June 2 - We're in Tuscon, AZ
Since crossing the Route 66 finish line at the Santa Monica Pier we've still been traveling. We spent the balance of Saturday driving around LA hitting the sights. Sunset Blvd, Mulholland Drive, Studio City, the Hollywood sign, etc.
Sunday we headed down the coast to Del Mar. We had reservations at a Best Western Premium hotel that overlooked the ocean. Originally just for one night but we decided we really needed an extra day of just relaxing. So we spent Monday here too doing absolutely nothing. We've pretty much been going non stop for 4 weeks. Very different from when we were doing the Great Loop where we weren't on a fixed schedule and periodically were forced into a "down day" due to weather. Only downside to this great location was that the weather wasn't as ideal as we had hoped here. It's cool right along the coast. Low 60's in the AM and only got into upper 60's during the day. They have a term for the weather - May gray and June gloom. There is just a constant cloud cover all morning. On a good day it burns off for a few hours mid day but then the overcast returns in the afternoon. So despite a great westerly view of the ocean we never saw a sunset. Bummer.
Tuesday it was finally time to start some serious driving. So we ran the balance of the Pacific Coast Hiway down to San Diego. Stopped for a quick look around at Old Towne and the waterfront Maritime Museum before jumping on I-8 and heading east.
Once outside of town the geography and temperatures change dramatically. You're suddenly back in pretty inhospitable mountains and desert and driving right along the Mexican border - on occasion close enough that you can see the border walls.
We made one unexpected stop . Driving along we see a sign for Painted Rock Petroglyph State Park. Having seen some petroglyphs at the Grand Canyon we think this might be cool and we're ready for a pit stop anyway so we pull off the exit - see the next sign that it's 11 miles away and decide to go have a look. 15 minutes later we're getting out of the car into the 107 degree sun and heat walking around this big pile of black stones which have been a stopping point for Native Americans since forever. There's 2 generations of symbols. The earliest going back well over 1500 years. The newer ones roughly 500-1000 years old. There are over 800 characters carved into the stones so an impressive collection. But the heat and sun made us retreat back to the A/C in the car in short order.
We joined I-10 and made it to Tuscon for the night. Did I mention that since Martha no longer is relegated to navigator duties that she took a turn at the wheel. And we also finally saw some of those classic desert cactus. We wondered where they were as we never saw any on Route 66 in AZ or NM. Apparently just not hot and dry enough in the northern parts of the state. They can get pretty big.
The story takes an interesting turn here. The guy who bought my Porsche 993 C2S lives in Tuscon and we've kept in touch. He was off work on Wednesday and said "Come on over to the house, we'll do a drive so you see how the mods I've done feel to you". So we spend most of the day doing a great run climbing up 7000 feet on some amazing twisty roads to the top of Lemmon Mountain for a nice lunch before heading back down. Martha and I are in the 993 while Anthony leads the way in his other Porsche - a gorgeous midnight blue GT3. He's taking great care of the 993. Installed a new suspension and exhaust which make the car sound as good as it handled. We could not ask for a better next owner of the car.
We think we've finally put a plan together for the rest of the trip home. Pecos TX tomorrow, then Shreveport, LA, then Birmingham, AL and then home. That's the plan anyway - we'll see if it works!
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