The oblivion that is the Southwestern Arizona Desert...

Wow. What can I say about the first day out? I managed almost 300 miles dead even getting to Yucca Valley in California. The route looked like this...


And the scooter looked like this...


It's about 40 lbs of equipment. The biggest drawback isn't actually weight; It's wind resistance. It keeps top speed with a headwind down by about 10-15 mph. Sucky! It bounces around a bit when passing big trucks, but it keeps it's feet on the ground.

So what did I see first day out? Lots of this.


And this.


Actually after snapping this picture, it shot up to 104 degrees (!) All in all, still not intolerable. It dropped to 90-95 when moving. I wasn't sweating a lot, nor was Natasha. She just purred along. Thank you, water-cooling.

Also passed through Salome. This is almost the entire town in one picture.


It's hard to believe how populated the desert is in actuality. People actually choose to live there. Incredible! Also it's a bit greener than people know. It's not the Mideast by any stretch.


Mahalo.