Across America

I had forgotten what a trying, boring, miserable ride I-5 can be. 88-92 degrees until we hit the grape vine. Traffic backed up for miles, temperature hit 100, and strong, gusty winds over the top. Then to try to take on the I-210 L.A. freeway in the 95-100 degree weather at rush hour even though it was a Sunday. Turns out that I-10 is even worse. Stopped in Loma Linda at The Quaid Harley-Davidson Dealer just after they closed. They let us in and I got a dealer pin and a T-shirt. Around the corner to a Home Town Buffet for dinner. Acceptable, but sticky. Tables were yucky to touch. Food was filling. I did bring along a welder's glass. The dark smoked rectangle of glass that fits into a welder's helmet. In the parking lot after dinner, we were able to see the eclipse of the sun. Although we were outside of the path of the full annular eclipse, the line-up was about 90%. Spectacular. We shared with others who happened by and they were thrilled.
All packed and ready to go	On 152 running past Casa De Fruta.	First stop was on I-5
Second stop another 60 miles on lovely I-5	Heading toward the Grapevine	Still going up
We did not take all that many photos. I-5 is great when you want to be somewhere and you don't mind boredom. The traffic was okay except over the Grapevine where they are doing a lot of work. Then the LA traffic is what it is. Onward and into the desert. We found a motel room in Indio. The GPS promised a Quality Inn, but when we drove by it was an "America's Best Value" but we thought we could do better and went looking for a Best Western for which we had a coupon. It seems not to exist. Settled for something called Tropica in Indio Ave. Don't recommend it. Pretty schlocky. Soon after we checked in, we were in the room and heard what sounded like a group of Harleys in the parking lot running their engines for a long time. Turns out that there is a railroad main line just across the road about 300 feet from the room. Every 20 minutes or so, a four locomotive train with a very long string of cars, would go rumbling by. Many cars have flat wheels so they make a loud, rapid thk, thk, thk, thk, thk as they ran past. All this literally shook the windows. Reading this, seems like a lot of complaining. But, we are having a blast. Good ride in spite of all the stuff.