320 miles and one drug bust later...

 

Interesting ride today.  Went south 120 miles on the I-15 to Sandy
Eggo and then turned left into the hills and did another 50 to the
Pacific Southwest Railway Museum along some *great* twisties right
next to the Mexican border.  The locals know about those twisties,
too, as I passed circa 50 sportbikes going the other way. (So does the
Border Patrol, which had set up illegal alien checkpoints in two
different places between S.D. and Campo.) There was also some guy in a
white van who kept leaping out from behind a bush to take ambush
telephoto pictures of the sportbikers dragging their knees around this
one 80 MPH sweeper.

I must have dissappointed him, as he leaped out, pointed his camera at
me, and then visibly relaxed: probably thinking, "Damn! Another old
guy on a touring bike!"  (I have no idea *why* he was taking the pics.
Freelance moto-photog? Irate citizen gathering evidence? Early
Halloween? Quien sabe?)

After visiting a bunch of rusty old steam locomotives at Campo <
http://www.sdrm.org/gallery/stage/stage-2353-1.jpg  > I set sail for
Julian, a well-known tourist/biker-trap located atop the mountains 50
miles north east of Sandy Eggo. Getting there was problematical, as I
ended up going through another Border patrol checkpoint right behind a
camper which proved to be full of illegal aliens. (Well; I *assume*
they were illegals, as you don't normally otherwise see 20 guys named
Garcia all packed into one camper shell. Not even at the Garcia Family
Annual Reunion.)

Once past the checkpoint I made some good time until I came around a
curve to see five sets of flashing red and blue lights blocking the
road and a pair of shame-faced guys in handcuffs whose open car trunk
was full of brown-paper-wrapped packages of *something* interesting.
In fact, it must have been *very* interesting, as the cops also had a
light plane circling around the scene. (Probably Border Patrol again.)

After a slice of over-priced (but good) Apple pie and a Coke in
Julian, I continued on home; passing the Palomar Mountains (&
Observatory) to their east, then following the old Butterfield Stage
Road through Oak Grove < http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3990534841/

structure: an old Adobe home that's now used as a fruit stand, and
which features a dancing dinosaur on the roof... <
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4851996715/  > ...something
you see every day, right?

Eventually returned home via the San Jacinto Mountains and I-10. Only
320 miles in 7 hours, but some interesting sights were seen along the
way.

It was a nice day for a ride.

 


(RideStorySnip tm)


Sounds like it was a nice ride for the day.  Thanks for sharing!

 


Yawwwwn!

Been there, done that.

 



Wrong. You really, really, really do bore me to death.

SR79 from Temecula to Warner Springs sucks, IMNSHO. It's just too arid
and there's not much to see.

That Butterfield Stage Route barn did not catch my attention at all,
but I didn't live along the Butterfield route the last time I went
through there.

If I was headed toward the Scissors crossing, I'd prefer to ride
through Pala on SR76 past Lake Henshaw, then get onto the 79 and go
through Santa Ysabel (very pretty ranch area with horses and cattle in
green pastures) and Julian.

Then I would take either SR79 down through Cuyamaca Rancho Stae Park,
go past Lake Morena and wind up in Campo or take SR78 through Banner
into Anza Borrego Desert State Park..

The latter route descends into the low desert with more spectacular
geology.

But the best season for Anza Borrego is April or May, when the flowers
and the octotillo cacti are in bloom.

I must admit though that the road through Ranchita into Borrego
Springs is specatular as it descends into the low desert through the
rocks...

 


Idiot, if I actually bored you then you wouldn't even bother reading
my posts, much less would you take the time to answer every single one
with an attempted put-down. You'd simply ignore me; QED.

Thus, this is just another of the endless lies you tell in search of
self-respect; never learning that lying isn't ever going to earn you
any.

And speaking of lies, Googling roads you've never seen and then trying
to appear as if you know what you're talking about isn't fooling
anyone.