As you may already know, my buddy and I are planning to do a long trip this summer, up the coast to Seattle and back. We are new to cycle touring so, this memorial day weekend, we decided to go for a quick overnighter. Our route was from San Diego, along the 94 until the 8, then to El Centro, up through Brawley, then north on the 111 past the Salton Sea. We then continued on the 111 (now west, then southwest) through Indio and Sheep Mountain. The 371 comes right off the 111, so we took that to the 79 where we got to Julian. Spent the night there, and then took the S1->I8 back home, though Mount Laguna. Total was about 330 miles on the first day, and another 120 or so on the second. Fun!

Most of the trip was nice, I wore a perforated leather jacket with layers and a liner that I stripped off by late morning. Riding in Imperial and by the Salton Sea was very hot, probably 95+ on the road. Even at 85mph, it is still very warm, although any sweat evaporates quickly so you don't get too muggy. Stopping sucks though I got 74mpg on this trip, even though the GS is shaped roughly like a brick - my buddy was lucky to get 50mpgs on his bike. Anyway, content:

Here is a map of our trip. Red was the first day, blue the second day.


We rode out at about 6am. Mark had the good idea of getting breakfast at Cafe Dulzura. We got there about 7am. Too bad it was closed until 8, so we moved on, but not before a photo op. The first one is me and my GS, the second is Mark on his ZZR.




Stopped to get gas at Cameron Corners. Warm and pretty rural.


This one cracked me up. You know you're in the boonies when you see signs like this posted.


Riding through Imperial now, just gotten off the 8 and on the 111. This is about 150 miles inland, and we see this sign.


Sea? What sea??


Continued on to Brawley. It was almost 11 and getting warm, and we still hadn't eaten. Breakfast time! This girl served us donuts and burrittos.


Rode north, on the east edge of the Salton sea. We parked the bikes off the shoulder to get a better look.


Very desolate place. Not much as far as fishes or birds go, and not a building for miles. Except for the cars and the wind, it is very quiet. Very few signs of "civilization", I wonde how many people come here? Probably one or two a week is my guess.




We rode on, through Indio, and then up and over sheep mountain. Took a little break on the way down.




Then, we stopped at a motel in Julian. It was only a few miles from town. Cheapest one we could find, still cost an arm and a leg.



The owner neglected to tell us about the "decor" of the rooms. Bleh. Plus, there was only one bed so I had to sleep on the floor. Bleh again.



Anyway, spent the night in Julian after getting dinner and a few beers. Got to sleep around 11, work up bright an early at a quarter to 7 the next morning.



Rode south, not quite straight home as we wanted to take the S1 through Mount Laguna. This was probably the most beautiful road I have ever been on. Rolling hills, some turns followed by long straights, with woods and meadows on either side. Just beautiful. Kind of wanted to take some pictures, but it's not really the kind of thing you can photograph - you really have to see it without the "frame" around it.

Got some gas on the way home. This was our last stop.



They are apparently not very high-tech here.



Anyway, got home at about 10 that morning. Definitely one of the most fun weekends I've had in a while!
[img]http://ieng9.ucsd.edu/~iyulaev/2007_memorial_trip/

sounds like a good trip you guys had    it's always interesting the places you can bump into on a trip like this.