going back to Truth or Consequences?

Clark dry lake in Anza Borrego.

In a week, I'll mosey back toward Truth of Consequences just for a few weeks to go to a medical appt mid April in Albuquerque and then to Arkansas to pick up another TW200 I bought to replace the one I have. Nothing wrong with mine, but the new one has all the modifications I want for traveling. I'll have proper racks and bags, upgraded everything. I'll be able to go fast enough to keep up with traffic and not worry about my stuff falling off. I've been here in Salton Sea for about a month and feel it's time to get out and see more.

I've packed the TW for bare bones camping. That means no internet connection and not much else either. I hope to do most of my traveling like this and back to the truck to resupply. I have a week's stuff with me and I'll see how that goes. I'll be in the Borrego Badlands and roam around as my whims take me. There won't be much to camping, only a tent, pad and sleeping bag. My time will be spent riding around. I feel like this is the trip I really came to be on and it's now starting. I'm not one to piss and moan about my physical issues, suffice it to say that I finally feel ready to take this on.

San Diego and back to Salton

Rode the TW from Salton to Lakeside to be a tourist for a few days in San Diego with Kellie. That's her on the left and her friend D who's family has guest passes to all things museum. We got an assortment and headed to the harbor to see the Midway aircraft carrier.

D's whole family is artistic and their house is loaded with interesting stuff like this stained glass.

Welcomed aboard

Corsair

On over to the Prado in Balboa Park. I feel so at home here; we lived nearby when I was in grammar school and the park was my playground.

and back to Salton on Sunday. Great fun on curvy roads.

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HANGING AROUND SALTON CITY

The powerline road was easy to follow, but I started getting thirsty.

Back at the center of town (an intersection) the Alamo Resturant had the solution.

The rest of the town civic area. This is only half of the municipal building and one of the rooms is the library open twice a week. This is where I've been blogging.

The marina never did sell out after the big fish die off. Someone must still be watching for the fish to come back.

The beaches are made up of bones and shells.

No sand, just bones.

Abandoned RV park with Therese and Suzanne. We rode there on quads.

Didn't Figure out how to edit previous post and add pix

Backing up in time here. Couldn't do all this seamlessly from the beginning.

So here's the pictures from the group ride in Tucson

Kay's cat who name I forgot. Sorry cat.

Kay's friend Samuel, no doubt he is thinking about geocaching.

Lunch in San Diego with Diana Ryerholm and Mike Simms for my first schwarma. My full approval.

The view from San Clemente while I camped out at Cindy and Bill's house.

Kellie learning to start and stop. Enough excitement at 2 miles and hour.

Rudy, the tireless Jack Russell. Magnus is considering making an exercise wheel for him.

Magnus calculating Rudy's possible electrical output on an exercise wheel.

Weeks Offline!!! Eek!

20100212 fri
Dry out, clean out and repack at Salton City. Nice to have a place to myself and get caught up on travel chores. Everything out of the truck and spread out to dry. I didn't think to take a picture of it. Hmm... some photographer. This weekend Rick and Therese will be here with a houseful of family and I'll camp out at Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area which is only a mile away. I'll have a chance to ride T-Dub on more dirt roads than I could do in a week.
Pulled up to Holly Road at sunset and found a good flat spot near the restroom. Everyone’s kids had to get out and ride even at night. They all have headlights and whips with lights to see them coming from a wash or behind a hill. Plenty of noise and enthusiasm; earplugs required.

20100213 sat
First day at Ocotillo Wells SVRA and every rider seems to need to make a loop around this area as the start of their ride. Biked in to Salton City for hamburger and tortillas to make burritos. Having this truck and using it like this gives me a sense of connection to my parents, Al and Mary. It’s the only thing I have to remember them. I have all the mechanical stuff fixed on it, but I’ll leave it to look to way it does, all rusty and faded. On the dashboard I have a picture of my mom when she was 18 and adventurous, I like having her along with me.

20100214 sun
Comfortable now, sleeping on my massage table, just two nights to break me in. I keep doing my physical therapy for my knees and back. Wriggling and crawling around in the back of the truck must be of some use, too. Stopped by at Rick and Therese’s, met Kevin who works with Rick and got him to buy the house here. Kevin has bought two houses for less than $50K and loves the area. He had a laundry list of places to go see and do here. I took the T-dub on Hwy 86 up to 65 mph for about five seconds and the wind buffeting me felt much different than at 55. I had two cameras with me, but I did not stop to take pictures of the dirt roads or where I ate. Surely I’ll slow down enough to do so eventually. I’m still in hurry mode. Much calmer in camp today; the frenzy has passed.

20100215 mon Presidents’ Day
Just sitting at the picnic table when a departing visitor offered me his 4 six gallon water jugs before he threw them away – perfect! I can toss my one gallon containers.
Back to Rick and Therese’s to enjoy the family busyness as the left to go back home. It is so heartwarming to see this loving and well adjusted family working together. Also, I was in time for a late breakfast with their daughter Jamie and her friend, Mike. I saw everyone off and had the house to myself for the rest of the week. Even though there are beds available here, I am more comfortable sleeping in the truck now.

20100216 tue
Not much to do but relax and hang out. Satellite tv and reading to pass the days. Since I left my notebook with my PT workout in Tucson, I’ve recreated it here. I don't know if this is too much information, scroll as needed.

Seated ankle bends – elbows on knee – toes up
Toe scrunches – passive and active
Knees up – cross resisting
Toe risers
Squats
TFL stretch
Wider squats
Pushup over chair back
Left lunges – heels down
Twisting pushback against wall
Right lunges – heels down
Chairback Cobra
Squats left foot out
Left triangle
Squats right foot out
Right triangle
Prone – grasp ankles
Forearm knee plank
Alternating legs up
Seated twists
Supine hip risers – back arches
Knees to chest – assisted and resisted
Standing – bent over – hands clasped behind back and arch
Balance on one leg – bent at hip – leg and arms out

20100218 thur
Awoke thinking of making big family portraits on this trip and of bring my box of family photos with me when I return from NM. The first family that comes to mind is Stan and Ruby’s in San Bernardino. It’s huge.

2010-02-19 fri
Cleaned up and move my stuff back into the truck in anticipation of Rick and Therese’s return. Not sure where I’ll spend the weekend.

2010-02 mon

Another fun weekend with Rick, Therese, Joe her brother and his wife, Suzzane. Riding the quads and my Tdub to the Sea and root around in the mud and debris.

I've added some pictures to my previous post...

A Week in So Cal and Headed for Salton Sea

Sunday, January 31st was significant for me as it is the first ride I'll go on with people I've met on the TW 200 Forum. I was going to visit with Tom from the forum while I was in Tucson, but our schedules didn't mesh and he suggested I contact Brian who was leading a ride for Melissa who is a noobie. This was perfect for me since I'm still challenged to keep the bike up. Several forum
posts and emails later, I'm set to meet up on the road to Ajo and park/unload our vehicles near their friend's house to start the ride. The drive on the dirt road was a good trial of my rack with the motorcycle with plenty of bouncing and twisting. I now feel comfortable with the setup and don't worry about it just falling off on the highway. Unloading was easy, a little warmup of the bikes and off we six went on a fun moderate ride for 17 miles round trip. Rocky road, sandy washes, and a tricky steep solid rock climb after which four of us turned around and went back to the starting point. Riding in the deep soft sand was a little unstable, as random steering seemed
to take over. Speed up, sit further back and let the front tire surf. Hmm... looks good on paper. Two of the guys continued on through on the road, one of them had a gps that showed the dirt roads and wanted to follow that back to Tucson. The gps is so useful, he had the maps from Garmin and could download tracks from other people. The gps would create a track of wherever he went and with taps on the screen he could plot way points along the route he was taking. Every turn and dip can be seen ahead; it must take all the fun and excitement out of getting lost. Back at the truck, loading the bike would have been easier if I had thought it through a bit more and not end up playing Twister. I learning. We had a relaxing beer and snack with Brian's friends where we parked and I went back to Kay's feeling like I didn't need a bicycle to get exercise; riding the motorcycle on dirt was enough.

Monday, Feb. 1 Drove from Tucson to Lakeside, CA near San Diego. Drive, drive, desert, Border Patrol checkpoints, into Greater San Diego and wander around Lakeside finding where Kellie lives. Her friend Magnus had the same problem with his truck as I do with intermittent
vibration from the back and has a mechanic who will fix it. Cool, I'll be returning for that.

Tuesday, Feb. 2 Stayed with Cindy and Casey in San Clemente for six days, loafing and getting to catch up with some friends.

Wednesday, Feb. 3 The BBQ Special at Fisherman's Wharf on the San Clemente pier is the best value in town with my friend Dave. The view is pretty good, too, if you block out Dave.

Thurs. Feb. 4 Rain, Fri. Rain, Sat. Rain

Sun Feb Blue skies, puffy clouds I can wipe down my bike and put a cover on it.

Monday Feb 8 Drove back to Lakeside, truck with mechanic, it's ok, really, just watch it. lube and oil.

Tues Feb 9 hangin' with Kellie. Finally got good orange chicken

Wed Feb 10 leave for Therese's vacation home in Salton City to ride around in the Ocotillo Wells rec area.

pictures are not loading today, I'll try later...

Tucson at Outback

My host Kay and some friends went to Outback. Fun to be in a city restaurant after to offerings in Truth or Consequences. The food served in TorC usually fell into the consequences category.




Today I meet up with three Aramco Brats, Erica, Colette and Marty. We lived in Saudi Arabia with our families as our dads worked for the company. After 4 hours of lively conversation we still had not caught up with all that had happened since then.

Tucson for the Weekend

Just moment before leaving and feeling assured that indeed, the truck would roll. I had so much packed into the back and even the passenger seat to still drop off into storage, that I was having doubts that it would budge. Whew, off I went, filled the tires and was glad to see the bulging was pressure, not load. Hours later as highway hypnosis set in, stopping to nap in the back was so pleasant. Stopping at the Dragoon rest area, I could tell TW (my motorcycle) was eager to race up the hill. I resisted.

Light was fading and I didn't want to drive through Tucson at night. Did anyway.