[much road noise]
Haah! Friday night, October 10th, what is it, about 7:30, 8 o'clock? Probably 8 o'clock. Umm, left Karen and Jack's in Ontario late this afternoon, hit the road, had a hell of a time getting thru Riverside, BAAD traffic jam.
Got up to Cabazon, Banning, the wind started blowing. In Cabazon I barely paid any attention to those damn dinosaurs. Here in Whitewater Pass the wind is INTENSE! I'm past the, umm, the Palm Springs and 29 Palms exits from Interstate 10, The wind is whipping around, I just got caught in a rather intense sandstorm, looked like very heavy rain except it was dry, I wonder how much of the paint got scoured off, how much the windows are fogged? Umm, find out later... Anyway it's umm, wow, it's a HELL of a night!
There's a steady stream of semis coming west on 10, I mean it's just as far as you can see, it's truck lights, close together. Now that I'm out here somewhere around Desert Hot Springs, the eastbound auto traffic has thinned out a little bit. I imagine there's still a fair number of people here who'll turn off in Indio. We'll see which ones are going on to make the drive on to Phoenix and points east. But, uh, there's an AWFUL lot of traffic coming in from the east into LA. Woo...
So, last night at Karen and Jack's, sat up til late talking and playing guitar, singing, talking and talking, me doing most of the talking. Uh, they had some Brain Power-type herbal capsules that kept me energized. It's hard to stay energized with Jack and Karen smoking continuously. Did my best.
Got to bed fairly late. Woke up moderately early. Sat with Karen 'bout half the day, most of the day. Uncle Ray came in fairly early in the morning - he came by last night, just while Jack and I were going down to Marsha and Dave's to get the Jeep, so he missed us then. Oh we sat and talked, talked, TALKED, TALKED, talked this morning, they gave me more brain energizers, Ray's been doing'em too. Umm. Finally got around to doing the re-pack of stuff from the RV into the Jeep, packing up what was necessary for this cross-country trip. It wasn't too hard - a little tedious, getting some of the stuff squeezed in.
Ah, it's not very spacious here in the Jeep, but I - guess - I - shall - live.
Hmmm. Another view of the freeway here - there's still a lot of traffic going eastbound too.
So, I left the RV at Jack and Karen's, finished up with the packing, abandoned Karen finally, went off to triple-A for maps and Trader Joe's for snacks. When I went in to A.A.A. at 3 o'clock? no, 2 o'clock, it felt like it was about to rain. By the time I got out at 3, those clouds had cleared, there were still clouds over the hills, over the mountains, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I could hardly believe it.
Just past the last Indio exit from 10 there's a huge Indian casino, Fantasy Springs Casino, many colors. Marsha says there's a BUNCH of Indian casinos out this way, starting back at Cabazon, the Morongo reservation. First, Cabazon went from two dinosaurs and Hadley's fruit stand to a massive wave of factory outlets, the dinosaurs are almost hidden now, then the huge casino on beyond'em.
Ah, OK, right now I'm just a little bit further, at the Spotlight 29 Casino, big lights. Uh, what's this one? It looks like another big indian casino out here at Dillon Road. Does it have a name? Is it even a casino, or is it just ... Oh, it's a truck stop, Trans-America Truck Stop, uh, Burns Brothers bla bla bla, Taco Bell express 24 hours New York steak 8 ounces $6.99, welcome to Coachella, ya, you betcha...
Anyway, I passed the last Indio exit, the traffic hasn't thinned all that much, well, the freeway's gottten a little bit narrower - o, just passed the Sea-Level sign. [cough] Freeway's narrowed a little bit, still steady streams of lights both directions, both ways. Ah, it's only about 245 miles to Phoenix; here's the sign, 241. Blythe, 93; Chiriaco Summit, 26 miles. So there should be a rest stop, whaddya call it? Indian Wells? Rest stop maybe 10, 15 miles.
Am I sleepy enough to stop? Am I crazy enough to keep driving? Am I really that tired? I dunno... Ah, let's see, what time is it? Reach for the lights - time: 8 o'clock. That IS kinda early, especially considering my dining practices. They haven't been the greatest today. I just finished a bunch of those orange chocolate goodies. MMmmm...
[end road noise]
OK. End of the ride for the first day out with the Jeep. Out east of Chiriaco Summit, east of Iron Mountain; thought I was going to turn off on Red Cloud Road, ended up I think on Cool Springs Road, road that goes down to a B.L.M. recreation area, meaning you gotta pay $6 to sleep on the ground. So I turned off the road after a couple miles and I'm sleeping on the ground for free.
I pitched the tent. It's sort of interesting. Oh, good thing - the moon isn't full, actually I think it's heading towards full, which would be nice - umm, it's pretty out here. But if I'm pitching a tent I haven't pitched for... years... in the dark, don't remember how to do it - aw, it's not that hard.
So finally it comes together. I get it thrown up here, get the sleeping bag and pad tossed inside and supplies... [stretch] I'm laying out here under the desert moon, munching on Trader Joe's breadsticks and gouda and vodka and pecans and some microbrewery beer, it's too dark to read the label. And, uh, not a bad way to end the day. What is it, 9 o'clock, 9:30? Can't tell, too dark to read the time. Let's see, umm, 9:57.
And I hear booming. Now, I'm only a couple miles off the interstate, but this booming isn't THAT kind of booming. There's not a cloud visible out here, so I don't think it's thunder. So it could be that [since] I'm just north of the Chocolate Mountains Gunnery Range, and the Navy's doing a little practice out there. Could be...
I'm at the edge of a little wash; there're bigger washes around, but I figure this one is pretty safe. There's a creosote bush up there, and its accompanying plants. I started to get the jeep off into some pretty soft sand; I thought, "No problem, it's a 4-by, I'll just find out how to shift it into low-range and 4-wheel; I can take it out of any place I get it into." So I park here and I take another look at it, and I don't think it's a 4-by, heh heh heh. I think it's a station wagon. So I better be careful about where I, what kind of locales I try to insinuate it into from now on. A note of caution is advisable.
Ah, to round out the picture of my experience out here under the moon: looks like there's a planet near the moon too - Jupiter? Probably. Umm, as I lay here - oh, these breadsticks aren't those little dry things, they're these good Trader Joes' fluffy spicy greasy Italian breadsticks, yum. I'm laying here with the CD player blowing in my headphoines, doing some florid early baroque harpsichord, Telemann maybe? I'm not sure.
And reading Barbara Hambly's BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD. And the door of this tent is open and facing this moon, the wind is blowing right down my back - I've got my shirt off, got my pants on, ah it's so refreshing. [urp] I am, the tent is screening only, I don't have the rain fly up, there's not much chance of rain right now, even though there IS a hurricane coming up the Mexican coast that just killed hundreds of people. Uh, the moisure hasn't gotten this far inland, so I'll be windblown ALL night. [whinny]
Probably be dusted a little bit - part of the reason for putting up the tent was so I wouldn't be TOO dusted and TOO windblown. I coulda just laid out here in the sleeping bag on the sleeping bag, on the mattress, air mattress; but the tent here, it helps. And it's good practice for when I get further east and I do encounter rain, that I do have to camp in the rain, and I do have to put up the tent in the rain - always a fun experience. Yow.
