Leaving Havasu was nice. It was good to get back on the bike again after my 3 day chill out by the lake. I packed up slow and as the day was bright and not much of a wind I went for a swim in lake Havasu. Fresh indeed; it opened my eyes for the road ahead. It wasn't noon till I was on the road and then I stopped in to get something to eat and met Tom, an ex firefighter from new york city. After 9/11 he retired having had seen enough. He was driving a '78 Chevy that he bought in lake havasu for 1500 bucks. Here that Dad! This would be the place to come. Not a spot of rust and wow is that cheap. Supposedly there are a lot of Canadians who have come down and bought houses in the are. Lots of deals to be had. As Tom was looking over my bike he noticed that one of my highway pegs was missing. It had fallen off when I dropped the bike back near Yuma. I had it in my tank bag and had the idea that i would get a shop to weld it back on but he said to use a nut and bolt would be better. We headed over to home depot as thats where he was on his way to anyway. We found the right nut and bolt that wasn't going to vibrate off......there was a little bit of locking plastic on the nut to make it a sure thing. Then out to the bike again. It took a little reaming to get everything lined up but with Toms tools and mine (ratchet came in handy) it was all good. I was on the road with proper footing.
Couple miles from the Highway that would take me through the Mojave desert I stopped at the gas station to make sure I was full. Just as I was going to head off, a man scooted in on his bicycle with a motor! He was loaded down looking like he had been on the road for some time. It turned out to be a 44cc motor that had brought him all the way form Montana! Didn't ask what his destination was but he was out for a while for sure. Had his bike packed as tall as my motorbike. He sat down with me and we went over the map for interesting places and good roads to take.
So I made it to Barstow that night and because it was in the dark and because it had got dark I found a motel and was happy. The next morning I sat down with the brush and went at the mats. I was surprised, it only took about 20 minutes half hour to get it sorted. All good in the locks department. :) OK so next I was on to a campground that i had found on the internet. Before that I found a little museum and went through the history of the town. Lots of gold mines, a giant meteorite made of mostly iron that fell from the sky in the early 70's was amazing to see the raw iron in a rock form. There were a lot of cars pulling in and out of the parking lot I was at so I went to see what was going on and found out that the water in barstow was bad due to some kind of explosive material. There is a heavy military presence here and that is all else I could find out but I think it was good timing for me to be there so I picked up a couple gallons. It is amazing what more I continue to find room for on my bike.
The camp site, Owl Creek near Rainbow Basin has a whole lot of fossils and old bones found round here. Leakey.....who I remember learning about or reading about had come here for years to excavate. I went for a hike in the dry river bed and it was so quite all you could hear was the wind. Last night was crazy windy and woke up feeling as though I had been up howling through the air all night in my flying tent. The wind didn't really settle till early this morning and it was nice to feel the stillness. It seemed like a good traveling day but I thought I would like to see more of the park and it being so cheap...6 bucks a night I thought it would be a good place to stay a second night.
It is thanksgiving here ..almost and this macdonalds I am in is full of shouting crazy kids and adults........ah the holidays.
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