Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

Today was epic!! My clutch hand and brake hand are both sore from shifting and braking all day. These California roads are a) in perfect shape, b) not busy at all, and c) beautiful. It is such a contrast when changing from the desert floor to the mountains in population and temperature. Why people aren't flocking to the mountain tops is beyond me.
I got a late start because I had to go find more oil (synthetic 20-50) since the beemer consumed some yesterday. While I was at it, it has bothered me that if I had a flat in the desert, which I will have 2 solid days of, I do not have much to repair it, so I got a small pump and a can of (hold your nose) Fix-A-Flat. I know, but I m not staying out beside the road if I have a flat. I have a tire plug kit (tubeless) that came with the bike, and I have never used, but just in case.. And now I am at peace.
And Harry and Sue must have patched things up because I think I poked at the iPod enough this morning that I did not hear a single Harry Chapin song all day (que heavenly noises). Now if I could just sneak some EL&P or early Elton John (not the later smultzy crap), or some good old Black Sabbath or Alice Cooper into Deb's music collection. But other than that, awesome tunes all day.
I went back through Idyllwild again since the road is so amazing, and then up to San Bernadino and found the little crooked road that goes over the mountain via Big Bear Lake.
The first part of Rt18 is bizarre in that it has the same 15 and 20 mph hairpin turns, but you also have 2 lanes of cars going through the hairpins side by side! And every Honda Civic driver things he is Mario Andretti to boot. I just chilled and let the circus go by and found a dead spot to lope up the hill in. They all turned off to go to Crestline anyway and I had the rest of the ridge pretty much to my self.  And I kept twisting up and up and up. There is a small ski town near the ski area up there, and beyond that is Big Bear Lake, which is a good sized town. The Lake is pretty much empty, I assume from the drought and it is odd to see all these nice houses and camps overlooking a gravel bed. Bet the water skiing is pretty rough.
So down the other side which is also twisty until you get to Lucerne Valley where you go right and drive across the desert floor seemingly forever with no real signs telling you how far anything is. I ended up back at the wind turbines where i was yesterday. My last trick was to find the mountain road that goes from Palm Desert (crazy rich development with florescent green lawns) up over the top. I found it and this time the "Porsche packs" were racing each other to the top through the twisty roads. One thing I had to watch for was rocks in the road. And these suckers are big ones. Not sure how a Porsche would fare if they hit one of those babies.
Again, the contrast between what is going on in the valley and the mountains is striking. The mountain towns seem like nice little communities and if you don't open a gift shop or fake old time store of some kind, people just sort of drive through and leave you alone by the looks. There were a couple towns that had a lot of tourists in them, and they were pretty cute.
This is a pretty large piece of California up here and I rode through forest land, pastures, horse paddocks, and some pretty nice open meadows.

The sun started setting as I descended down to Rt 8 and it was pitch black by the time I got down there. Rt79 intersects the interstate where I will spend my day tomorrow heading back east, and I had hoped there would be a hotel nearby, but it was not to be. So I checked the map and the nearest hotels were west almost all the way to San Diego, which is not that far as it turns out. So I found hotels in El Cajon.
So an awesome day of twisties. I am actually kind of looking forward to the zen trance of the desert tomorrow, and my hands need a rest anyway.