided this was a pointless exercise as it seemed everyone in the area with an RV wanted to drive slowly past my tent with their headlights on full beam. I finally reached the end of my patience when one RV owner decided to do a 3 point turn right by my tent, and almost ran me and the tent over. At this point I decided it may well be time to leave.
At about 3am I left to cross the Mojave desert to Vegas. The ride was pretty dull and stinking hot but after 4 hours I got there. When I went to check in they wouldn't give me my room for 5 hours as they said it wasn't ready. This gave rise to a problem of what to do in Vegas that involves spending no money at all for 5 hours. I couldn't find an alternative so accepted defeat and lost money in the casino.
Vegas was OK, and as I expected really. I'm sure if you have tones of cash to spend it is great, and I did have fun as I met up with a couple of friends I had met the week before. There isn't much else I can say about Vegas really apart from I did actually manage to turn up during 1 of the 3 days in the whole year when it actually rains there. I was most impressed.
I left Vegas to head towards the Hoover dam, then the Grand Canyon. I had also persuaded myself to ride to monument valley after the Canyon as is seemed fairly close (I realize thats not true now!) The hoover dam was pretty cool and worth a visit even if I felt like my body was melting inside all the bike gear. Not much happened on that leg apart from a small posse of fat tourists explaining they had seen me on the road earlier. I'm never quite sure what to say to that statement, so I was forced to smile and say something along the lines of 'thats nice;' normally this leads to the 'oh my god, where are you from' stage, but due to my imminent evaporation I was forced to ride off with them blathering behind me.
It was a long old way to the grand canyon, which included a stretch of 'classic route 66' featuring what else but a brown historic sign telling me so. I finally got there in the evening after riding through torrential rain and thunder storms. after being ripped off at the gate of the park I rode to the camp ground and slept. The next day was the day of sight seeing with the canyon and monument valley.
On seeing the grand canyon, I hate to admit it but one does seem to make the same gawping noise as every other person, and as well as that I'm sure I had the same stupid look on my face which either tells onlookers you are mighty impressed or mighty simple. To be fair most of the locals in this area have that look on their face regardless of whether they are looking at large gaps in the ground or not, so I can only deduce that most of them fit into the latter category.
After seeing the Canyon in the morning I set off across the desert towards Utah and monument valley. It was actually a really long way but after a constructive site seeing morning I wasn't too bothered about the ride. Early afternoon I got to monument valley at the edge of Utah. I had a look around and then planned to ride a large loop back towards Arizona.
Monument valley is in the middle of nowhere, as you can imagine if you have ever seen some classic cowboy movies. So there I am riding between a place called Mexican Hat and the next petrol station which is an place called Mexican Water. These town type places are about 40 or so miles apart and really in the middle of nowhere. This is where the odd part starts..... So I'm riding along a pretty deserted road between these two places when a 4x4 overtakes me. This is pretty normal so I just keep cruising, but the vehicle is distinguishing because of some hay bails in the back. Then after several more miles I notice the same truck pulled over on the opposite side of the road facing me. (at this point I must point out it seems amusing now, but want at the time!) I pass the truck and see the lone driver, some middle aged man making gestures at me, which I can only describe as suggestively sexual and depraved. I'm sure you can all imagine! So I ride past fairly freaked out just thinking what an odd thing to happen. Then in my mirrors I notice the truck has turned round and is chasing me down this deserted road. At this stage it was really not amusing. I tried to ride as fast as I could, but 85mph was all I could manage on the road surface. This psychotic sex pest caught up with me in a few minutes and pulled up along side me trying to get me to stop. At this stage I was really feeling quite concerned and preceded to fumble around for my trusty bear spray whilst trying to keep on the road! Would you believe it, but for almost 10 miles this homo-sex pest nutter chased me repeatedly trying to force me off the road, then suddenly pulled over, turned around and drove off the other way. All this time not one car had gone past, and 5 mins later I realized the only reason he turned round was I was 1/2 away from the petrol station at Mexican Water. All rather disturbing, and after I had recovered from the mental images of me featuring in films like deliverance and Jeepers Creepers (for those of you who have seen them) it dawned on my that this was the only time I had driven for so long without seeing about 10 police cars. Typical, they are NEVER around when you need them! Anyhow, I thought people like you Olly and Noon would appreciate a good story of my 'almost' misfortune. In fact I can imagine you laughing right now!
So after riding 550 miles in one day, just to escape Utah, and Ricky-Bobby the over-sexed maniac I categorically decided I would never be going back their again unless I'm armed with napalm or some thing similar. What started as a really quite good day turned out to be a shocker. I spent a very tired night in a slum of a Motel in Flagstaff that night. At least no dead bodies were being carted out of the room opposite this time!
The next day I rode through Arizona to spend some time in Joshua Tree national park. Little did I realize that in fact it does rain in Arizona, and in fact they have a monsoon season once a year. It just so happens I had picked the month of their monsoon, and trying to ride on an interstate at 70 mph with a 35 knot cross-wind was really not easy; especially as it was being complemented by overweight truckers seemingly trying their best to run me over. After stopping several times as I couldn't cope with the wind, to the extent that it actually blew me off the road onto the hard shoulder at one point, I finally made it to the national park.
The park is really nice, and really quiet as well. I set my tent up in a totally empty camp ground and relaxed for a while. Then what seemed pretty funny to me, a guy turns up towing a KLR 650 just like mine. Pretty odd really as there really was no one else around. To add to this, it seemed he was a fountain of knowledge on KLR's. After chatting for ages about what else but our bikes, he gave me numerous tips about keeping the beast running, I feel this may come in handy later on this year.
The next day I really enjoyed my sight seeing in the park, and of course posed for the standard U2 style Joshua tree album photos. I then rode off, next stop El Cajon and my flight school for the next month.
So here I am, and the reason for not writing for so long. I have been busy the whole time flying planes with my friend Rupert, who incidentally is now addicted to Gator-Aid (an energy drink). You should of seen the joy on his face when he discovered wall mart sell it by the gallon! We did also find an evening to cross the border into Mexico to check out all the drunk 18 yr old Americans who can legally go to bars there. The evening was amusing enough until we tried to get back into the USA, and they wouldn't let us in for about 4 hours as we didn't have some slip of paper with us, so 6am the next morning after finally persuading them we are nice people they let us back in. I shall not be trying that one again. Next time I leave the USA for Mexico it will hopefully be for good.
I currently have completed 37 hours out of 45, and have also completed all my solo flying without getting lost (quite incredible really!) I am also starting my night rating today. Hopefully within the next ten days I shall legally be allowed to fly around in planes which is pretty cool. I have also been spending far too much money on getting the bike ready for the next long long leg of the trip which I shall continue on the 1st Sept. Right enough of this I am off to fly some more.
p.s Yeah, I have now passed my Skills test and am now a pilot, all I need now is lots of money so as I can afford to fly in the UK! 6 days till the 1st sept, and time to leave the USA.....
Comments