Hog in Heat Moto Tour

Sorry for the delay on our final post–the last chapter!

We loved eating and drinking by the pool in Palm Springs, we even had the pleasure of visiting with one of Eric’s oldest Detroit friends who now lives in LA whom we rode Beach cruisers around town with, and really just all around enjoyed our vacation time in the desert.

After leaving Palm Springs on Friday AM, we headed for the coast–winding through desert towns that hardly anyone has heard of in extreme heat, yet again.

We went to a pitstop on Hwy 46, and learned it was the last stop James Dean took on his fatal crash. Gwen, being the classic film geek that she is, insisted on visited the exact spot it happened. Luckily, it was on our way. Eric hoped we weren’t tempting fate.

At the beginning of our day, We knew we wouldn’t be able to get to Big Sur in just a day, but we reached Cambria a few hours before sunset.

And it felt wonderful.

We arrived at the Pacific Ocean exactly two weeks after we left the Atlantic. We posed in front of the ocean and told anyone that would listen what we accomplished–while laughing about all the adventures we had, and shaking our heads that we set out to do such a thing.

The following day (Saturday) we learned that it would rain in Big Sur and the coast on Sunday. So, we took the opportunity to head up the coast and home a day early, and surprise our friend at his 40th birthday party.

We are now home with the new Harley, over 3800 miles added to its odometer, and so many memories.

We are already planning the next one--perhaps North, away from the desert next time.

Thanks for following along on our trip!

On the morning of Day 11, we woke up late, after our dinner with new friends– Harold, Andy, Franklin and Henry –excited to explore Marfa.

Apparently Marfa is closed on weekdays, except for one Burrito Joint. It took us three tries to find a place to eat.

This was disappointing, as we had heard so much about the galleries, shops and restaurants.

As the heat rose, we decided it wasn’t worth figuring out what, if anything, was open. So we headed West to the Prada Marfa exhibit on 90, and Took some fun pictures.

After the photo shoot, we set our sights on El Paso. The trip was very hot–over 100, and we just powered thru. We stopped at “the world’s largest Harley dealership.” More like world’s lamest. We met much nicer and welcoming folks in Panama City and Mobile. Also, no offense but starting t-shirt sizes at XL, is a kind of ridiculous.

We stopped in a small town just west of El Paso, and called it a night.

Day 12 began early, and we left by 7:30am. We entered New Mexico within a mile of our hotel, and strangely enough, the weather was cool. We even Layered up an hour into our ride.

By Noon, the temperature returned to the usual 90 or 100+ and the sun was beating down. The type of heat you only encounter in the desert. It was unbearable for any length of time. We had to stop every hour to rehydrate.

Somewhere along this route, we decided that Palm Springs wasn’t THAT far, and we much preferred pool time there than in a best western in Arizona. We decided we would power through.

At one point, Gwen’s face turned fire engine red from overheating, and we had to hang out in a shady gas station as she melted ice on her head. (Side note: at one point a guy walked in pronouncing he had a gun–and then said just kidding–an instant before Eric sprung out his knife. Yikes.)

Better decisions have been made, but on we went. Again, stopping every hour or more frequently to drink water and cool down. As the day went on, the sun was in our faces, and Gwen kindly shielded Eric’s eyes–her hands as his visor.

By 8:30, we reached Palm Springs!! So tired, so exhausted. But we checked in at the best 1950’s refurbished motel in Palm Springs. It’s truly wonderful.

So wonderful, we decided to extend our stay 1 night. Poolside we will be for today 7/15 and tomorrow.

We felt we deserved it after our 13 hour, 700 mile trip yesterday.

So, I know yesterday I said Day 9 was a beautiful ride. It was. But the roads through Big Bend and along the Rio Grande were stunning.

We will post pictures, but of course, they won’t do it justice, so I will attempt to complement the pictures with a description.

When we started out, we were in the Basin of the Chisos mountains–it was a cooler temperature, and we had to ride out of the gap in the mountains.

The surrounding desert around the Chisos, the Chihuahuan Desert is surprisingly green for a desert, and we rode the winding hills and roads through it. Our only set back was that we ran into a washed out portion of the road–and on a Harley, we thought it best not to press our luck with the water and mud. So, at that pt, we turned around and headed out to Marfa.

Eventually the land turned more brown and red, and the lava rock formations “other worldly.”

We followed the Rio Grande along HWY 170 and then turned North on HWY 67 to Marfa.

We are going to explore Marfa a bit today–yesterday evening we had a few drinks by the pool at our Hotel, The ThunderBird, and chatted with two great couples. The Thunderbird is a fixed up 1950’s motel with modern charm–I feel a little like I’m on the set of Mad Men.

We became friends with Andy and Harold, an Australian couple with the two most adorable boys. We have had so much fun and luck meeting great people on the road.