Wed. March 10 th noon found Bob Hole, Rich Sciacqua and Jim Smith exiting the Park and Ride at Bollinger Canyon and I-680 and heading East first for a stop at Dickeys Barbeque and a Pulled Pork Sammich and some good conversation with Gary.
We then headed south through the central valley toward Bakersfield and the Crystal Palace Restaurant and club. The 4 hour ride down was punctuated by a steady stream of fresh green vistas which was so different than the normal ride down the valley where the hills are usually a dull shade of brown and tan. Rich was riding his new 1800 Trike, I was towing the corvette, and Bob was riding his 1500.
We got checked into the Crystal Palace Best Western and met in the lobby at 6:00 to head over to the restaurant for dinner. The Palace is known for its steaks and both Rich and I ordered their Rib eye. What can I say? The things were huge easily covering the majority of the platter. I'm not a real big eater and had I realized the amount of food that would be coming out was so over the top I probably would have ordered something else. Nonetheless the food and conversations were all good. The Band that was playing was the same band Bob and I saw when we were in Bakersfield last November when we were on our way to the Deming, NM gathering. They were quite good and I marvel at how some of these folks still have the ability to get out and move around the dance floor like they do. I also marveled at how much of the dinner Rich was able to finish off I don't know where that man puts it but he pretty much always manages to out eat me - must have a hollow leg somewhere.
Rich left us Thursday AM to get back home to be there for Linda's milestone BDay. He was replaced by our first tag along Mr. Bill Androws. Bill left his home in Livermore in the wee hours of the morning to meet us in Bakersfield in time for our 08:00 Am departure. We were on time and departed counter commute and were soon buzzing along highway 58 toward Tehachapi. A short ways past the Arvin turnoff we made a left off of 58 onto the Calente Bodfish Road . A new road for both Bill and I, and a fresh way of getting up to Lake Isabella and highway 178. The road took us through a downright purdy valley and into the thriving metropolis of Caelente population 0.
Well Bodfish is a suburb of Lake Isabella and we were soon able to find our way heading east on Ca-178. About 45 minutes later we intercepted highway 395 and headed north a couple of miles to Inyokern and picked up Ca-178 again for an abbreviated ride through Ridgecrest then on to Trona where we stopped for gas at the Chevron Station and a short break. I've been through Trona quite a few times and to this day I'm so impressed with the starkness of the Searles Valley and the desert landscape. Then, just a few miles later we headed up to top and down into the Panamint valley. That is really one of the most spectacular entries into Death Valley there is. In my humble opinion
We made the obligatory stop at the Death Valley sign for a quick photo op and then turned right onto Ca-190 and headed up to the 4900' Towne Pass.
I'm pretty sure that every visitor that enters Death Valley via 190 from the West probable has a picture or two just like this. It's one of the most captivating scenes you come across while on this highway. While this picture doesn't do the area justice you need to know that there is a mountain of multicolored granite dead ahead that seems to draw you in. There are remnants of volcanic flow along sections of the highway also. There is a long stretch of this highway that slowly descends from about 3000 feet to sea level at Stovepipe Wells. The descent is gradual enough that Bob didn't need to use his throttle during this time on the 1500, if you don't twist the throttle the fuel pump doesn't pump if the fuel pump doesn't pump guess what? You run the carburetors dry which of course kills the engine. Bob had fun.
We stopped in Stovepipe wells for some lunch at the restaurant. Bob and I each had a Chili Burger and Bill had a Chef Salad. The guy that seated us accused us of being bikers. We assured him that we weren't bikers, but rather Goldwingers to which he replied Good! So am I. I ride a 1500, with 325,000 miles on it. Impressive! And he says' the miles are all his.
Stovepipe Wells's name came about in an interesting manner. Seems that the original settlers' of the area actually planted a Stovepipe to mark were the well was. Folks traveling through would look for the Stovepipe and then know where they were. The name stuck.
I didn't want to wait till after dark to get my camp set up and so after lunch we went and got ourselves checked in and Bob went to check into the ranch while Bill and I went in search of my campsite. Hummm what can I say. The campsite had no shade, and was used pretty exclusively for RV Camping, thus the site was hard packed gravel and dirt. Bill took some shots while I unloaded and started setting up. So the next several pics are from Bills new Nikon!
Yes. It's true, I do sleep on a queen sized air bed The ground was so hard and packed I could not drive a stake into it. They bent. I finally had to bring wood and stuff into the tent to keep the silly thing in place. More on that later. It's a 6 man tent, although one man can set it up it takes a fair amount of time as it's big and difficult to manipulate help is appreciated, and Mr. Hole provided some assistance.
Tent assembled! Camp set up! Ready to go relax at the Furnace Creek Ranch Watching the Golfers. Left to right Mr. Hole, yours truly, and Mr. Androws.
Bill and I wanted to take a run out to the Artist Drive to see what kind of trouble we could get into taking some sunset pictures. We got a little bit of a late start so we wound up riding the last several miles in the dark oh well we still had a good ride.
Some of the Artist Drive :
I tried to take a couple of shots of the night sky but just wasn't able to hold the camera still enough, and was too lazy to take the tripod out and set it up. Besides there aren't a lot of safe spots to pull the bike off the road and take such activities on.
We rode back to Furnace Creek and met up with Bob at the 49'r Café for dinner. The menu is about the same as it is over in Stovepipe wells, although it does have more variety. After our meal I headed back to the campground, Bill headed over to Beatty where he had a room in the Motel 6 and Bob went back to his room. For my part I went to bed early and slept pretty well considering this was the first time I'd been camping since last year when I was on my long ride. The temps got down to around 40 and while I was pretty toasty inside my 30 year old sleeping bag, on top of my queen sized airbed I could indeed tell that it was quite chilly. All too soon 6:00 Am rolled around and people started stirring. One thing about camping in Death Valley there is no sleeping in! As soon as the sun peeked over the mountains the air started warming up and the scavengers came out crows a plenty!
Bob and Bill showed up after Breakfast and we decided that we'd try and stick kind of close to Furnace Creek because Mr. Kratz and his riding partner Merritt were due in. We decided to take the short walk around the Harmony Borax works.
It's an interesting hike and details how the ore was hauled boiled crystallized stripped and shipped in these massive wagons.
Next on our list of places to visit was Badwater to see the effects of the winter storms on it. We made a quick stop back at the campgrounds were I left a note for Mark and Merritt letting them know where were headed. A half an hour later we approached Badwater and were surprised to see that there was actually water in Lake Manly . Bill and I walked pretty much all of the way out and were able to take a couple of pictures.
Lunch time was rapidly approaching so it was back to Furnace Creek and the Café again. We had lunch and Bill said his goodbyes he had to get home for a family affair. I really had no burning desire to go anywhere in the heat of the afternoon so Bob and I decided to wait till Mark and Merritt showed up and then make plans. I returned to my campsite and drowsed for an hour or so before they showed up. They made quick work of unpacking their bikes and getting their tents and gear all set up. We were back in Bob's room by 5:00 for Martinis.
The illustrious Mr. Hole contemplating the perfect Martini.
The illustrious Mr. Hole contemplating the perfect Martini
Mark and Merritt rode in from Las Vegas where Mark managed to win an $1800.00 jackpot. We chided him enough that he finally agreed to buy us dinner Friday night. Ah what a dinner it was! We ate in the steakhouse - -YUM! No pictures sadly. We discussed what to do on Saturday their only day in the park. Turned out the Rhyolite was on the agenda, as well as Scotties Castle and Zabriski Point. This was Merritt's first trip to the valley so he was interested in seeing any and every thing that could be squeezed into one day.
Saturday dawned with a partly cloudy sky and a light breeze. Mark made coffee and Miso soup and they were good to go. We met Bob and headed over Daylight pass into Rhyolite. It was downright chilly heading over the pass and as soon as we stopped I changed back into my cold gear. I try to stop in this ghost town every year when I make my annual sojourn into the Valley there is something compelling about the buildings, the ghosts and the history that makes it a compulsory stop.
We departed Rhyolite and continued on into Beatty were we fueled up and headed North on US-95 past several houses advertising all kinds of pleasures till we reached Scotties Junction. The ride up 95 was anything but calm. We had severe cross winds the entire ride, they weren't gusty just a very steady wind that sucked gas at an alarming rate and made the ride uncomfortable. When we turned toward Scotties Castle the Winds followed us sweeping around outcroppings and across plains. The air actually became dirty enough that it was obscuring the mountains in the distance.
We spent a few minutes at Scotties and decided that a tour would have to wait till another date. We headed down the North Valley Road to the Titus Canyon cut off. Mark and Merritt wanted to try their hand at this gravel desert road. We agreed that they should ride up to where the road becomes a one way road and then turn around and meet up with us again. They did, and they agreed that maybe if their bikes weren't so heavily packed and had knobbies on they would have been better prepared for the rigors of that road. We headed back toward Furnace Creek, with the wind still ever present. I decided that I wanted to take a look at my campsite to see what was left of it. I was surprised to see the tent nearly blown over, but still together! My chair and tent rain fly which I had neglected to put away had been blown, but retrieved and returned and were being held in place with my hatchet. I decided to remain at the campsite and baby sit. Hoping the wind would die down sooner rather than later. I eventually took the poles down so the structure wouldn't be under so much stress, but as dusk came on I was forced to set it back up. Bob showed up and found a solution to the wind bending the poles so badly. We drug the picnic table over to the windward side of the tent and used a couple of extension cords I use to blow my mattress up with to tie to the poles and the picnic table. The wind still blew and bowed the tent. But it was no longer nearly flattening it.
The tent really doesn't have any places to tie it down the poles slide through sleeves and fit in the bottom d-ring arrangement. Anyway I passed on dinner and went to bed early. The wind finally died down about 1:30 Am and I was able to get some pretty good shuteye.
All of the beef and rich foods I'd been eating the last 4 days came to pay me a visit in the form of a small gout attack on my left arm bad enough that I was on pain killers and bad enough that I couldn't properly fold the tent, sleeping bag, and mattress up so I did need some more help the next morning from Bob to get everything stuffed back into the trailer. Arms better now.
We left about 08:15 Sunday morning and retraced most of our steps till we got to Trona, then departed and too a couple of side roads till we finally emerged on Ca-14 about 15 minutes outside of Mojave. Bob and I parted company a little north of Bakersfield . I didn't want to hold him back, because, towing the trailer I was nervous about going 20+ Mph over the posted towing limit. I made it home about 4:45 on Sunday with right at another 1300 miles on the Odometer and regretted not being able to say goodbye to Mark and Merritt, but equally glad to have survived my first sandstorm J .