Day 4

Tecate Border Crossing

The original ride had me heading out of Santee east along I-8 to the south end of Anza Borrego State Park and heading into the park via Ocotillo.  Then I would generally wend my way north to finally stop about 15 miles south of Temecula again in Pala.  Well, I wound up riding a major chunk of that the day before as I criss-crossed the whole damn southwestern portion of California trying to recover from the lack of Palomar Divide Road, so I figured that I'd head east all the way out to the Arizona border and then try to find Glamis, which a co-worker had reminded me was out there somewhere.  She and her husband regularly camp out there and ride ATVs and dirt-bikes so I figured that her recommendation would be pretty solid.

CA94 Close to the Border

The road was fairly deserted, leaving me and another super bike to run fairly swiftly on the straights and carefully through some turns that were a bit sandy.  I decided on a whim to head south on Tecate Road and go to the Mexican border.  My insurance doesn't cover me in Mexico so I didn't actually go through, but I had a long look at it and talked to a couple of GS riders that were heading into Mexico to camp in Baja for a week.  Then I headed back up to 94 and continued east across some really gorgeous and rustic landscape, passing (according my MS S&T within 350 yards of the border). 

94 finally joins up with with I-8 just west of Anza-Borrego and I just kept going figuring I might as well see if I could get all the way to the Arizona border.  Interstate 8 has some fascinating landscape on it.  If the road above Indian Wells / Palm Desert looks like someone tossed a bunch of boulders around, then this looks like someone used a shotgun full of the the things.  It's like they grow out there.  I get within spitting distance of Araz Junction, about 10 miles from the AZ border before having to turn back to get gas.  Close enough for me.  I then headed north on S34 into the depths of the desert to Ogilby and ride through some of the most desolate places I've ever been on two wheels.  I cut NW on the deadnuts straight Ted Kipf Road and then west on CA78, finally pulling into the dunes of Glamis and riding on the ribbon of pavement that runs through all the sand.

Somewhere between Glamis and Nowhere

Glamis Overlook

I pulled into the the viewing area parking lot and had a break while watching sand rails and ATVs with big scoopy tires hop the dunes and generally cut loose.  The heat was increasing as the day went on and I could feel my strength waning, particularly because of the trip down 86 the previous day (in fact, sitting here over a year later writing this, I can feel that spot between my shoulders aching sympathetically!)  I was already starting to doubt the wisdom of trying to ride for another full day at that point and figured I would just see how I felt when I got to Pala.

I went west out of Glamis on 78 through the endless expanses of dunes before cutting across some imaginary dividing line that separates the extreme of the desert from acres of cultivated agriculture.  The temperature was hovering close to 90 now and I pulled into a Jack in the Box in Brawley to get out of the heat and look at the map.  My shoulders were really hurting and I had entirely the wrong armor for this kind of heat.  I didn't really fancy another full day of this, so I decided to pull the plug right there and figure out the route that would get me back home the fastest.  Unfortunately, that route wound up being BACK along 86 (north this time) and then back through ABDSP from the east along 78. 

Highway 78 to Brawley

That last bit really hurt and i was so very happy to be home.  Day four alone was a 481 mile day of primarily freeway miles at high speed and in high temperatures and it really wore me down fast.  I particularly learned to make sure I have paper maps of the areas I go to in as great a detail as I can get because the missing roads and unpaved trails really played havoc with my plans and caused the ride to be far more strenuous than I planned.  However, I am happy I got to see Glamis, because it really is impressive and I was shocked at the extent of the desert in the eastern portion of southern California.  I knew the Mojave was out there, but man, it's extensive!

On the Ortega Highway