We drove to El Centro CA and spent the night at a Motel 6.

In the morning we got up and drove to the border at Calexico (I think it's one of my favorite town names, with Mexicali just over the border...

I unloaded the bike and we got started. I set the trip meter for 0.0

Our first stop was 640 feet further on, because just as we were ready to go, my girlfriend realized she needed a pee stop... so I rode past the Border Crossing sign, turned right past a Calexico police car, and we stopped at the quick mart on the corner.

And then the trip began!

Our first major (planned) stop was to visit Salvation Mountain in Niland, CA - and its creator, Leonard. We had been through before, but it has become one of my favorite places and we will always stop when passing through now... I can't say I have ever met a more 'godly' man than Leonard, and I advise anyone who can to pay him a visit and see his creation... it's quite remarkable... no man alive loves the world and all its inhabitants, without fault or complaint, more than Leonard. And here is his mountain (that's me arriving)...
Salvation Mountain

At Salvation Mountain, my girlfriend and I parted ways; she back to Tucson and me north... as far as I can go in a day...

We carried biodiesel so that I could fill the bike at the border, and top up again at Niland (only fifty miles or so north, I was only able to add two tenths of a gallon

And then I stopped briefly for a picture of the bike in front of the worlds largest accidental body of water.. The Salton Sea. It was formed in 1920 or thereabouts by a catastrophic failure in a levee of a canal they were building to reroute water from the Colorado... it was in its heyday a tourist Mecca, drawing thousands of the rich and beautiful from LA... but as the sea contracted and grew saltier, the fish started to die... and the rich sold their condos... Now it is one of the cheapest places in America to buy land... and if you want to live for free, there's Slab City, right across from Leonard's Salvation Mountain. All in all, an interesting place.
The Salton Sea

By the way, if you rent the movie "Into the Wild" you will get to see both Leonard and Slab City... they filmed some of it there.

Onwards I rode... up along the side of the Joshua Tree Monument, and north to Yucca Valley and in a desperate attempt to get past LA suburbia, I kept riding until I reached Victorville and Route 395, a long desolate road north to Bishop and Carson City. I knocked off at about 4:30, with many hours on the saddle, a very sore butt... and a good start to the trip.

Details: so far so good. Losing oil as per usual; I'll top up with everything (gear oil, ATF and engine oil) in the morning. Probably don't need much, but I'll check every day.

Lost my darn neutral finder cam stop and bolt! Not exactly an essential item, but handy for those difficult moments with finding neutral... looks like I'll be finding first from now on :)

MILEAGE... I was amazed! Being my longest run to date (240 miles) it gave me the most highway miles vs city miles mpg... but I was riding fairly fast (45mph) and not worrying too much - because I wanted to make sure I got past LA traffic before Monday morning rush hour! So I rode a little harder and faster than I was planning... and here are the numbers...

Total mileage for the day 240.2 miles

First fill, at 0 miles, filled the tank full (3.8 gallons)

Refilled with 2/10 of a gallon at Niland

Refilled with 1.2 at 228.33 miles at a Valero gas station in Victorville. A total of 228.33 miles using 1.4 gallons of gas = 163 mpg... pretty much where I need to be!

Tomorrow, I'll try to go a bit slower and see what that brings...

Tonight, I'm tired!