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.
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