Day 06 freak show

around 9pm
Talk About a mostly wasted day I am so behind & getting so broke….. CRAP!!!

First thanks again to the ladies last night at the Radisson, what an awesome room & the “sleep number bed” was COOL! I’m in Palmdale at the motel 6. The manager, Annamarie is a wonderful lady & came to fix my fan, that in the 90 degree weather was blowing hot air on the cold setting, she fixed me up & we had a nice chat. Regardless of the stuff that frustrates me, gets in the way & generally pisses me off, I have met some really fantastic people & those people have made my trip!

My back aches, knees are swollen & took a rock in the left elbow & right ankle & I swallowed a bug that swirled upinto my helmet, a rather large & hairy tasting bug at that…, I think floorboards & highway pegs are in order next time! Finally put my ipod on too, really helped pass the time on an otherwise BORING, windy ride down the interstate towards L.A….. WHAT… L.A. you ask, what the hell happened to death valley??? Well, since you brought it up… I finally was able to contact Magellan re the GPS, after dealing painfully with the call center in the Philippines I finally got transferred to a friendly & trying to be helpful guy named Aaron from the Florida call center, he was empathetic to my situation & to the fact that the call took about 2 hours to get NOWHERE. We tried to find a dealer in Fresno with a crossover in stock, no luck, he suggested I head for San Dimas, just outside L.A. the US head office for Magellan & they’d swap me for a new one, he’d call me on my cel & confirm. Well I was already really late for getting to Death Valley at a reasonable time, it’s about 8 hours from Fresno, so I headed for San Dimas. It was a mostly boring ride, Raider fans kept popping up everywhere & I think we picked up 2 new VI Raider fans too. Met Dennis & Casey Allen at a rest stop (where I was trying AGAIN to get thru to Magellan) they were riding too, awesome people, we chatted for a bit & they had Raiders logos all over their bike, so I snapped a shot for fun & for Coach Snoop. Told them about our Raiders & gave them my web address so hopefully they’ll check out my ride & the team. I rode with them for about an hour, NICE PACE, really enjoyed it & it’s nice to ride with someone, they took their exit & I was solo again.

Then I got to again consider How do these people get away with driving cars so fast, idiots. They're regularly over 100 mph! I got stuck between some trucks & it was keep up or get run over..... Interestingly enough my chaps flap really hard over 90mph & it’s like a magical leg massage...... oooh! OK, enough of that, I got out of the trucks & down to a pedestrian 75mph, man it’s tiring to drive like that in the wind & with all the loony’s around you! Oh well they sell booze at gas stations here & that doesn't seem like a real good idea either? Gas station means driving booze means drinking, hummmm no wonder there’s so many “report drunk drivers” signs & billboards asking people not to drink & drive.

Back to the trip, it’s about 4 ½ hours to L.A. so I was about ½ hour out at 4:30pm when I received “the” text message from Magellan, “no crossover gps units in san dimas, sorry we’ll mail you one in about 2 weeks” I was at a gas station, I tried to stay calm, I called, got the Philippines again, no help, on hold, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Terry Dollar & decent dude from Asplundh came to my rescue with directions & a plastic coated map to replace my still soaked ones, THANKS Terry!! I then Begged the Magellan guy for the san dimas phone number & finally… 10 more minutes of hold & he gives me the number…. I call it, it’s forwarded to the philippines office… OK, those who know me well will not be surprised about what happened next & will be able to close their eyes & really clearly visualize it ( it’s in a “76” gas station parking lot to help with the “atmosphere” ) I began beating the payphone with the handset & screaming %*@# at the top of my lungs, then with veins bursting in my forehead advised anyone who hadn’t already run for cover, that I did not suggest the purchase of a Magellan gps……I called for sympathy from my lovely wife, who suggested I didn’t need a gps & was doing great without it, not realizing my frame of mind & that all day I was under the impression I’d be picking up a brand new gps that would easily navigate me through L.A. traffic to find my cousin's house on the San Diego side of L.A., that I’d never been to… obviously despite her best intentions that conversation was short… salt in the wound short… A CHP officer came by "to see if I was OK" or perhaps see if had any concealed weapons?, he chuckled when I told him the story & suggested the phone was not the villain & I should consider skipping L.A. in the 5pm Friday insanity traffic & instead head towards Death Valley perhaps staying in Palmdale (see how well I take advice!) So I’m here, few pics today cause nothing to see, I’m only 4.5 hours to Death Valley & I’m hanging out in the motel 6 by the highway on this warm Friday night, gonna get to sleep early, really looking forward to death valley, I may try to go into Mexico at Tecate on Sunday & coming back thru Tijuana. We’ll see, we’ll see……