the lesser roads

last day in San Diego had me out early on the golf course

Meredith was pissed - but it was good to see her, Hilda, & Rose @ Casa

my last meal at Casa de Luz was heavenly

I mean it was GOOD!

The last few hours in town I spent with Jen & Linus Bucko Jones  - sadly no pictures. After exploring the Tuesday night food truck pod on ADAMS Avenue, we ended up at the fancy El Zarape. I finally saw the Bachelorette and at 10pm I said goodbye and hit the highway. I only made it about 40 miles to the rest area at Buckman Springs Road before I bedded down for the night.  

  FUN FACT that's not so fun:  According to Mark Waters this exit off I-8 is where Gator turned off the freeway to head into the desert to bury the surfboard bag. 

I slept soundly and was on the road before dawn / soaking at Holtville soon after

  At the end of my travels last year I read BLUE HIGHWAYS and was sufficiently inspired to travel the smaller roads more and the interstates less.  To take things slower and stop more was the thinking. This year while back in San Diego, I didn't look at the map at all. I knew I would head to KANSAS first, COLORADO second, & ALASKA third. The routes were undecided. I plan to figure it out on the fly.

From Van der Linden Road I moved north up S33 to 5 Palms for a soak.

Jen Jones was going to Salvation Mountain on FRI so I figured I should go too

I played a round of horseshoes with BOB GREEN right here 6 years prior

over to the SLAB CITY pool for a blunt

not the best overview of the pool - see the CREATURE improvements

From Slab City I went south to Hwy 78 and east through Glamis

Met the elderly owners of this VW at a rest stop. They bought it new in Germany

crossed over the COLORADO River outside of Blythe

across some mountains

It's rare that I'm on I-10 to be able to stop in Tonopah at this hot springs

It was a pay to soak & was far from epic but I was glad for my 3rd soak of the day and another notch in my soakers belt

 As it got dark I drove into Phoenix and ended up in front of the Martin residence.