After Las Vegas I went south on Interstate 15 until the turn off into the Mojave National preserve in southern California. The park is known for its impressive Joshua Tree forest with the Shadow Valley forest being the largest in the world. The ghost town of Kelso is found in the preserve with the defunct railroad depot serving as the Visitor Center. The park also has volcanic formations such as Hole-in-the-Wall and the Cinder Cone Lava Beds.
These look innocent enough and cute but they are like steel and sharp as a needle and the needles are about one to two inches long. You definitely don’t want to crash into one of these trees.
I exited the park on the south side and stopped at Roy’s Motel and Cafe for gas and water and of course get a photo of the motorcycle on the famous Route 66, another place on my bucket list. At Roy’s I paid the most for gas so far on this trip, slightly over $5 a gallon.
Just down the road from Roy’s I veered south again and continued to Joshua Tree National Park. The park is named for the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) native to the Mojave Desert.
The rock formations are amazingly beautiful. Probably because of the very high temperatures the park seemed empty. I was so tired of the heat and took a little rest on the road even though the asphalt was super hot.
After spending the night in Indio in a cheap motel I continued south alongside the Salton Sea to visit Slab City, also called The Slabs, a largely snowbird community in the Sonoran Desert. The town took its name from concrete slabs that remained from the abandoned World War II Marine Corps barracks of Camp Dunlap. The main attraction for me was to see Salvation Mountain, which is a small hill approximately three stories and entirely covered in latex paint, concrete and adobe, and festooned with Bible verses. It was a project over two decades by Leonard Knight. I’ve seen it and now will most likely never come back.
Some interesting vehicles and verses
Perhaps a place for reflection or just to get away from the sun.
After Slab City I rode straight to Del Amo Motorsports of South Bay in Chula Vista, another Yamaha Dealer to have a new Heidenau K60 tire installed in the rear.
A few days earlier a fellow adventurer living in Encinitas, about 35 miles north of Chula Vista had seen one of my posts on Facebook and had gotten in contact with me offering me a place to stay. While having my tire installed I contacted him and he quickly gave me his address and told me to come on over.
I will leave the visit to San Diego and Encinitas for the next post.
Just a preview of the beautiful California coastline
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