A Silly Grin In Twenty Nine Palms - #4

Saturday 7 April

Another fantastic California day dawns. The sun coming up found Nev & I at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for oatmeal for me and Nev. Does this sound like dejavu? It should, we were here yesterday!

We had to leave again on the 90, 404, 10 and then the 60. As usual we got away late and Nev had a little hic-up on the 60 putting us down by the  Pacific ocean? Interesting, well always nice to see the sea.

We asked a young lady the way and she put us right, her. Husband has been to NZ but she hasn't.

Back on the road buzzing along at 75mph in places with black & white LAPD cruisers going past us. We got to Beaumont with no problems and in good time as traffic had thinned, most people being where they wanted to be for the Easter weekend.

My apprehension about the bike diminished slightly as I got used to the noise. I now have a real bad-arse bike that is a real head turner. I now ride the sort of bike that make old ladies wet themselves, cats run up trees and sets car alarms off! AND I'm starting to enjoy it, that's what worries me. Hehe... None of the boys want to ride behind me. The gears are easier although I now don't have a sixth gear.

It was good to meet up with Murray & Phil again. Note about USA, don't ask any locals where any particular places are. The do not know anything geographically about their surroundings. This includes where hotels might be, particular streets are or places, in their own home town. Or in some cases even the way out of town! I can't fathom how little they know about their local areas. Perhaps they don't understand me or can't be bothered. They also don't seem to have to much of a sense of humor, again it could be my accent?

Anyway, we had a bite to eat in a local little Mexican place and I had my first real-deal Mexican food. Guacamole with real corn chips made right by the table with a very friendly Mexican lady, she was great & friendly.

Delightful young lady making fresh Guacomole at Cada Palacios Mexicon Cafe

Happy patrons - $6 meals!

Making it and giving us a sample to gauge out acceptance levels for chillies and peppers, I upped mine and it was fantastic. I'm going to love Mexican food, I can tell.

Fuelled up after all due admiration was paid to my new wheels, the first shock of the noise overcome. Phil & Murray had big grins so I think they quite liked it! Fueling up is funny. You have to pay for your fuel first and if you don't know how much it is going to cost you have to overpay them first, then fill up. You then present your receipt and they pay you back the balance if their is any. It works and stops the 'drive-offs' I guess. All the cash areas are secure with bars and they don't come out unless they have to. 91 is the highest octane I've seen but if I see a higher one I have to get it for my bad-boy.

Ready to go we headed for Twenty Nine Palms. What a lovely ride. Fresh dry air and roads that were quieter now with big rushes over and our destination perhaps not as popular. We were obviously climbing with it getting a lot dryer, and when I stopped for a drink with my favorite NZ Pump bottle it had sucked in. The desert air is so dry, you don't sweat. My lips were starting to crack.

Mild Desert Hogs

Count the bullet holes!

We turned off from the way to Blythe and turned north into famous Joshua Tree National Park. This was AWESOME, I love the desert! A real desert. We were basically going through it to get to Twenty Nine Palms. We stopped a lot for photo ops, it was so quiet and still, and hot. Beautiful cacti and weird shapes. The cactus flowers were out at this time of year and the ranger advised us to watch out for desert tortoises, that often cross the road very slowly. They have desert tortoises? Yes.

This cactus tree doesn't bloom often apparently

OK, Phil's photo of this bloom is better than mine, I admit it!

A Joshua tree - actually a cactus!

Joshua Tree National Park

A perfectly normal piece of equipment to find in a desert!

We motored slowly through this park just soaking up the views and vastness of it all. You really did fell like a little speck of sand on the beach. Quite a few people around, that had obviously opted for their Easter experience to be a desert one.

Panoramic shot of Joshua Tree National Park

I was a bit disappointed when we dropped down out of the high desert in towards TN Palms. You could see the panorama for miles and miles, such huge land. Way in the distance you could see TN Palms and further out one of the biggest US Marines base in the whole USA. What a perfect desert training place.

Phil's GPS let him down and we failed to find our destination for the night that he had prebooked the night before. He asked at another motel and he got shoved out and the door locked behind him when they found out we weren't staying there! Haha...funny but a perfectly understandable reaction!

El Rancho - Twenty Nine Palms - (I couldn't count 29 palms?)

Anyway, found the El Rancho Motel in the end and checked in. Wasn't LA but it was clean and the beds comfortable. However later on I discovered we had no toilet paper, (use your imagination), or soap, or wireless.

AND, to top it off in the morning, no hot water!  Hhmm...

But we did walk down the road and find a really nice restaurant that we muscled in on. We hadn't booked and it was obviously a popular spot with locals and visitors alike. Good service, good recomendations and great cheap food. Well they didn't have to give us a table did they? The NZ accent, (apparently we do have one), seems to work. Many laughs over beers.

Back to Phil & Murray's unit to sort out next stage of adventure to LAS VEGAS!

Goodnight all..