Salton Sea

A few weeks ago I decided to take a ride down to the Salton Sea. I'm not going to go into the history much here, but it's a sea that was created from an engineering mistake that was made in the process of trying to bring into the area more water for irrigation. Once the sea was created, it had no outlet, and the upping of the saline content began. It's currently higher than the saline level of the Pacific Ocean. Resorts and recreation areas popped up soon after the sea was created, but as the salinity increased, also run-off pollution increased from all the agriculture around the area, and the problem of no outlet meant that the sea became increasingly more salty and polluted. Eventually, all these pursuits ran out of business. Today, it's kind of a run-down area of abandoned houses and businesses. People still live there, but in general, there are lots of ghost-town elements. I didn't take many pictures on this ride, but there are a lot of opportunities for taking pictures that will look very cool converted to black and white.

One of the first things I noticed once I got off the main highway was the diversity of motorcycles changed. Around LA, my estimate would be that about half the bikes I see are Harley's, and of the other half, most are Japanese, with the small remainder being split between Triumphs and Ducati's. I've never seen a Moto Guzzi, but they are a pretty rare breed. When I got near the Salton Sea area, I entered Harley-town. I think I saw just a couple of non-Harley bikes other than my own. Almost every bike was a Harley of some type, and most of the riders were wearing matching jackets. I suppose it could have been a massive gathering of some sort, though I didn't see any groups bigger than 2 or 3 bikes riding together. The matching jacket guys didn't seem to notice or acknowledge me at all. The other, non-jacket-matching riders seemed friendly enough. I stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom, and a guy that I'll refer to as "cooler than thou" was leaning on his Harley. I made a quick wave before remembering where I was, and he stared at me for a moment, then looked back down at his smart phone. So be it. I still believe that my waving tells you something about me, just like him ignoring my gesture told me something about him. I'll keep being me, and I guess he'll probably keep being him.

It was about a 3-hour ride. For the most part, I went about 70-75mph, with a few faster runs when traffic was moving. The fast runs reminded me that my threshold of wind happens around 80mph. Above that, it's not a big deal, but it just gets more tiring as you drift to 90 or above. Got my usual 45-50mpg on the trip. Around town, I can get the same, but only if I take it easy. If I start having too much fun, it can drop into the low forties. Overall, I nice trip.

My obligatory black and white pic.