I've made it to Long Beach. Leaving the Grand Canyon, I made my way toward Long Beach. Knowing that it was looking like 103 for the day but knowing I was not going to make Long Beach that day, I went to a McDonald's outside of the national park to make my last post. I was still on the road by 9:09 to beat some of the heat.
Around 12:30, I was near Kingman, AZ. coming out between two mountains, a crosswind hit me, nearly pushing me into the median. I was able to correct the bike, but I did not grab my glasses in time, and the wind knocked on my face. I stopped before the exit and walked back to see if I could recover them. I walked up the road to the point where I thought that crosswind would have caught me around here and no further. Luckily, I turned around, and they were right there. I love these glasses. They are transitional, so I don't have to mess with changing lenses when it gets darker. I went to the travel center to see if they had the string that attached to glasses, but they didn't.
By this time, it was 99 degrees, okay, not a big deal. I get back on the road, and it starts getting hotter. I look at my weather app 101. It's the first time I've ever seen triple digits. I drive along 103, 106, 110, 111 feels like 116. CA was so hot the border lady in CA just waved me through. I made it to Needles, Ca. by 1:45. The front desk clerk allowed me to check in early and Roadside Inn and Suites. My head was hurting. I got nauseous and fell asleep. I woke up to drink some water and grab dinner.
The following day, I knew Barstow was supposed to reach 103 degrees, but Long Beach would be around 80, so I got an early start. I stopped to gas up at the Chevron near the Mojave National Preserve. The gas was $8.55. Read that again: $8.55 for regular gas. Grr. Anyway, it only hit 93 degrees before getting to the cooler weather. It felt so good.
The big news is that Jack has driven 50,000 miles. Do not pay attention to the gas gauge or speedometer, people!
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