That Death Valley Grin

Jeanne and I decided to stay for two nights at the Furnace Creek Lodge in Death Valley the weekend of the 25th of January 2015. We would go up Friday and come back on Sunday.  The ride on the Goldwing 1500 would be simple and easy. We have been  to Death Valley many times and always loved it.

We left the house about 7 AM and headed toward Death Valley up the Cajon Pass. The road was not bad until we hit the 15 East, after Corona. I had to split the lanes at several points due to the traffic.

Right after we passed the 210 we started encountering heavy traffic, while at the same time the road became narrow due to road construction. The lanes became so narrow that it was impossible to split lanes.

Unfortunately, the traffic literally came to a dead halt right when the highway started it's incline. I had to balance about 1,200 hundred pounds on an incline with Semi trucks on each side.  It became apparent that the cause of the slow down was more than road construction. I semi had stalled in the middle lane, out of three.  Three lanes of traffic were converging into one lane. 

The situation was very bad for someone on a heavy bike and rider. start and stop traffic on a incline with Semi trucks merging into one lane. I got lucky near the end and zoomed between two trucks, where no car could go.  This whole fiasco lasted about 45 minutes. 

We then took the 395 and split off to Trona where we had lunch at the Trails Drive-in.  This is a very good place to stop and eat. The people were very nice and the food was good. I highly recommend it. 

Earlier I had researched the Trona Wildrose Rd to see if it had been fixed since it was washed out a few years ago. I had taken the road several times before the wash out, and really enjoyed it.  The message boards I found said that it was all paved except for a 1.5 mile stretch of packed gravel. I assumed that I would be able to easily navigate the packed gravel and had little concern.

The Trona road was great until we hit the gravel. I saw the gravel coming and went right into it. Once I was on it I knew that it was a big mistake. Instead of the gravel being packed, it was loose and deep.  It was like riding a bicycle on ice and snow. You just had to keep going at a steady pace or you would slip and fall. I thought about stopping several times, but I knew that if I stopped, then there was a very good chance that I would either fall, or not be able to start again. I was sweating bullets for what seemed like eternity.  I kept looking for, and hoping that the gravel part was only 1.5 miles long. I found that I had to keep the bike running at just the right speed. Too fast and too slow and I lost control.  One oncoming truck passed us early on and the dust from the truck made visibility zero. Most of the time I was driving on the wrong side of the road, but could not get back to the right side due to the piles of gravel that made the transition impossible. I do not know what I would have done if a car or truck came at me straight on while I was on the wrong side. Finally, we got to pavement on the  other end.  That was the scariest motorcycle time I have done so far.

We then hit the 190 and headed East over the passes. Along the way we hit altitudes that made the air very cold.  The pavement on the 190 is great, especially in the National Park.  We continued to the park headquarter at Furnace Creek without incident.

We stopped and got our park pass, got some gas and checked in to the hotel. The rooms we stayed in were different than the last time we were there. They were double beds in the dormitory style building past the pool.

The pool at Furnace Creek is great. Jeanne did not believe me when I told her how much I love it there. The pool is spring fed and is nice and deep.  The pool feels really good on a hot day.

Our time in the park was very uneventful. We were either swimming, eating, drinking or just hanging out. It was a great time.

Saturday night we went to a park event where the ranger talked about the park.  The ranger was interesting because he just came from Isle Royal National Park, which is one of favorite places on earth.

We left Sunday, took the 127 route to Baker. Had lunch at the Greek restaurant and then headed home.

The Great Basin National Park Ride

My plan was to camp in Great Basin National Park for 4 nights the week of August 10^th 2014.  Due to heavy rains in the mountains, my plans changed. Here is my story. 

I left the house on the Honda Goldwing 1500 on August 10^th, around 6:45 AM on Sunday Morning.  The ride up to the Cajon pass was quiet.  The ride up the Cajon pass was unnaturally without wind, which was delightful for a change.  Once on the Highway 395, I stopped for gas and a quick breakfast. 

The ride from up the 395 was hot, even though it was only 9:00 am in the morning. I continued up and through Bishop, CA. When I got to Bishop it was about 90 degrees. I ate some lunch downtown. I then continued up to Carson City, Nevada. Along the way it started to briefly rain around Mono Lake. 

I arrived in Carson City around 4:00 pm, after riding many miles.   I grabbed some dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and filled the gas tank for the next day.   I stayed at the Hampton Inn, where they let me store the bike under the front overhang in the event of more rain. 

The next day I got some breakfast from the hotel and headed out toward Grand Basin National Park on the 50.  I set my GPS for the city of Baker, that is at the base of the park.  The morning was a little cool but not too bad.  I had taken the heated jacket but I never needed it on the trip. 

I got up to Silver Springs and then the GPS wanted me to go South on the 95.  I though perhaps it was just a small short cut, so I went ahead and went along with the GPS.  The GPS kept on wanting to go south, which made me wonder what was going on with the GPS. I checked the GPS and found out that I was heading for Baker, CA and not Baker, NV; my fat fingers.   I finally ended up getting back on the 95 north to Fallon. All together I probably wasted an hour, but the scenery was good and the riding easy.  

At Fallon, I was able to get back on to the 50.  During the next few hours I went over many passes and entered too many rain storms to count. Some rain was short and brief, and some rain was heavy.  When the rain got heavy I layered on my yellow rain suit.   At one point I also put on my rain boot covers.  

Around lunch time I hit the town of Austin, NV.  This was an interesting town on the side of a hill.  Right after Austin I encountered some heavy rain and at one point was hit by a mud clod with rocks from a passing truck. One chunk hit my boot and the other piece took a nick out of the windshield. The red mud stuck to the bike the rest of the trip. 

I pulled into Baker, NV at about 3:00 PM and went to the Park visitor center. I hit the rest room and got some change for my camp ground. There is not much in Baker. There are a couple of small hotels, a restaurant or two and an unmanned Sinclair gas station.  

I wanted to make camp before it got dark, so I headed up the mountain.  The road up is a two lane road with many twists and turns.  Some of the turns are hair pin turns. My goal was to get a campsite in the Wheeler Peak campground at 10,000 feet, the highest of all the campgrounds. I pulled into the campground about ½ later, at the end of the road and started looking for a campground. I wanted one that was easy to get in and out with the motorcycle, was fairly level and had a good area to setup my tent.  About ½ of the campsites were empty and I was able to find a good site about ¾ of the way around the loop.  The loop was a small one way road that had a number of changes up and down in the road. 

I pulled in to the camp site and immediately starting putting up the tent due to the dark clouds that were gathering in the area. The campsite is in a valley area where you feel as if you are in a bowl.  Wheeler Peak trail, to the peak starts at the beginning of the campground. During my stay clouds were frequently swirling and twirling around the small valley. The clouds normally appeared as they raced over Wheeler Peak toward the camp site.  As I started to setup the tent the campground attendant appeared and asked for my site ticket, which I had purposely deferred the procurement of the ticket until I had setup the tent.  I told him that “I wanted to setup the tent quickly due to the rapidly changing conditions, and I would pay as soon as I finished with the tent”.  He appeared to be somewhat okay with my explanation.   Over the next three days I never saw him again, which I thought was odd. I would walk past his campsite several times a day and his sign would always say “off duty”.  

My tent is what I would call a coffin tent, where you can only slide yourself in and out.  No sitting up in this tent, and when you get all your gear in the tent there is little room for anything other than a small air pocket where you can read.  I had some difficulty this time with the tent. The last time I used the tent was during a wind storm in Death Valley. The winds were so bad on that trip that I had to lash the motorcycle to the park picnic table. The good news is the tent is so low that winds just rush right over it. I really never had any problem with wind while using the tent. This time at Great Basin Park was different, The rains were seeping into the tent from all sides, and it only had one layer and not the rain shield, which then meant that the anytime you touched the walls of the tent then it would rain on the inside. Since I was crammed into the coffin tent, it was inevitable that I was pushing or touching on the sides of the tent all the time. 

After I finished with the tent I walked up the road to the pay station and deposited by $12 dollars in the slot. Even though the station was no more than ¼ mile away it was very difficult breathing due to the altitude. I returned to the camp site, displayed my pay stub properly on the post and relaxed. About 30 minutes later it started to rain. I was just barely able to get my get either under the park bench or in the tent before it really started coming down.  About this time I noticed that I was starting to feel uncomfortable. Then I realized that it was really cold and I was standing out in the rain. I had really not changed my clothes since I was down at the ranger station in Baker. I then put on my cashmere sweater, my down jacket and my full motorcycle rain suit. Even with all this gear I still felt cold in the rain. I got out my flash stove and made a cup of hot tea as I stood in the rain and watched the clouds fly by overhead.    

About an hour later I decided to cook some dinner. I used one of the freeze dried meals I had brought on the trip, followed by ½ of the freeze dried blueberry cheesecake desert.  The rain stopped for a bit and I read until 9:00 pm. Then I went off to sleep. 

I awoke on Tuesday morning to a beautiful day, which by the way was the last time I saw blue skies at the campground.  I ate more freeze dried foods consisting of granola, and then drank more hot tea. While sitting in the campground I was visited by a little squirrel.  The cute little squirrel appeared to be looking for food. That was great until a pack of squirrels arrived at the campsite. It appears that the first squirrel was just a scout. I missed the part where he sent a text message back to the pack saying “I have got a real sucker here at camp site 29, get here quick”.  There was one squirrel that run up my leg several times in an effort to get something to eat. I have never seen squirrels so bold as these. They surrounded the camp site for about 20 minutes and then departed as quickly as they came. They probably received another “sucker” text from the scout. 

At about the same time as the squirrels’ departure I noticed a flock of birds in the field right next to me. There must have been 50 or so checking for food in the field.  What was next?  A den of skunks, or maybe a heard of deer standing in the campsite begging for food. 

Around 10:00 AM I decided to hike to the glaciers via the Wheel Peak trail. The sign showed a total of 5 miles round trip. I was sure I could do this hike, even at altitude. The hike turned out to be really easy, until it got to the loose rock park after I passed the tree line. Then it was just a case of slipping on rock as you went either up or down.  The trail started in the trees, then passed into the top line of Bristol Cone pines and then into the land of no vegetation.   

I got to the point where I thought I was seeing the glacier. I took some pictures and then turned around to head down. As I did there were two guys about 5 minutes apart going up. Each asked if I had gotten to the glacier and I said “No. I think this is enough.”.  After they both passed I thought to myself “What the heck. I will just keep going to the end.  How much farther can it be?”.  It was not much farther being only about ½ of a mile further. The two guys were both standing there saying “this is it?”.  The glacier was covered with dirt and they really did not recognize it as a glacier until I pointed it out to them.  “How disappointing” one said.  “This is not at all like the Sierras”.   I headed back down with them and arrived back at the campsite around 2:00 PM.  I then started thinking “that was not bad, I can do the Wheel Peak hike which is just a 8 mile roundtrip hike on Thursday. By then I will be total used to the altitude. “

I ate lunch at then by 3:00 PM the thunder clouds started to appear around me. It then thundered for the next 6 hours. It rained and then it rained. I laid in the tent for a few hours and read, but I finally got tired of being in the tent.  I put on my rain gear and went out to stand in the thunderstorm. I stood about for some time watching other campers with their fires sitting under their large tarps that they carried up in their cars and trucks.  Later I sat down in the thunderstorm and prepared and ate dinner. I ate two dinners, since I really did not have anything else to do during the storm. Finally, about 9:00 PM I went to sleep. 

I awoke and started thinking about what I was going to do that day.  The sounds of rain I heard where the where the same sounds I heard when I went to sleep.  I made a decision: I did not want to sit in the tent any longer in the rain. I was cold and tired of just sitting in a tent.  I was cutting the trip short and heading out.

I packed up the tent and all the gear and headed down the mountain. Initially, it was rainy, cold and foggy.  As I descended down the mountain it became warner and dry.  I stopped at the ranger station at the bottom of the mountain. Standing there in the heat, it was almost impossible to imagine how cold and wet it was just 30 minutes ago at the top of the mountain. 

I decided to try a different route going home. I took highway 6 going South out of Ely. If you thought highway 50 was the loneliest highway in America, then check out Highway 6.  There is nothing out there!  After about riding about an hour, there was a sign that said something like “no gas for 96 miles.”  Keep in mind that I had already been riding for some time.  Lucky that I filled up back in Ely. I can do about 200 miles on a tank, and this highway was pushing it.  The road was straight, hot and dry.  There were a couple of deserted towns along the way. 

I rolled into Bishop late afternoon. Got a room at the Best Western hotel, had a nice Italian dinner with a little wine, and then relaxed for the evening. 

I got up early the next day and enjoyed the ride along the sierras on Highway 395. The rest of the way back home was very uneventful and dry.

A Stormy Winery Ride

Jeanne and I were on the road at 6:30 AM, Saturday the 6^th of December 2014 on our Honda Goldwing 1500. The plan was to stay in Big Sur the first night, and then Napa followed by Santa Rosa and then onward north to Garberville.  The next day we would take highway 36 from the coast over to Red Bluff and South to Lodi for the night. Then go to Paso Robles for another night and on home to Mission Viejo.  This was to be a big loop from Southern to Northern California, and take 7 nights. 

Saturday. The weather was cool at about 56 degrees, as we left home and headed up the 5 to LA. Just before going into downtown LA, I pulled into a Chevron for a quick break and check with Jeanne to make sure all was secure. As I was pulling into a side parking area and coming to a stop, I put my foot down and unfortunately stepped and slipped on a recently cut flower by the gardeners, who were standing close by. When I slipped I pulled the handlebars to the left which caused the Goldwing to slightly swerve to the left, I countered to the right and then lost control and down we went at zero miles per hour. We were both okay and quickly were able to stand the bike back up with no damage.

We then got through downtown LA with no difficulties, but the traffic was already tight but moving at 7:30 AM on a Saturday. We started up the 101 and stopped in Ventura for a quick second breakfast.

We kept going up the coast and stopped for lunch at the Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill in Cambria.  The sun was out and it was a great day. Good food and fun there as we really glad to have our hats due to the intense sun. 

As we passed Hearst Castle there were a herd of zebras near the fence and many people taking pictures. 

We continued up the coast and picked up gas at Ragged Point, where I think we paid the most for gas on the trip. 

We continued up the Big Sur coast line and stopped at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park to see the waterfall hitting the beach.  The water was running well due to the recent storms the week before.

We then stopped at Nepenthe restaurant where we split a bowl of soup, since we were still both somewhat full from the lunch. We had a front row seat outside and it was a clear day with a little sun poking out. 

We got to our hotel at 4:15 PM, the Fernwood resort which I had stayed at a several occasions.  The Fernwood is good because it is right off the road and you can stop and park your motorcycle easily.  We unloaded, cover the bike and grabbed some light dinner and watched the TV in the restaurant.

As we were coming out of the restaurant and walking to our room across the parking lot a girl was standing in front of the motorcycle and then asked “Is this your motorcycle?”.  She had just backed her car into the front of the motorcycle, because she could not see through her window well.  This was the first time I had used the new Aerostich ultralight motorcycle cover. It comes only in black and is hard to see at night, especially in Big Sur with little or no lights, on a hazy cold night.

I was lucky that there was no damage.  It looks like she backed into the front tire, which I had locked down. She pushed the bike back about 4 inches while it was on the service stand. You could see the next morning the scrapes in the asphalt where the stand had been.  I learned a couple of things from this event: the first thing is it was good to face the motorcycle out while on the stand.  Hitting the bike from the front while on the stand only locked the stand more firm and kept the bike from falling over. If the bike had been on the kick stand then it would have fallen over due to the hit. Second: I learned I better get some reflectors to put on the bike cover. I did later on in the day, but they really only stick for one day. I am still looking for a long term solution. We went to bed after taking the young ladies information and had a great sleep. 

Sunday. We woke and left for Carmel.  The weather was clear.  We stopped in Carmel at the Wagon Wheel Café and had a great breakfast. Only thing was that they only take cash. 

We continued onward up highway 1, then the 101 and then up the 680 where we crossed the bridge and rolled into our hotel in Napa around 3:00 PM.  We took a taxi into town and had the best dinner on the trip at the Celedon restaurant. The taxi ride was $10 each way.

Monday.  We got up and met our winery tour driver Jeff and his sprinter van at 10:30 am. The good news was we were the only people on the tour, so the sprinter van that can hold up to 10 people was ours for the day. Our first stop was at the Duckhorn vineyards. A very nice location and presentation. The wine tasting was $30, so we just did one tasting and also purchased the $8 olive tray. The tables were nicely placed out on the porch. Great location and great service. The wine was excellent.

We then went to the Rombauer vineyards.  No one else at the tasting. Strange to see nobody else there, but it was nice getting anything you wanted.  

We then went to the Sequoia Grove winery.  We tasted and purchased two bottles of wine, of which one was to be used for our lunch that we ate there under the Sequoia trees. We were the only ones in the outdoor area. Jeff brought us a great lunch and we sat for about 10 minutes until it started to rain, and we switch the party to the inside of the sprinter van.

We then went to the Cliff Lede vineyard.  Nice selection of wines and a comfortable sit down area where the cat had his own seat. 

We then finished at the Stags Leap vineyard. They just opened there new facility and it was really nice with a big window to look out. We only had 20 minutes left and we ran in and unfortunately gulped down some of the finest wines on the tour. 

Jeff, then took us back to the hotel around 4 PM, and gave us the bottle of champagne that we were supposed to drink during the tour, but really good not.  That bottle of champagne rode with us the remainder of the trip and we drank it the night we arrived home. 

We ate in the hotel restaurant were we split an order of risotto and finished our bottle of chardonnay from lunch. 

Tuesday.  We left on the bike at about 9:30 am and went to the Nicasio valley cheese company after going down the 101, and then taking the Lucas Valley road, which was a crazy was to go but that is what the GPS suggested. We tasted their cheese selection and it was really good.

We then went to the Marin French Cheese store and purchased a petite Bree, which we consume later that night for dinner. 

We then went to the Epicurean Connection store in downtown Sonoma. Great little store that has cheese and food. We each had a cheese sandwich, mine with marmalade. We purchased some olives and tapenade, which we also consumed that evening for dinner.   Downtown Sonoma was all setup for Christmas. The town square very much reminded us of Santa Fe during Christmas time. 

We then rode over to downtown Napa and the Oxbox public market, where we purchase two organic Italian desserts that we ate for dinner. 

At this time it became apparent that the weather was significantly changing. We were to go North the next day to Garberville, but the weather showed it was to get 2-3 inches of heavy rain and winds up to 65 miles per hour along with local flooding. This did not sound too good so we decide to modify the trip to instead go East to Lodi and ride the storm out for 2 days. Initially, we were to stay in Lodi for one night. We were hoping that the weather would improve on Friday so we could continue on with the original plan. 

Wednesday. We left the hotel around 9:30 am for Lodi. Initially it was about 56 degrees and clear with overcast. 20 miles down highway 12 and it got foggy and colder. Then further up the 12, the fog cleared but then it drizzled.  The 12 had many trucks and appears to be under much construction. There were many marinas in the lake areas and a number of duck blinds for rent. I had no idea that there was so much water activities in this part of the state. 

We rolled into Lodi around noon, and had a hot drink at Panera.  Afterwards we went to Enterprise Car rental and rented a car for two days so we could get around during the storm. We checked into our room at the Wine and Roses resort.  Very interesting and beautiful room with a fireplace and large outdoor patio area. 

We then went to a sushi restaurant and had a late lunch. Then we went to the Lodi Vitners where we were the only ones tasting. Great wine and had a good time next to the train track. 

We then continued on to the Woodbridge winery. I read that the Woodbridge line was not the same as we see in the stores. This was proven to be true as they served us a number of wines that were only 200-300 case selections. I very much liked the wines at Woodbridge and recommend this to anyone. 

We then stopped at the Davis Winery, where they serve the “seven deadly zins” zinfandel. Good wine off the 12 highway. 

Lodi is known for their Zinfandel wines. Many of the vines are 100 years old.  I also liked the Cab wines, which are soft wines due to the area. 

That night I put the cover on the bike and hoped that the storm was not going to be as bad as they said. The weather was saying that the winds at 5:00 am would be up to 65 miles per hour. I got up early, and the winds were strong but not that bad.  No rain was to occur until noon on Thursday.

Thursday.  I was walking around the grounds early in the day and I asked the gardener if he knew of anyplace I could store the bike during the upcoming on slot of rain. Jesse told me that I could store the bike in the maintenance area between two storage containers under a plastic room that Jesse had himself built. I quickly move the bike down before the rains came. 

We went to breakfast, and during the serving of my eggs Florentine it started to rain outside at about 10:00 am. It then continued to rain into the night without stop. After breakfast we made a dash to a vineyard before the roads flooded. We selected the Oak Vineyards on the outskirts of town. We pulled up and saw no one. I ran up to the new facility and found the door open. Inside the owner was doing paperwork and was somewhat surprised to see someone come out in the rain for tasting. I went back to the car and got Jeanne and he pour and wine. His wine was excelled. Highly recommend this vineyard for the wine and the new facilities. 

We then tried another winery, but found it closed due to the weather. We then went to the Woodbridge Inn steakhouse for lunch, because the parking lot was full; must be good to eat at. As we entered we were told that it was a private party, but they would serve us at the bar. We split a vegetable soup and pasta, along with some very nice wine. It was all very good. 

We drove back to the resort, where Jeanne was scheduled for a 2:00 PM for a mannypettie.  I had also booked at massage at 3:15 pm. We finished up and later had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was excellent. 

In the restaurant bar there as a piano.  Gene, at the piano had no one to play to but us. Gene appeared to be very knowledgeable on music from 1930 to 1960s. He could play any song that you asked, along with telling you the composer and the year. Later on, Kim came in and played. She was different, but excellent in her own right.  She liked to play Chopin.  

Friday.  The rain had stopped. We left around 8:45 am and took back the rental car. We then took the 99 down to Stockton and over to the 5.  You could still see the storm to the South as we rode. We continued on the 5 until we got off at 152 and continued on until Hollister. 

At Hollister, we stopped at the Corbin motorcycle seat factory. I wanted them to see if they could make some adjustments to my seat.  We also ate lunch at their Wizards café. We had a quick bite to eat and then left on the 25 heading south.  At this point I noticed that we had not seen another motorcycle on the road since we left Napa a few days before. In fact, the next time we would see a motorcycle was Saturday afternoon in Ojai. As we started down the 25 it started to rain. The rain would continue until we were just outside of Paso Robles, about 4 hours later. 

The 25 goes for about 65 miles, and was about the best motorcycle road we were on during the trip. There was just not much out there but green hills and cows. We would pass cars about every 20 – 30 minutes. The 25 dead ends into the 198, which we took west until it hit the 101. We then snaked our way over to the G14 and rode into Paso Robles.We stayed at the Hampton Inn, and ate at the hotel next door. Once again, great food and wine. We then watched TV and hit the sack. 

Saturday.  We left the hotel at 9:20 am in a medium fog.  I decided to take the scenic route back home. As we got further down La Panza rd, the fog got thicker. We then continued East on the 58 as the fog got thicker and thicker. Suddenly, the fog ended just as if a vale had been lifted. We were then in very bright sunlight.  We went through winding hills and eventually into a desert area where there were many tumbleweeds. We then went East on the 33 through an area that looked like West Texas and the oil patch. We stopped at Taft and got gas. The temperature had dropped through the ride. It was now 48 degrees. 

We then progressed on the 33 South and into the Los Padres National forest. I had never been on this part of the road and had no idea of what was ahead. The road started twisting up and over the mountain. At one point we were at 5600 feet and there was snow on the side of the road. Shortly after, I had to stop and put on my heated gear because my hands were getting cold. This was the only time on the trip where I had to use the heated gear. 

We finally got to Ojai around 1:30 PM and stopped for lunch at the Deer Lodge restaurant. The food was really good as we sat by the fire. We continued on the 33 until we hit the 101 in Ventura.

I was really tired by this time and I was hoping we could take it easy on the 101, but that was not to be. Immediately, the traffic was stop and go in Ventura. The stop and go continued until we got half way through Orange County. There were a few times were the road opened up, but they were far and few between. I ended up splitting lanes most of the way. If I had not then we would have got home hours later or worse yet, been in an accident due to the stop and go. 

It took 4 hours for us to get home from Ventura.  We arrived home at 6:20 PM, which means this was a 9 hour ride. Saturday, was the most challenging since it was 9 hours with about everything under the sun, except rain. We had fog, cold, snow, deserts, mountains, slow twisties, long straight-aways, no traffic and stop and go traffic. 

Altogether, we did 1,375 miles.  A really good and fun vacation.