Desert, Mountains, and Friends

August 29^th, 2026

Palm Springs, California

Woke at 8:00am, but was still tired, so sat on sofa and half slept till about 9:00am.

Showered and got geared up, then went down to have breakfast.

Once done eating, which I had a fair amount of food since this was a bit fancier hotel and had several food options, I went over and luckily, they still had 1 luggage cart left.

Took it up to the room and loaded it up.

Then I worked on a few things as I needed to leave closer to 11:00 today to not arrive too early again.

Eventually just went down and loaded the bike, which was brutal as there was not shaded spots empty, so had to do it in full sun and it was already 98 degrees.

Once loaded, took cart back inside, checked out of the room, and returned to the bike.

Did the final steps, then we hit the road.

I went down toward the next freeway entrance and stopped for fuel, then we hit I-5 south.

I am heading for Palm Springs to visit with some friends, but going the north route on the freeways only takes 2 hours (well, probably 3 with traffic jams).  This would get me into town too early, and it is a boring, mostly crappy route anyway.

So decided to head south toward San Diego, but then turn off onto another highway that would bring me back up into another region I had never been before.

I actually wanted to go over the mountains just behind where I was staying, and the route had been checked out earlier, but when I tried to actually create the map last night, it refused to let me do it.

Some researched turned up a massive road works over the weekend, so when I plotted it the night before it was an open road, but not today.

This was why I was now heading down I-5, along the pacific coast, toward Oceanside.

My fears of arriving early were slowly put to rest.  Fucking traffic jam lasting most of the way.

I pulled off the road a few times, once to use restroom and once to check out a view point, but always had to pull back onto a parking lot.

It was backed up enough; I finally decided to try lane splitting to keep moving instead of sitting still. Since it is legal here in California and other bikes were doing it, I gave it a shot.

Was worried at first as with al the bags I am a wide bike, but I did not take into account that the cars, knowing and accepting the lane splitting will move over to let you by easier, at least once they know you are there, had to rev the engine a few times, but then people moved right over.

So did that for the last half of the trip and probably saved myself 10-15 minutes of sitting in traffic in 95 degree temps. (The close proximity to the ocean at least had a nice cool breeze blowing in.)

Finally reach the exit for the highway I needed and took it.

Highway was a bit slow going, not from traffic, just getting stopped at every damn red light along the route.

Eventually got past the area where the lights were every 1000 feet and was able to make some distance.

Next up was a short northward run up I-15.

After a few minutes I noticed it was taking me to I-215 as my next stop, and then realized that it was rerouting me again to the freeways.  I knew I was looking for a specific highway, and had passed that highway sign already, so pulled off the freeway and let it update its route.

Started down this route, but soon became clear this was not the same route I had plotted the night before.

Somehow ended up going a bit south again before heading into the mountains.  This added more time, so now it was clear I would not be arriving early in Palm Springs.

However, it was not too much extra distance, and was not a repeated road like some of the other route would have been, so enjoyed the ride. Mostly.

Several road work areas that had one lane roads that held up things about 5-6 minutes at each section.

Finally reached the road heading into the mountains and things cooled off some.

From here, I was able to catch another road heading north toward I-10.

I had driven this road before, but going the opposite direction, so still had some new feeling to it.

Turned off onto the higher mountain highway I had wanted to ride for several years.  It had been closed down for a few years due to some rock slide damage the road had taken about 5 years ago, and only recently has the road been re-opened.

This took us up in altitude some more, and things cooled into the mid 80s.

Stopped off at a view point for a short while, but too hot still to linger long.

But eventually had to start coming down.

Reached the I-10 freeway and things were back over 100.

We hit the interstate and immediately canceled the next stop I had planned to make to use up time.  The traffic, construction and longer route had already burned the time.  I was already after 3:00pm, so would just ride to the motel instead of stopping.

Only about 30 minutes to get there, and pulled up in brutal heat, typical for Palm Springs.

Checked in, but they did not have any ground floor rooms, so this means lugging everything up steps in this heat as well.

Pulled around and of course no parking near the steps, had to park about 5 spaces down.  No shade where parked, or on the steps.

Spent 30 minutes unloading.

Once done, I sat in the room and tried to cool off and dry of as I was so wet with sweat you would have thought I had just got out of the shower.

Made contact with the friend here and she gave me the information for a restaurant to have dinner and a time.

I did not really do much but sit and rest till I was ready to ride down to the restaurant.

This time I still had boots and pants on, but skipped the jacket, just too damn hot out.

It’s a 10 minute ride, and straight down the main road the hotel sits on.

But the WIND!!!

This section of town has dozens of huge windmills built around it, and for good reason.  The winds here never seem to let up, at least every time I have been here, they are blowing, and blowing hard.

I would guess at least 30mph winds, some faster gusts.

Reached the restaurant and pulled up next to my friend who was already there.

We went inside and got seated and had a great meal and some great conversation as we had not seen each other in person in just over a year.

Once done, we went outside so she could have a cigarette and talked more, then we had to cut things short as she needed to get home before dark as she cannot see very good in the dark and does not like driving in it.  I can relate as my night vision is not what it used to be either.

I headed back up the road, but stopped off at a convenience store to buy more to drink since I will stay here 2 nights.

Then reached the motel, parked a bit farther away this time, and then secured the bike.  Hoping the crazy winds will not blow the cover off. (It’s secured with its own strap, and I have another strapped on it as well, but could still get pulled up enough to flap around like crazy.

Went up to the room, put things away and then started working on uploading footage and typing blogs as did not do any of that last night, so behind a day now.

Will get the blogs online tonight, then will probably go to bed early.

No specific plans for tomorrow, not sure if my friend will want to do anything again, or if I will just hang out in the room all day working on stuff.  I might ride back down to the spot I was going to stop at, but canceled and do it.  Only about 15 minutes down the freeway, just hot and windy ride is all.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route: