Day 1- 41 miles
Friday March 23 we (Steve on a xr650, Sam on a KTM 525 and Me on the 690) got a late start and only made it about 40 miles before it got to dark to ride and we set up camp. It was enough to get us past HWY 395 and into some nice hilly desert. Sausage, zukini, carrots and some Saporo for dinner. We were in bed by 9:00.
Day 2 - 237 miles
Saturday March 24th started at the buttcrack of dawn with an amazing sunrize, coffee, polish sausage and eggs. We were on the bikes by 8:00 am and into Barstow by 11 after some good 2 track and a dry lake bed crossing. We stocked up on food and sam needed gas. He can only go 100 miles on a tank but he still had the best gas milage at 50 mpg. My average from California City to Baker was 45 mpg.
The fuel stop turned into a 2 hour ordeal. Luckly there was an open auto shop in town who sold moto tubes. We then went north toward death valley and decided to ride Badwater road (paved) instead of west side road (un maintained) in order to make it to Furnace Creek by sundown. Amazingly we found an open tent site and settled in with some beef tri-tip in gravy over noodles with green pepers and zukini. Just because you are camping, dosen't mean you shouldn't eat like a king. We washed it down with some whisky and went to bed.
Day 3 - 181 miles
Sunday March 25th was the best day riding I have had in a long time. We had sunshine. We had wind. we had rain. We had margaritas by 5:30 at Glorias in California City. We rode west side road to Warm Springs cayon across to Coyote Canyon.
Gas in at Furnace Creek was hard to take.
There were some great cabins that anyone can stay in. The hardest part was not calling in
sick to work the next day and staying at the cabin. If only we knew they were there before hand.
We found some old iron that was abandoned.
Trona has 2 gas stations, and neither had gas. Luckly a nice older gentleman sold us 5 gallons and didn't murder us. The last 60 miles were done in driving rain. My hands were toasty warm with the heated grips and the Klim Badlands kept me dry. The day ended with steaks and margaritas at Gloria's in California City. Good shakedown for the new bike. Great ride. Good times with friends. Great weekend.
Gas in at Furnace Creek was hard to take.
There were some great cabins that anyone can stay in. The hardest part was not calling insick to work the next day and staying at the cabin. If only we knew they were there before hand.
We found some old iron that was abandoned.
Trona has 2 gas stations, and neither had gas. Luckly a nice older gentleman sold us 5 gallons and didn't murder us. The last 60 miles were done in driving rain. My hands were toasty warm with the heated grips and the Klim Badlands kept me dry. The day ended with steaks and margaritas at Gloria's in California City. Good shakedown for the new bike. Great ride. Good times with friends. Great weekend.
that was a nice pre-trip trip (erin says hi). Here's to many good kickstarts!
ReplyDelete