I have been camping at a recreation park outside of Ojai, CA for the past three days. The camp is roughly 40 miles north of Los Angeles.

I wasn’t crazy about riding into the “Belly Of The Beast” of LA. I did ride as far as Malibu and the very northern tip of LA on the Pacific Coast Hwy.

Malibu was what you would expect from a “beach coast” city. Very crowded. I did enjoy riding around the Santa Monica Natl. Recreation Area and beach, north of Malibu.

The plan this morning is to head up Rt-1 to Big Sur, CA. After that I plan to go to San Francisco, before heading back to Washington State.

While in San Francisco, I hope to see some places like China Town, which I missed on my first visit.

Well I gotta get motoring…

I left Organ Pipe Cactus Natl. Park and headed north. I wanted to make some distance so I headed for the interstate. Once on the road, I remembered why bikers don’t like that type of road. Being on a smaller bike, I tend to get blown around a bit more by semis and other large vehicles on the road. The sights were not that great either, I am afraid.

I was going to camp at Joshua Tree Natl. Park. Being the weekend, most campsites were booked full so I decided to find a room at Twentynine Pines, north of the park.

Mind you, I am getting burned out of seeing cactus and rocks so I really wasn’t too excited by most of what I saw in the park.

The Cholla Cactus Garden was worth stopping for.

The weather was sort of dreary. From what I could tell, part of the gray skies were caused by the fires on the west coast.

Even with the gray skies, the ride was still quite fun today.

Click to enlarge

After I left Albuquerque, I headed southwest toward Clifton, AZ. I was told by a friend that the route down RT-191 in Arizona was quite pretty and very twisty and slow. I was not told that a copper mine was enroute. I arrived at night so I couldn’t really see much except several buildings stringing along for about 10 miles. At one point I rode under a conveyor belt that was moving dirt. I saw lots of lights and lots of trucks on the road.

I was going to overnight in Clifton but there was no place to stay so I rode down to Safford, AZ.

When I left Safford, the next morning. I learned cotton was the crop produced in that area. Some of the cotton fields were very stunning with the mountains in the background.

After taking pictures of cotton fields, I headed to Tombstone.

I left my six-shooter at home.

The town was just a slight cheezy for my tastes but it was fun none the less.

Other singles with no kids probably find this shirt as funny as I do.

After eating lunch in the local “saloon”, I headed west riding toward Tucson. From there I rode southwest to the Organ Pipe Cactus Natl. Park.

I camped about 10 miles from the Mexican border. I was told that the area is a popular crossing for illegal aliens though I never saw anyone. I did see choppers flying around in the middle of the night. I don’t know if they were looking for illegals or not.

I woke up at 6am the next morning. Earlier than I usually get up. The payoff was worth it to see the sunrise.