Day 24 – The home straight.

Total miles – 3,957.

Todays blog will be a fairly short one as not very much happened. The my cameras battery ran out too so there wont be many photos which is probably a good thing because the internet here is very ‘rural’.

I left the hotel at 7am to try and beat as much of the desert sun as possible.It took about 45 minutes to get out of Vegas and then I sat on highway 95 pretty much all day. My scooter was running well except for when it got really hot and the old stuttering engine problem reared its annoying head again.

The scenery along 95 was pretty much as you imagine desert scenery to be,lots of tough looking plants,red rocks and sandy stuff.

As I travelled further north I was relieved to find that it got cooler and cooler until it was sunny,dry and the perfect riding temperature.

A couple of signs worried me along the one,one was for death valley which filled me full of fear and the other was ‘Next Gas Station 98 Miles’. I am so glad I bought the 2 gallon jerry can back where ever it was because without it I would still be out in the desert drinking from a cactus and eating my shoes.

FF decided to tell me that he was the voice of my GPS and that I had been following his directions the whole journey. I asked him why he made us nearly die in the middle of nowhere and he said to teach me a lesson. I asked him why he cried his eyes out during the whole of this ‘lesson’ and he changed his mind and said that it was his friend who was the voice and not him.Hmmmm.

After about 6 and a bit hours on the road and a few fuel stops we eventually crossed the boarder into my final state California. I couldnt help but smile for the next half  mile,the ended was in sight,I had very nearly made it and we crossed back across the boarder into Nevada again. About an hout later we arrived in Benton California.

I am not really sure how I found the Benton Inn (https://historicbentonhotsprings.com/inn_rooms.php ) But I am glad I did. Its pretty much the complete opposite of Vegas. The rooms are oldy worldy and out the back it has three hot tubs at are constantly filled with naturally hot spring water straight out of the mountain.

This place is so peaceful and the perfect end to a hard days riding.

I sat in the hot tub for about an hour,then lay in a hammock for about half an hour and then headed back a couple of miles down the road to get fuel and food.After eating cheese on toast and some chips (everything else had meat in,obviously) I got talking to one of the locals. This guy looked like Hulk Hogan if hulk hogan had spent his whole life smoking crack instead of wrestling.

He told me that he had been to England and when I asked him where he had been he looked confused and said Paris and all over Europe. He repeated himself quite a few times,wished me luck a lot and continuously shook my hand while we were talking. Nice chap.

I have just got back to the hotel and me and FF have just finished relaxing on a sun lounger while eating cheetos and looking at the mountains.

I was going to break the last leg of the trip into two days but its only 280 miles so I thought I would get it out of the way in one long day SO, I have just booked my hotel in San Francisco, I will be there tomorrow and Friday and then I will fly back to New York on Sunday afternoon/evening.

This means that if  I can get through tomorrow without anything going wrong then tomorrow will be my last day on the road . I am looking forward to not having to ride every day and I am massively excited about rolling into San Francisco but at the same time I am sad that this amazing adventure is nearly over and soon I will have to return to normal life.

Please,please please cross your fingers that nothing goes wrong for me tomorrow !

Speak to you from San Fran tomorrow, NIGHT !!!

Oh and P.S I couldnt afford to get a tattoo to commemorate the trip but Newark did leave me with a nice scar on my knee (sorry).