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| Grand Canyon Trip: May 2002 Continued |
| That damned fog didn�t let off until I reached the city of Banning, somewhere out in the desert. Like someone just turned on the light switch, the fog disappeared and suddenly blue skies and sunshine surrounded me! Unbelievable! In fact, it was now warm. First I was freezing, now I�m warm. Not that I didn�t welcome the warmth. I just wished it would have stayed �warm� for most of the day. After 30 minutes I had to stop and remove layers as I was getting hot! I originally wanted to visit the General George S. Patton museum located somewhere along the Interstate 10. It was in this very desert that the General trained his foot soldiers and tank crews how to fight the Germans. Unfortunately, I completely missed the exit and by the time I realized it, I was probably 30 miles away! |
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Left: Rest Stop about 30 minutes from Banning along Interstate 10. It was around 9AM but the temperatures were already beginning to get hot. A quick call to the wife and the removal of layers to cope with the heat and I was back on the road. |
| I did finally exit the Interstate in a junction called Desert Center. Out here, whenever roads collided it was called �junctions�. And in these junctions usually sprout one or two gas stations and cafes for the road weary. In Desert Center I gassed up at some grungy looking no-name gas station with a dirt �pavement�. The gas pump was the old mechanical type and the guy manning the station was a long haired, lanky dude with oily fingers, missing teeth, and a southern accent. He was nice though. He took cash only. I didn�t even think he had a phone but I could have been wrong. He asked if I was hot in my all black leather suit. Yeah. I was hot! Turned out it was a good thing I gassed up at that no-name gas station because as I turned towards Highway 177, it was another 100 miles before I could fill up my tanks. On 177 and then Highway 62 it was nothing but straight desert two-lane asphalt as far as the eye could see. I was cruising between 90 and 100 mph all the way. I reached Vidal Junction thinking I was going to gas up. Turned out, their one and only gas station was closed. |
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Right: Vidal Junction. It had been 75 miles at 100 mph. When I arrived there the gas station was closed! Notice how empty the streets were. Not a problem as the town of Parker was only 25 miles away. Gas in the desert was sometimes hard to come by! |
| Good thing the Bandit could do at least 150 miles on a tank of gas at high speed! So I ended up riding another 25 miles across the Arizona border and on to the city of Parker. The crossing of the border was transparent. No big signs. No border checks. I was just there! Parker is a town that exists around the Colorado River. A river that by the way is responsible for shaping the Grand Canyon in the first place. This river just flows south all the way to Mexico. In Parker, people either enjoyed the river or enjoyed the desert. There was nothing else there. And did I mention I was hot as a barbecued steak by now? The temperature in Parker was a scorching 90 degrees F. That�s about 33 C for the UK audience. Who where the ones saying they�d rather be wearing leathers and sweating just so they can be protected? Try doing that all day long! I had two bottles filled with fresh water, which I used to drink as well as keep a towel wrapped around my neck moist. But I was still hot anyways and there was to be no relief for the rest of the day. As Highway 95 snaked and followed the Colorado River, I saw homes built all around the shores of the river. Each home had a dock for their boat of personal water craft. This place was definitely water sports heaven. |