February 9, 2017 – Leaving Funeral Services and California.

We buried my uncle today in Nipomo.  As hard as it was to leave my family, this trip has been delayed and the heavy rains that are currently causing flash flood warnings were headed south.  The plan is to bolt towards the east and to not dally.  I should perhaps be visiting more colleges but instead I am going to try and make up time for the delay by getting to the east coast as fast as I comfortably can.  This started today like a sprinter after the starting gun as I tried to outrun the clouds.

To cross California I headed due east on Rt 166 though the Cuyama valley.  It is still very much winter here and the hills and fields are all vibrantly green from the recent rains.  This is really the most beautiful time for scenery.  Time that real-estate agents take photos in denial of our perpetual summer drought.  I pulled off on Wineman road to take a picture of the family ranch, which was as picturesque as I have ever seen it.  In the rock formations high up in the hills behind the ranch is where the Cumash Indians used to carry their acorns to grind them in hand mills worked into the stone.  Here is where I have the clearest view on my family’s history.  My great, great grandfather settled here in the mid 1800’s to raise sheep in these hills and here is where I am now leaving.  The avocados and aquifers can use the rain, but I would rather avoid it on the bike.

I was successful in outrunning the rainclouds, but not in avoiding the splendor that is the Cuyama valley.  This part of California is exceptionally beautiful but remote.  Most travelers take speedier routes and the roads are mostly used by trucks and agriculture.  (I practiced passing both semis and tractors en route though the mountains)

Not knowing where exactly I was going I pushed east through Tehachapi and windier mountain passes.  The bike is heavy with all my gear and at times I was grateful for this. By nightfall I had made it to the Mojave dessert again.  I pushed for Barstow and in darkness made the decision to try and find a campsite in the area.  My reference text of budget campgrounds and GPS pointed me to a site about 25 miles out of town.  What they did not point out was that the last 7 miles were on a sandy dirt road.  Now I would love to be a more experienced dirt rider but I would not choose to have that lesion in darkness on a completely unfamiliar dirt road absolutely devoid of other travelers.  As I moved further up the dirt road into a desert wash I was thinking … Worst case scenario:  rain catches up to me overnight and we get the advanced lesion off-road riding in the morning, when I have to retrace my tracks in mud and flash floods.  When I made it to the campsite there was only one other camper there, and they were asleep.  I bedded down for the night and was rewarded with another beautiful sunrise and puffy white cumulus clouds moving swiftly across the upper atmosphere.

Today I will move east into Arizona… Last night I was tempted to take the northern route to Las Vegas but instead I will take the southern road out of Barstow having already pushed my luck far enough with the rain.