Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

It was a terribly ugly hot day but we made it through the desert. I said something crabby to Ed and he replied, “It only got up to 108 degrees what’s the matter?.” I was ticked because I only saw 100 degrees on the temperature gauge and I didn’t want to see the temperature anymore - consequently I quit looking. However, now I knew the real temperature. I was so panicky I couldn’t control myself. Camera pictures of the desert were not in my thought process – just making it through to the other side of the mountain is where I wanted to be and that was my focus. I saw rain in the area where we were going so I concentrated on getting to the rain. It didn’t work – we never hit the rain. I must have been worried about this portion of the trip for a long time. It was reality now and I was hyperventilating. We did pretty much this same leg of the trip in 2001. I was panicking then so I knew what to expect. This time I knew what kind of heat I was getting in to plus the fact I’m on some medication that says on the bottle “drink plenty of water.” I was afraid that I would dehydrate typically a little faster than normal. With all those thoughts in my head and a few more years wiser, I was extra fearful - even more so from the 2001 trip.

The heat is the heat but I felt like I was in a dryer on the back seat. I actually had to put my shield down so I would be cooler. It was brutal and I never want to do it again unless it is at night. I said the same thing the last time I rode through the desert but this time I mean it….yeah right.

On the other hand, Ed was singing and tapping his hand to the music and feeling as “happy as a boy can be.” He loved every minute of the ride. When we got through the desert to the mountains, Ed’s “road runner” attitude came alive twisting through the mountains. I just held on for the journey. We stopped to get the camera out and I did get a few pictures of the beginning of the mountains. The temperature dropped 20 degrees and I regained some of the energy I lost. It was a rough ride for me today.

We are at my brother and sister-in-law’s house in San Diego. It is lovely in sunny southern California where the weather is perfect all year round. Ahhhhhh!

Now our journey begins…