2011-04-01 Death Valley with TurboDave

I are I are!

Posted 01 April 2011 - 07:05 PM

Met MCML, Joseph in Trona. His FJR 1300 had a hard time keeping up with Wabs, the mighty DL650, so I had to slow the pace down so he could keep up.

It's HOT. No doubt about it H O T.

ynotride, look for an 03 and DL when you get here! Will PM room number to yah

Walked up the road to a Mex restaruant, well tacquareia if you will. Yumm. Long walk though, and the room was freaking hot.

Slept good! Ear plugs rock when your neighbors are coming back loud and drunk!

Had to work Friday April 1st, kind of a bummer as Thursday was Ceaser Chavez holiday for us staties. I was hoping to bail out about 12, and made 11:30. MCML, Joseph, was eager to meet and ride so we stayed in touch via cellies. Everything about this trip was shoestring, sketchy, and not really planned.

In other words, a typical dcarver trip.

And it turned out to be a trip of contrasts, of perspectives. Sometimes, we view things differently. One of the PNW guys mentioned that I saw things, uhh, in a differnt light. I'm good with that! :fuck:

Creston early in the AM

Stopped at the Creston general store for a home made burrito. Figured if I ate a bunch early, I could skip lunch and be on the road..

Hiway 229, my daily commute to work. Poor me. Speaking of which, how *is* the weather in PA these days?

Off at 11, on the road 11:30. Heading up 101, Cuesta Grade, northbound.

From the big city, and the traffic associated with it to the rural country. California Valley in bloom.

The next mountain range, the Tremblors. Xm radio 'the road goes on forever..." (you have to fill in the rest)

Up and over the Tremblor mountain range. No nuke plants here.

Every time I pass this place I wan to buy it. Don't know why, it's just an itch. So forlorn, nothing around. If you run out of supplies here, you're screwed, Buckwheat.

At the top of 58, looking across the valley, it appears to be fire season.

..but it's not, it's freaking FOG! My reality had been sunny days, from a West side perspecitve. The East side perspective was fog. Contrasts To the East side and Oil Country. This kind of stuff would never be allowed on the West side.. It might ruin the views for the locals and all, like what happened at Avila Beach in the late 80's.

More contrasts. 20 miles away, the oil fields are history and we're into the fertile ground of the central valley bread basket.

Tehachapi pass, 58W. Just ahead are the windmills and high desert.

..and I think I now know where all dead 'sours are.. they are hear on this road - the tar snakes were phenomenal.

When the road curves then goes straight forever.. ..you ain't in Florida, eh Howie?

TurboDave is a Clamper. Google it. The leave no footprints, only concrete monuments.

Met MCML in Trona. Joseph is a great guy. He is like a chameleon, can adapt to pretty much any situation with dignity and grace. He can eat at the dive you want or know which wine and snail to eat at a high brow function. I'm only good at Coors and Whiskey, jes' sayin'..

Our destination was Beatty, Nevada, the StageCoach. Some on this forum don't like the place, but I do. The sun was getting low, making for good fotos. ..to be continued

Saturday was a quiet day. We got up at a, uhh, lesiurely hour (retirement o'dark thirty, eh Joseph?), had a loooong breakfast at the Stagecoach (the line was looong, the service slooooow) but we didn't care. At least I didn't. I love to just roll with the punches. Why fret, really? What good does it do?

We both had radios, but Joseph's was being most irratiting due to continuous auto-keying due to wind noise in the mic. At least that's *my* perspective, LOL.

Here Joesph attempts to fix the offending problem..

Beatty thanks us!

..and nooo,we did not stop, we're good little choir boys who watch Lawrence Welk!

I love this particular hiway, it always brings in good pix. US 95 north of Beatty, Nevada.

We stopped just past Toecutter's favorite spot.. what a beautiful place this is. Joseph does his best Twowheelnut impression.

Wabs, the dirt bike, waits patiently while the human waters the surroundings.

Entering the northern most portion of the park, highway 267 south.

At Scotties castle, we found this gal who puts out hummers? WHOA I Love Nevada!.

South from Scotties to Stovepipe Wells. The clouds added to the intensity, and it was almost humid..

We arrived at Stovepipe and decided to just hangout, enjoy, wait for Turbo and the Billy Biker Boyz. These two guys had evidently had enough, check out the tag still on the hat...

Joseph, chillin'.

..in 100F heat.. but it's a dry heat!

So there Joseph and I sit, people watching, and enjoying just being there. A young tall lanky guy putts up on a KTM 950. He had been camping for 3 days, in the wild. He laughs when I tell him there ain't no way he can carry enough camping equipment and be comfortable on a 950 Katoom.

Everytime a gaggle of riders would apprach, Joseph and I would pop up, eager to see if our hero approached.

Time  after time, nope, false alarm.
Once, even an guy leading a pack of doodes on a FJR rode by!

Then, off in the distance, a silver and RED FJR approached.. could it be?
YES, Turbo n' the BBB are here!

....and right on by they road, ignoring us like the low lifes we are!
I whistled, Joseph shouted, and they was gone.

We saddled up as fast as we could and got underway. I rode poor ol' Wabs as fast as she would go, but I couldn't catch the pack - so I waited for Joseph at the Rhyolite junction.

Shortly, the distinctive shape of FJR headlights appeared.

"Joseph, you want to see Rhyolite", I asked.
"Sure, but is it paved?" he asked.
"Of course, said I." (Of course I would have said 'of course' even if it wasn't, cause I'm that way!)

... to be continued
 

Joseph and I meandered up to Rhyolite. The FJR isn't all that much of a dirt bike, and even though Joseph has been to Prudhoe Bay on the SilverPregnantFJR-o-Potamus, today he wasn't up to playing off-road. He headed back to camp while I decided to play.

My favorite pix, first in line.

At Rhyolite, found this old box car next to the train depot. I am fascinated by the color and why is the paint only deteriorated on the right side? Oh, and I love the color.

The local Rhyolite Corvette club was in attendance.

Various scenes.

I really wanted to steal this drum lid, but where would I stash it? Besides, I'm a moral, upright, person.

On the backside of the depot, this pipe, leading to a hole in the ground. What was it used for? Is this the septic tank? It was hard to get a good pix, but it sure looks primitive to me.

Power pole supplying electric to the depot. OK, where did the power come from? Did they have a generator like Scotty at the castle?

Love this place..

This building is interesting. What I learned is some lady in the 60's wanted to refurbish it, and live there. By then the area was being declared an historic preserve and she was booted out. I like the copper roof patina. Behind is the jail

Old barbless wire.

The jail.

Strong door - yer drunk buds ain't getting through it, better start thinking of another way..

Look at the colors in the blocks and colors of the hillside. Any question what the jail was made of?

Here is where one prisoner tried to escape. He got stuck, and the story is he was eaten by wolves.

His buddy decided to try the bars.

If the prisoners had seen Wabs, and could get to her, escape was all but done!

From the prison, I spotted an old mine.

This was the sluice box.

Up close and personal with the mine. I ain't being the dumb ass that sneaks in under the wire then has the cave collapse requiring a rescue..

A nice couple took my pix. I was REALLY having fun exploring.

A shot across the valley from the mine, looking west. See the dirt road with the 'S' curve leading up to the mine? I just KNEW I had to try and make it on Wabs. Whadda mistake that would turn out to be...

Leaving the mine, the uphill dirt road singing her siren song..

Back to pavement.

In front of the old store. I wonder if HD & LD Porter knew the extra money they spent for the metal engraved sign would be the last visible artifact?.

Various shots.

On the way to the mine, up the 'little ol dirt hill'.

At the mine! No big deal, just motored right on up there, no problem, no siree! Just a cake walk for me n' Wabs

And the views? You decide and tell me!

RuhRoh-Rollie, why is Wabs only half way up the hill?

Yeah, I know, what's so freakin' tough about that?

Well, from a different angle it looks more like it. Note the rocks in front of rear and front tire. It was sketchy. I noticed a gaggle of FAGS (aka HD riders) all looking at me, the Power Ranger stuck on the hill, and could actually see flashes from the cameras.. Sigh.

Off the hill, headed south on a dirt road that ended nowhere. The video will come later. This is looking down at the art of Rhyolite.

Looking north.

Off the dirt road, down the pavement to the Bottle House.

To the west of the Bottle House are shacks were the poor peeps lived.

Stumbled upon this old Chevy and fell in love. Back in the day, our family had a 1961 Parkwood 4 door station wagon. 327 and 2 speed slip n' slide. The shapes are very similar to this one in the desert.

At one time, this would have been a great view from this old car I wonder if the doode or doodette who left it here would realize their junk would be photo'd by millions of peeps later?.

OK, I LOVE this pix. See the vent and e-brake? Identical to our 61 Parkwood. I had to fix the vent control mechanism and it took hours. Memories not reviewed for decades flooded back into my cranium scareabellium. good stuff. By its self, this would have been adequate reason for this journey.

Art is where you find it, perceive it, yes? Not sure what these are but they look cool.

I don't understand 'art', but I like this.

Perceptions. How you see see things. Of personal filters. Of life, relationships, death. Are you a visonary and see this?

Or do you see things in the micro and it looks like this?

Do you see a figure, a wreck of a bike, and crap in the background?

Or something more? Tell me.. Comment up. I'd love to hear what you think.

The Last Supper. Everyone has this photo. But what makes this art talk? I don't know. KhuanaJawdge, from the fjrforum.com said something about form without substance, the clue of shape, or something like that. I don't get it, but really want to learn more. It's fascinating.

I've always been 'detailed oriented', 'grounded' by 'how is it done'.. Can you tell?

Musings.. Did you know that the betrayer, Judas, before the King James version of the Bible, was considered a hero? That Jesus was the only one he could trust to perform the betrayal and thus ensure the prophesy? It's true, look it up.

Desert reality. This trailer has been staked down to keep it from blowing away in the wind. Imagine the sleepless night? I'd actually like to stay in this trailer, feelthe rock n' roll, of nature pounding against a fragile man made piece of shit.

The mosaic chair, from the front side! I like this, it tickles me.

Leaving the art, I find this. Loved it. But WTF does it mean? Why? Huh? Really?

This too? Is it art to just stake old crap on a pole? In that case I could be famous... :fuck:

..that's it for now - I grow weary and need sleep. The next installment - the Rhyolite cemetery. (you had better have Kleenex ready, life evidently was tough back in the day, and many a young expired early) and Thanks for hanging in with this very long RR, I hope it's factual and interesting to you.

The last 3 times I've too Rhyolite, I've ridden right past the Cemetery sign. Not today. It's about 1 mile of secondary dirt road to the original site, perfect for Wabs.

This too? Is it art to just stake old crap on a pole? In that case I could be famous... :fuck:

Some of the sites are made of discarded metal pipe

Some rich peeps have marble or metal headstones, that withstand the test of time..

..some just have wooden slats - the size of this makes me believe it was a child death.

and again, this time simply rocks define the final resting.

Wabs, all spooked up and ready to rocket away..

Daylight was running low, hunger running high. Time to head to the corral in Beatty, find TurboDave, have a few cocktails, enjoy good friendship, see how my bud Tubro was doing post stroke. Poor Turbo, I just can't get a good pix of him..

See what I mean?

We all had dinner, which in IMHO wasn't all that good. The prime rib was chewy, Jeff said the porterhouse was grizzly. Thank goodness the drinks were strong! After dinner, everyone but me faded to bed, but crap, it's only like 9:30 PM? What's up with these old farts, anyway? So I went to the parking lot looking for my next bike to buy. KLR anyone?

I liked this guy's tank bag.

..and this guys's hand in scripted motto..

Wabs and FJR under blankies for the night..

Turbo's WeeStrom. He rode the Wee, his bud Jeff rode Turbo's FJR.

Any doubt this is Turbo's FJR?

Turbo's note to self re: last Iron Butt Rally. Turbo is a force of nature.

Mr. and Mrs. ynotride's rides. Check out the difference the reflective tape on the FJR makes. Great to meet Mrs. Ynotride, she rocks!

Arrgh. I should remember this guys name. His backrest is from a car head restraint - it looks and works great.

Turbo ready to light the afterburner's on the WeeStrom.

Turbo, giving his own unique salute. I can't imagine what this guy was like when he was in his prime. The fire, the desire. The unquenchable thirst for life and adventure?

Turbo n' the Boyz were headed to Baker via 95s, I was to cross the valley. Along the way, Wildrose road started to tempt me. I've only been on that road once, back in 06, and thought it would be great fun to ride on with Wabs. At the turn, a quick map review, and off I went!

Here are some places I have to explore, next time around.

Emigrant pass, over 5,000 feet, and the weather was downright chilly. I'd decided to not layer up, just *knowing* it would get hot later. I know, I know, I'm an iD10t.

Beautiful views.

More things to discover, later.

Wabs does great on roads like this.

Pretty cool. I'm going to learn geology so I know what I'm looking at. Any geologists out there wanna go ride with me?

Heading southerly on Wildrose road. This road junctions in with the pussy Wildrose that most FJR peeps ride.

The desert was full of these flowers/plants/whatever they are, and at the top was this stringy stuff? I stopped to take some pix, then promptly tipped over when taking off. I had to laugh at myself - I didn't tip her over on the steep uphill dirt road, but here I did. Whatever!

South of Searles, this rock formation.

Heading towards Randsburg, an offroad RV haven.

Flowers everywhere, unlike Death Valley.

Approaching Lake Isabella, 178 east bound, Walker Pass. At 5,261 feet I'm now shivering, almost uncontrollably, I need to stop and layer up, get some food.

I want to know what that road is that slices across the mountain range in the distance. It looks dirt, I got to ride it. Anyone know the name or where it goes?

Onyx, CA.

Next time, I'm stopping at the store, just to check it out.

Isabella is full, and according to the local paper, they are releasing water.

Down the hill, the Kern river is raging. I'm sure some dumb asses will drown this summer when they try to swim in it.

KTM rider blazing away. Seriously, this guy looked just like Jeff Ashe.

Bakersfield LEO, doing their jobs! This guy had passed me, running about 90 in a 55..

Who sez Bakersfield is ugly?

The final leg home, hiway 58. What a beautiful road, no traffic, and in excellent shape. I'm one lucky feller.

Well, that's it.