I have to admit that there was some relief in being done with tilting at this particular windmill. I realize that the county, having already used this ruling to obtain many road dedications, can’t afford to back down to me without a major legal battle that could take years…during which time we couldn’t live in our house.

I think they may be more open to the new approach, which is to try to work within the system to change the wording of the ruling to allow homeowners to continue to use the easement area in non-permanent ways until the county is ready to build a road.

Probably part of my happiness at the end of this day is due to the manner in which I delivered the paperwork. To get from Flamingo Heights to San Bernardino I rode my motorcycle (Yamaha 1700 Road Star) over a series of twisty mountain highways. I looped around to the north, where I picked up highway 18 in Lucerne Valley, then climbed up to Big Bear Lake where I picked up the Rim of the World highway. That took me to Running Springs, where I caught SR 330 down into San Bernardino.

When I left San Bernardino I caught I-10 to Banning, then headed up SR 243 (Pines to Palms), another fantastic twisty road, that connected to SR 74 which took me back down through a series of switchbacks into Palm Desert.

All told about a 250 mile ride, of which about 190 miles was made up of great mountain roads. It is extremely hard not to be happy at the end of a ride like this.