Day 18: Poolside or Holy Guacamole It's Hot!

Twentynine Palms, (near Joshua Tree National Park, California

Distance for the day: 134.9 km

Cumulative distance: 3923.4 km

Top speed: 117 kph

Moving average: 72 kph

Temperature: 25.8 - 40.8

I would call this a "short day". And I think it may well be a record for hot weather riding for us. It is hot. 

We were up pretty early and on the road before 9:00 am, in an effort to beat some of the heat. We knew we had only a short ride today but we still wanted to get away in decent time. Going forward, for the next week and change, I expect that will be our M.O. We both wore shorts under our riding gear and light weight tops. At times, I would stand on the pegs of the bike to allow the wind to flow through my mesh riding gear. The only bad part was that we had two sections of road where work was being done and we had to wait in line on the highway; the second time, for about 15 minutes. Fortunately, that was still early in the morning and it was only in the high 20s. Crossing the desert was brutally hot. We saw only one other motorcycle today and it wasn't someone touring, just some guy going from A to B in a t-shirt and jeans. 

We had our first and only stop in Yucca Valley and we spotted a Starbucks where each of us was envisioning an iced coffee of some sort. I had to turn around on a busy highway to get to it and when we dismounted and walked up to the door, there was a sign indicating "drive through or phone orders only". Well, it was too hot to drive through or to sit outside, so we went next door to some kind of juice bar, which was probably not a bad idea as we could get hydrated really well. However, we still haven't had a coffee today and we are both missing it. We spent an hour in there, not worrying about the time because the ride from Yucca Valley to Twentynine Palms is only 30 km, so I used the time to decide where we were going to stay. There are lots of options for the area and this, ironically, is not the prime tourist season since June marks the beginning of the summer hot season. We opt for a place called 29 Palms Inn, in part because the pictures show a nice pool set up, which is where we are currently parked. Drinking beer. The top of my beer can is hot. 

They were gracious enough to allow us to check in just past noon even though I knew they had other fish to fry at that time of day.  It is a small boutique motel and while it looks a little like there are no other guests, there has been  steady flow of customers to the bar and restaurant this afternoon.  It is a nice treat after camping.

We are outside Joshua National Park. We want to go into the park but not too keen on riding around in the heat so what we have decided is to relax this afternoon, get up early tomorrow and ride into the park, then come back to the hotel for breakfast. If we really like what we see, we will return to the park tomorrow evening.

 In the bar where we are sttaying.