ROUTE 66 (DAY 11)

Barstow,CA is one of those small towns in the dusty, hot, Mojave Desert that probably exists because of the location at the intersection of I-40 and I-15 which takes you to Las Vegas. Again I found myself camped between two women, both with young children, out camping without their man folk on the 4th of July weekend.

The sky was clear and the day was already heating up as I sipped my morning coffee. I was only a two hour ride from Los Angeles and the home of my good friend and former Honda work mate, Duncan Williams.  I had gassed up the night before so I was ready and on the road just before 9:00 am. 

It was quite a different kind of driving experience as I entered the greater LA area highway system. Cars and trucks were flying past me as I maintained a 70 mph pace into the city. It was a Sunday morning and everyone seemed to be in a big hurry to get somewhere...........church? 

I found Duncan's place, a travel trailer in his employer's compound yard, without any difficulty and found that he had just left to do some grocery shopping.

I took the liberty of letting myself in and getting a cold drink as I waited for his return. He showed about after about 20 minutes and it was one of those reunions that just seems so easy that you simply pick up where you last left off. I got my camper all set up outside his trailer so I wouldn't have to impose. I had a shave and shower while he plied me with cold beer and fresh locally grown cherries. His partner, Kelly was off on a hike in the hills so we waited for her to arrive back so I could meet her.

Duncan works for Eagle Rider which is a motorcycle rental company that mainly caters to vacationing Europeans who want a two wheeled experience. Their compound where Duncan lives is where the bikes are stored, washed and repaired between rentals. Once the crew was done for the day I took advantage of their wash facilities to finally give my bike a nice bath. I was just finishing up when Kelly rode up on her Honda CB1000 which is often the best way to get around LA with all it's traffic issues. Duncan is a bit of a weapons nut so he has a small collection of air powered rifles. We spent the next hour having fun with his make shift target range next to his trailer.

Time was flying by and we still hadn't eaten so I suggested we go out for a nice meal, my treat. They took me to this unique Italian restaurant called "Eatalian" which I thought was a very clever name. The food was amazing and we topped it off with some home made gelato. 

Now back at the trailer we decided to take in a movie on Net Flix. It was getting late and they both had to work the next day so Kelly took off and I crashed in my camper. It was the end of a perfect day with an old friend and a new one.