Laguna ride 09/11/08

[dirt dame 559]

Roostingu and I decided to go for a street ride today. Originally we planned to go to the coast and check out some beachfront scenery, but because the temperatures were so nice, we changed our plan to hit the mountains at the last minute. It was a nice clear day with just the faintest fluffy white clouds ligering near the mountain ranges.

So off to Ramona we went, down Wildcat Canyon, Lake Jennings drive to Old80 and down Harbison Canyon to Japatul road. We found out where Carveacre was. Then we headed north, through Guatay to Pine Valley for a snack before heading up Pine Creek road. By now there were quite a few dark clouds overhead and the wind was picking up. When we stopped to admire a scenic vista, thunder rumbled out of the sky. We could smell the rain on the wind, so we continued on till we reached Sunrise Highway. It was pretty sunny at this point and most of the storm was both north and east of us, so there must have been some areas of the desert that were getting pounded with the downpour.

By the time we were almost to Julian, the sky had let loose directly over our heads, and I hunkered into a little ball behind my quarter fairing in hopes of keeping somewhat dryish. At first, I wanted to pull over in town and get out of the weather, but the sun was shining in a clear sky to the west, so we continued on. Even after we got out from under the clouds and into the sunshine and the clear sky, the rain was still falling a bit at Santa Ysabel. I looked back at the storm. It was dark, dark, dark and raining heavily. But we were in the sun and drying out nicely as we headed west towards home. By the time we got to Ramona, the clouds were still piled up, but from this far away they looked pretty innocent. Anyway, it was a good ride and the storm just added some extra adventure for us pavement adventure riders.

I wonder if more storms are on the way and if maybe they will moisten the desert up where the night ride route has been planned. There hadn't been any storms in the weather forecast for today for the mountains or the deserts.

We'd have gotten some good storm shots, but both of us somehow managed to forget to bring our cameras.