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Notes: 1 / 2 years ago
The brothers Grimm
… would have enjoyed I40, going west out of Flagstaff. It was their thing to start all cuddly and cosy, and then drop a tale into the depths of hell. Think of Hansel and Gretal and the gingerbread house. After the delight of finding a house built of candy and cookies, the next thing Hansel knows, he’s in the oven. As was I.
My day began thus.
Tuesday, September 29
This morning, I forgot to replace the rotor I had removed last night as my ‘anti-theft measure’, and woke half a motel with cranking the engine. Then I remembered the rotor was in my shirt pocket. This would be about 5:30 AM. Ooops. I was waiting to see men running after me in their pyjamas, shaking their fists. “ I blame Lucas”, I’d shout, running into the distance…
Rotor reinstalled and with my butt back on I40, I ran 90 miles and was then ready for breakfast and gas. At the flagstaff exit, gas had suddenly jumped $1 in price but the bonus was that a Denny’s was nearby. If you can’t have food, have a Dennys, I think. If you can’t have a Denny’s, have an IHOP. IHOP’s meals are, however, a confusion of constructional insulation and cuisine. It does neither well.
Then back to I40. There were beautiful mountains, a winding highway and TREES. I realised I had not seen trees in a couple of days. Ya don’t know what you miss until it’s gone (and come back again).
What a beautiful road this was, my favourite of the trip to this point, winding around tree-scattered red hills and strong, bouldered cliffs aside the highway, all bathed in warm morning sunlight. There was no traffic, the air was cool and not a cloud in the sky. Eventually, the hills parted and we dropped into the desert. Scratch that. We dropped into Hell.
If you look at a map of I40 between Flagstaff and a town called Kingman, there will be little to nothing. This is because little to nothing could survive there. I have been in hot places before, but this is all so worryingly barren. Death Valley is an hour’s drive north. Aptly named, Death Valley recorded the highest temperature on earth, ever, right there. As I drove through the Mojave, it was 118F, 47C.
The road through this desert would have made Oklahoma Straight’s planners proud. Dust clouds, intense heat and an uncomfortable road surface made for an unpleasant ride. Frequent CSI-like scenes of car fires revealed by a king-size-bed area of damaged, blackened blacktop on the hard shoulder shows anyone that this place is unfriendly and relentless. Driver chatter on the CB ceased completely. We were all under stress. It was an ordeal that lasted for about 100 miles.
The desert is a basin. You descend into this glimmering landscape, then realise it is really hot and harsh and you are a long way from comfort and safety. On the far side of the basin, two hours later, exit meant climb, and climb we did: 1800’ in a mile or two. That is a long steep climb anyway, but in that heat it meant additional stress on the car and me. I fretted and sweated. I watched my temperature gauge closely. It rose but stayed in ‘normal’ range - an impressive feat for this old car.
I felt real relief in getting to the end of the Mojave Desert.
That brought me to Bakersfield, where on a whim I decided to skip San Luis Obispo and head north to Monterrey near San Francisco. In Monterrey tomorrow morning, there will be a gathering of Triumphs who will together drive down US1, Big Sur and on to SLO. To join them, my detour today took me north on I5. What a crap road that is? It is ugly, noisy, uncomfortable, plagued with semis and drab, to boot.
I did not feel safe on this road – you know how that feels? After about 200 miles of this, I could take no more. I had to get off this highway. An exit came up for Rte 198, South. I could see on a map that this led me to Rte 101 and access to Monterrey. Off I turned.
After the 4 days of interstate driving, this was a wonderful antidote. Think of Tail of the Dragon, but in three dimensions: dips, rises, sweeping turns, tight hairpins, fast straights – this had it all, for 56 miles. It was a road that made me chuckle out loud, and a wonderful conclusion to four days on the road.
I’m now in a motel in Soledad, near Monterrey, CA, looking forward to meeting Triumphs and their drivers tomorrow.
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