Monday, February 21, 2005
Heading Home
I filled up at the Circle K on Irvington, then made good time to Casa Grande. I made a last second decision to go west on I-8, to avoid Phoenix and to see some new scenery. I'm not ashamed to say that my adventure on I-8 included a perfectly flat, straight, dry, sunny section of roadway with no traffic to be seen forward or back in either direction, which I put to good use: 135mph, a new personal land speed record. (Previous record was 130 in the 'Vette. And yes, the V-1 was on the job.)
SR-85 from Gila Bend to I-10 was packed with off-roaders going home. I still think it made the trip faster, and I was glad to avoid Phoenix.
I stopped for food and gas at a T/A truck stop. Ate one slice of my personal pan pepperoni pizza, which was somehow nasty, but I enjoyed the bread sticks.
The next break was in Blythe. No more butterscotch, but the strawberry sundae went well with the new book, "Tourist Season".
There was lots of rain, often heavy, between Blythe and Indio. I stopped for gas and to wait out the storm at a Coco's just west of Indio. Jacket was soaked through; gloves too. The henley was sopping at wrists and tail. More than a few heads gave pitying shakes as I left the waiting area to restart the ride.
Perseverance paid off, and I got home just two minutes past my 9:00pm target that I set leaving the Coco's. (There was too much rain and too much traffic to go safely faster.) When I got home, I got complaints from Jeremy that I wasn't going to make dinner, dried off, started a load of towels, and went to bed.
