Day 4 - close calls and a day of extremes
Day 4
Polvadera, NM - Bermuda Dunes, CA
648 miles
The dawn broke in the New Mexico desert clear and cool, and the lack of humidity was wonderful - I have never gotten completely used to the sultry summer air in Arkansas. I bade my relatives goodbye and headed west on US 60, and quickly the road took me to over 7000 feet. I glanced down at the air temperature gauge on the the VFR - 65 degrees.
After a wonderful breakfast at the Magdalena Cafe in town of the same name, I found myself in a broad, flat high mountain valley - populated only with huge radio antennas - other wise known as the Very Large Array, or VLA for short.
See http://www.vla.nrao.edu/ I recognized it from the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster.
Eventually we crossed over 8200 feet and the ride was pleasant and cool. I knew that later that day I would be fondly remembering those crisp temperatures. Moving west, I found myself in the Salt River Canyon on US 60 West in Arizona, and this road contained the first curves of the trip so far.
Unfortunately, it also contained the slippery tar snakes used to repair roads in some areas (dubbed the "La Brea Tar Strips" by Ron's brother Robert when we encountered them up in Alberta back in the 80s). I hadn't experienced any issue with them and was enthusiastically bending the bike into a nice left-hander when the front tucked and slid, leaving an ugly black stripe mid-corner. I don't know how I saved it, but I stayed in the throttle and managed to keep it upright when by all rights I should have been on my head. That was the closest I have come to crashing for a long time. I tip-toed the rest of the way down the canyon and into the town of Globe, where the VFR's air temp gauge showed 111 degrees. It rose to a high reading of 115 while passing through the Tempe and Phoenix metro areas, where I was treated to some stop and go traffic to top things off. There were very few motorcycles on the road in those areas.
I can't say enough about the Joe Rocket Sahara cooling vest - once soaked in water and placed under my mesh jacket, it made the "blast furnace" effect of the wind much more tolerable. The last 200 miles of the I-10 freeway, temps in the 113-115 range, and sun lowering in the west were very taxing. Near the AZ-CA border I came upon a roll-over accident with troopers on-scene, but no medical personell. I stopped to see if the persons were badly injured, not sure if I could help or not. To my relief and just at that moment, an ambulance arrived, and I went on my way.
Polvadera, NM - Bermuda Dunes, CA
648 miles
The dawn broke in the New Mexico desert clear and cool, and the lack of humidity was wonderful - I have never gotten completely used to the sultry summer air in Arkansas. I bade my relatives goodbye and headed west on US 60, and quickly the road took me to over 7000 feet. I glanced down at the air temperature gauge on the the VFR - 65 degrees.
After a wonderful breakfast at the Magdalena Cafe in town of the same name, I found myself in a broad, flat high mountain valley - populated only with huge radio antennas - other wise known as the Very Large Array, or VLA for short.
See http://www.vla.nrao.edu/ I recognized it from the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster.Eventually we crossed over 8200 feet and the ride was pleasant and cool. I knew that later that day I would be fondly remembering those crisp temperatures. Moving west, I found myself in the Salt River Canyon on US 60 West in Arizona, and this road contained the first curves of the trip so far.
Unfortunately, it also contained the slippery tar snakes used to repair roads in some areas (dubbed the "La Brea Tar Strips" by Ron's brother Robert when we encountered them up in Alberta back in the 80s). I hadn't experienced any issue with them and was enthusiastically bending the bike into a nice left-hander when the front tucked and slid, leaving an ugly black stripe mid-corner. I don't know how I saved it, but I stayed in the throttle and managed to keep it upright when by all rights I should have been on my head. That was the closest I have come to crashing for a long time. I tip-toed the rest of the way down the canyon and into the town of Globe, where the VFR's air temp gauge showed 111 degrees. It rose to a high reading of 115 while passing through the Tempe and Phoenix metro areas, where I was treated to some stop and go traffic to top things off. There were very few motorcycles on the road in those areas.I can't say enough about the Joe Rocket Sahara cooling vest - once soaked in water and placed under my mesh jacket, it made the "blast furnace" effect of the wind much more tolerable. The last 200 miles of the I-10 freeway, temps in the 113-115 range, and sun lowering in the west were very taxing. Near the AZ-CA border I came upon a roll-over accident with troopers on-scene, but no medical personell. I stopped to see if the persons were badly injured, not sure if I could help or not. To my relief and just at that moment, an ambulance arrived, and I went on my way.
The pool at my friend Kevin's home in the Bermuda Dunes community was a very welcome sight after an extremely eventful day, which had me riding through a 50 degree range of temperatures.
posted by Matt Lewis at 2:55 AM
1 Comments:
VLAs are strange looking in the middle of nowhere, aren't they?
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