On the last day I left Ontario with destination San Francisco. It was hot, but otherwise pretty uneventful at first - just freeway riding, some gas and water stops, the usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. Until freeway 580 in San Leandro. I suddenly started feeling some vibration - I initially thought that it was due to the uneven road. Then it got stronger, and suddenly the bike started fishtailing a little....
The new underpants and the touring pillow worked wonders - I don’t think I’d have made it without. The reduced amount of ass-grip I get on the bike would be a problem on curvy roads, but since everything in Arizona and southern California is flat, that was not an issue. I set off in Tucson with “somewhere near LA” as today’s destination. That means highways and freeways all the way. It was incredibly hot, and I had to stop half a dozen times to drink water and cool down....
I brought several pairs of underpants on this tour - that’s the kind of guy I am. They are all of the same type, and that was a big mistake as it turns out. Also, my riding gear is rainproof, all-season gear from Switzerland, so I’ve been sweating like a cheese in the sun for the past week. And my DRZ, being basically a dirt bike, has a seat the design of which must have been inspired by a 2x4....
Today was a good day. I left Magdalena and took a small road towards Cucurpé - on the way I explored some unpaved side roads, rode through some cattle and horse farms, and finally came back to the paved road. But the fun started after that. 80 kilometers of perfect motorcycling roads - twisty, great scenery and just enough potholes and debris on the road to keep things interesting. An awesome day I took a break in Arizpe, a very beautiful little town on the way....
Today I went down to Caborca (yesterday’s original destination). Nothing too interesting except some shot up trash cans. Then took a smaller road to Tubutama. On the way there, I decided to take a break and used the shadow and the bench of a small chapel in the middle of nowhere. For reasons unknown to me, there was a used pistol cartridge on the ground in the chapel. The people from Sonora sure like to shoot....
Back home, I thought I wouldn’t need to get a paper map of Sonora - there wasn’t any at REI and I thought I’d just get one at a gas station in Mexico. That was a huge mistake and pretty much cost me a day. It started out pretty well - breakfast at a nice restaurant in Golfo de Santa Clara. It’s a fishing town so I had the omelette with camarones, which was excellent....
I’m sitting at the beach as I write this. Eat this, workaholics! Today was another day on the highways. Nice scenery, but not much happened. I guess the highlight is that I “fixed” the problems the motorcycle had - as it turns out the petcock got half closed (probably by a bush while going off road) and so the engine didn’t get enough fuel at full throttle. I opened it and everything works fine now....
I got started at the campground and wanted to go to highway 3, but after going forth and back several times I found out that the road on my map simply does not exist, so I rode back the way I came and headed south instead. The bike started giving me some trouble when going full throttle - it suddenly lost power, misfired, and at one point the engine just turned off....
Entering Mexico in Tijuana took literally one minute. They didn’t even want to see my passport or driver’s license - just the registration. I have a feeling that coming back won’t be as easy. I rode around Tijuana for a bit - my GPS decided to turn itself off or crash every couple of minutes, which didn’t make this easier. Thanks Garmin. I stopped and gave it a couple of good whacks, which seemed to fix it....
Today I went all the way from SF to San Diego. 500 miles of freeway, with some traffic around LA. As soon as I crossed the LA county lime, a few extraordinarily idiotic drivers appeared, cutting each other off on purpose, and having mini races. Other than that, pretty uneventful. Tomorrow I’m crossing the border in Tijuana, then things should get more interesting. I’m staying at the USA hostel in San Diego - for some reason there are half a dozen Swiss there....