Day 10 – April 28th – Home finally

After a quiet night at the local Days Inn and a very good omelet at a 1950s style diner I headed to another memorial for veterans of the Armed Forces.  This one is in Yuma.

Then there was this nice hotel…

Ah, the stories these places could tell.  I’d love to be able to explore the interior of some of these places with a camera and record perhaps the final chapter in their existence.

Just on the California side of the California/Arizona border is the town of Felicity, California.

Driving along I-8 you might see this sight on the north side of the highway.  It’s well worth your time to stop in and see this.

This happens to be section 12 of 25 sections of the original stairs from the Eiffel Tower.  Not only that, but Felicity is the official Center of the World.  Honest, check it out here  or here.

 

And here I am, standing at the Center of the World.

The rest of the construction around Felicity is nothing short of amazing and fascinating.

These 100’ long sections of granite are inscribed with the history of man.

It really is something you should see if you’re anywhere near the area.

Leaving Felicity and heading toward Ocotillo and Jacumba the landscape lets you know you are in a desert.

Ocotillo holds a special place in the hearts of off-road motorcyclists.  It is the home of the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreational Area – 85,000 acres of sand dunes and other areas to play on.  Very cool place.

Leaving Ocotillo I found some really big rocks on the way to Jacumba.

This was a nice curvy section of I-8 that rose from less than 500’ elevation to over 3500’ before dropping into town.

Jacumba is right along the Mexican/American border and is the home to another roadside attraction, the Desert View Tower.  Since it was not right along the road, I passed on making the climb and continued along old US-80.

Along the way you get another good look at the border fence and get to see a lot of Border Patrol folks out trying to do their job.

Highway 80 takes you to CA-94 – one seriously cool road.

I need to get back to this one on the Norge as the Shadow did not do this road justice.  I saw a bunch of H-D riders who were also enjoying the ride, also at a very sedate speed.  This road will seriously smite you if you are not careful.

There are bunches of interesting looking side roads in the Potrero/Barrett Junction/Otay Lakes area that also deserve exploration

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I hung a left on Otay Lakes road as I was headed for San Ysidro – the Southwest Corner of the US and a well-known location for those long distance riders who have done the Four Corners Tour.  From there it was the quickest way possible to home.

Totals for this trip –

 That was done in 47 hours and 57 minutes in the saddle with an additional 18 hours and 47 minutes stopped for things like lunches, breaks, gas stops, etc., where I didn’t turn off the GPS.