Four Corners - Day 30

Start Location: El Centro, CA
Ending Location: Santa Clarita, CA
Miles Today: 303
Trip Miles: 9719
States Visited: 34
Provinces Visited: 3
Low Temp: 72 degrees
High Temp: 95 degrees
Min Elevation: -115'
Max Elevation: 4195'

Route Map:

It's already beginning to heat up before 8:00 as we leave ElCentro headed for San Ysidro and our third corner. It quickly climbs to 95 degrees as we cross the desert but we can see the mountains ahead of us and know that the temperature will soon drop. As we reach the mountains, we also see this sign. They're right, it is quite windy, you can almost see the trees bending in this picture. The wind adds a whole new dimension to riding. Even at 800 pounds, the wind blows the motorcycle across the road and you have to constantly lean into the gusts. The trick comes when you are trying to lean into the wind from one side and have to lean into a curve from the other side. It sounds complicated but you really don't have to think about it, it's sort of automatic. But you still have to pay careful attention all the time. The road is nice, the scenery is great, and the temperature drops into the low 70s.

We arrive in San Ysidro and drive down San Ysidro Blvd while we decide where to look for the Post Office. Suddenly there it is. We pull into the parking lot and the only space available is the one right at the sign. We quickly get a picture of each of us at the corner and turn right to head for home.

We travel north on I-5 through San Diego and see some beautiful hillside homes. After San Diego, the road hugs the ocean but we can't really get pictures since there is large landscaping between lanes of the freeway and pictures taken straight out from the bike end up blurry.

We decide to take Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, instead of I-5 through the LA area. This road travels through all the popular beach towns - Laguna Beach, Long Beach, Huntington, Venice, Santa Monica, etc. This is a good decision and we find a nice beach for lunch where we can watch the local surfers. The only problem is that most of the public beaches have a $10 parking fee or parking meters for $1.50 an hour. I don't know why Arnold's running out of money.

When the PCH turns and heads west, we return to the freeways and experience the fun LA residents get to enjoy on their freeways. It reminds us of Seattle and I-5.

We've been talking about routes to take from here and will probably stick with I-5. We have already taken most of the routes from LA to Seattle on previous trips - some of them several times - and, to be honest, I think we're both getting a little antsy to get home.

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