Pines_To_Palms_Page

Like the 243, the 74 began to change its scenery from Pine Trees to Palm trees. The road remained smooth, and the sweeping 30 mph turns started. I stopped at a big turnoff which had spectacular views of the Coachella Valley below. To my left was Palm Desert, with its green golf courses and lush homes of the rich. To my right, I could see Salton Sea, that big manmade mistake right in the middle of the desert. Directly below and in front was one of the most stunning racer roads I had ever seen. Seven Level Hill looked like a series of giant S-turns, with vehicles moving along them like small slot cars on a toy track. It was almost surreal from up there. Riding that section of the 74 has got to be one of the most thrilling portions of this ride so far. Here, stable bike handling was a big plus. I just leaned the Busa over and fed in power as I rounded those giant 180 degree �hairpin� turns. Only they were so big that their decreasing radius design did not feel like decreasing radius at all! I was on the edge of my tires for almost 10 seconds at a time. Awesome! Grinding knee pucks and motorcycle hard parts was almost too easy here. Although, I avoided doing both!

Highway 74 ended in the affluent community of Palm Desert. This place reminded me of Beverly Hills. Palm trees lined the middle of the streets. Jaguars, Mercedes Benzes, BMW�s, Lincolns, Cadillacs, Porsches, & Ferraris were everywhere. I was in the land of the rich and shameless! I couldn�t stand it for too long. I quickly did a U-turn and went back up the 74, enjoying Seven Level Hill once again.

I went back up the 74 and onto the 371 turnoff. By this time I had covered over 200 miles of which 99% were twisties. I was getting a bit tired. I gassed up at the same gas station along the 371 that I did on the way to Idyllwild. Not that I needed to. But I needed to pull over and rest so I thought I might as well fill up. The Mobile gas station I was on had a couple of picnic tables out back under a couple of shade trees. It was very inviting. After I filled my Busa�s tank, I parked by the picnic tables and ate a snack. I sat there next to my Hayabusa, under a cool shade looking out into a vast expanse of Riverside. Somehow it all felt very good to me. I was alone with nobody to tell me what to do or where to go. It was just me, my bike, good cheap food, and the road. I loved the feeling.

I could only bask in those good feelings for so long and sooner or later, I would have to return to the real world. For me, it was back on the 371 towards Temecula. I was cruising down the road and I suddenly saw a dog standing by the side of the road looking like it wanted to cross. It surprised me and I quickly swerved around it. Dogs are usually dumber than deer in that they have no fear of crossing roads. They just walk right on over. Thank goodness this one had the good sense of staying put while I went by.

Back on Wilson Creek Road, I had an opportunity to check out that oil slick that almost made me crash my bike earlier. There it was. It looked like somebody took a paint brush and just ran it down on the road. I was even able to spot exactly where my tires lost grip. Incidents like that are hard to forget.

On E. Benton Road, fatigue started to set in faster than I had anticipated. My thigh muscles started to cramp up! I had to quickly pull off the road and walk it off. I hate these cramps when they happened. They�re so painful and hit with little warning. Unfortunately, I�m prone to it. I had taken a tablet of Advil back in Palm Desert which did not seem to help. After about 10 minutes, the cramps disappeared and I was able to ride back to Temecula and on Interstate 15. As soon as I got off the 15 and onto the Lake Elsinore portion of Ortega Highway, my leg cramps came back and I had to quickly pull off the road again. Damn! I hate cramps! I was beginning to get worried that I would not make it through Ortega Highway�s twisty section without pulling over again. It might even cause me to miscalculate and crash! Luckily, the cramps never returned.

Ortega Highway on the way home was almost totally empty going my direction. I did run into some slower traffic but I was able to quickly dispatch them. I knew Ortega Highway so well that I could daydream all the way through it without having to slow down. Every once in a while, I�m able to ride through Ortega Highway with little interruption. This afternoon was one of those rare instances and I marveled at what a great motorcycling road it was. Smooth flowing turns, straights, and quick esses. All this while moving through the Cleveland National Forest. It was all very pretty and fun, which often times I miss due to familiarity. Toward the end of the twisty section of Ortega Highway, I was negotiating a fast left hander and when I got to the exit of that turn, I saw a CHP car sitting by the side of the road. I backed off the throttle a bit but then I realized why should I? I�m not speeding. I wasn�t breaking the law. As soon as I passed the CHP car, it pulled out in my direction. Shit! No way he�s going to give me a ticket�.for what? I got to a long straight that lead to the valley section. Up ahead of me was a 7 car backup puttering along the road. This section also has two of the only THREE legal passing lanes along Ortega Highway. I looked behind me and I could see the CHP car way back behind me. I surely didn�t want this copper to get behind me and tail me all the way to the end of the Ortega. He might just decide to ticket me if he hadn�t already decided to. But the CHP car was still a ways back. So as soon as I got to the passing lane, I let the Busa rip and the bike just launched itself like it was shot out of cannon. I passed one, two, three and soon all 7 cars, the Busa still accelerating hard all the way to the end. I was well into the triple digits by the time I passed the last car in this slow convoy. Afterwards, I quickly got back on the lane and slowed down a bit. If that copper was after me, he was going to have to pass all 7 of these cars. I don�t think he was after me though. It just made me wonder since he took off in my direction right after I passed him. I guess I�ll never know as I quickly got to my turn off for home and boogied out of there!