TravellingStrom

Wednesday – Indio, California

I managed to achieve quite a lot and had a successful day, although not much sightseeing happened 🙂

Well, first off I needed to fix my comms system, this involved going to see Benchmark Helmets, who were playing a bit coy. Now, if I have got this all arse about, I apologise, but from my point of view, that is the way it seems. So, I headed to the address they gave me in Newport Beach and I eventually found the correct location, Suite D, at the right address. This is what I found, door closed, no one home, hmmm!

A bloke was walking past and advised me that they had moved upstairs to the 2nd floor, and said the office faced the street, so I went looking, it should be up there on the other side of what I can see, because I am in the rear car park.

I looked on the 2nd floor, but all the rooms seemed empty and had pamphlets stuck under the doors. I rang the number again but once again after 4 rings, message bank, and I did not hear it through the doors either. Hmm, OK, let me try the 1st floor on the same side, I heard voices from a room, so I rang the number again from outside and I heard the phone ring inside, I immediately hung up and knocked on the door. Well, Spence sure got a surprise when I introduced myself, but he blamed the phone system, well I let him believe I believed him, but that is crap. Don’t forget, Dale, the chap I had bought this system from in Oz, had also sent an email to this company requesting help on my behalf, they told me they received it, but did nothing about it then or now as far as I know!

To cut a long story short, they tested the system and the main unit had a dodgy connector, they then after some pleading, gave me a demo unit in replacement, they had no new ones. They kept my faulty one and will expect a new one from Dale. The ball is now in their court, I am on my way with stereo sound, I emailed Dale with the above story, he will wait on them. I think after 15 phone calls and left messages, I am not wrong in thinking these people were trying to hide from me, although they did help in the end when confronted. They have my phone number and my web page address, so they may wish to comment if they so desire.

So, finally I got away from there and contacted Ronnie, he is one of the Vstrom riders on Stromtroopers, there is a ‘cache’ which is a small box which is being taken for a ride. It has been stuck in LA for a month, so now it was time for it to move again. I am to meet him at 1.30pm in Glendora, so in the meantime I head across that way trying not to come to grief on the freeways 🙂

After some lunch in Pomona I met up with Ronnie and after a chat duly took on board the cache, this is all it is, a small waterproof box with a diary, some stickers and a small gift from the previous carrier, plus an ‘if I am found call me’ tag.

Ronnie tried to print out my insurance docs, but his printer ran out of ink half way through, never mind.

My next stop was to meet up with Tom about my paperwork, this was to be in Fontana, but as I could not meet until after 4pm, I went to Rancho Cucamonga, another town west of there which is supposed to have an Apple shop. After a bit of searching I eventually found it, not quite where I thought, just to the right of the American Apparel shop.

I was looking for a replacement 12V cigarette lighter to 5V USB adaptor. In the end, I managed to replace my cooked Kensington with a brand new Griffin type for $20. Excellent stuff, now I can charge my Camos system on the fly.

Off next to visit Tom in Fontana, have I mentioned the smog here, it is atrocious today, extremely bad, you can barely see the hills at some stages.

After meeting up with Tom, I now have the Pink slip or owner’s paperwork for the bike, which is a good feeling. I tried once again to print some insurance docs, but the printer was not being helpful!

Next stop was out of town! Basically I was done here in LA, I wanted to head east and although it was late in the arvo, I figured I could ride for an hour or two east until I found somewhere to stay. I just used the Interstate 10, which goes all the way to the east coast and hung on 🙂 In some spots the traffic was snarled up, but in others it was free and easy.

I was near Palm Springs around 6pm when I started to see wind generators, heaps and heaps and heaps, they went on for miles!!

I ran out of townships around 6.30pm and into the countryside, it was still hazy though, but the shadows were getting long as I headed east.

I picked a place from the destination signs of Chiriaco summit, I figured find a room there and it would be a good base for tomorrow. Well, it was not to be, it has a General Patton Museum, a truck stop and servos, food etc, but no motel 😦 The closest was 30 miles back at Indio, or I could keep on going to Blythe, which was another 70 miles, it was late and I ended up going back to Indio.

I had a Burrito for tea and a quite night in another Motel 6, it may be my last time in one of these, you get not much for the money.

Anyway, a successful day as far as I am concerned, I just need to sort out a new front tyre soon and most definitely insurance for the bike.

Day – 286 miles and 460 km
Trip – 5,161 miles and 8,306 kmCheers
TravellingStrom
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