2021-08-31 Virginia Creek Settlement and Rueben Run 10

edit

Needed gas so rode to Atascdero, had breakfast at David's cafe, gassed up, looked at Airnow.gov for fire and smoke conditions. Lucily, cleaner air was to route over 178, Lake Isabella, instead of further south over Tehachapi to meet 295 north.

Very light traffic on 58E and clearing Bakersfield was  no issue, just 100F and sticky. Hazy, but 'moderate' smoke conditions. 

Lunch at Neldas cafe, at the lake. Don't get the onion rings, they suck, but the burger was good!

At lunch called Dow Villa hotel in Lone Pine to confirm reservation, they didn't have one, my bad. So called BW corporate, got a room and confirmation number.

Arrived in Lone Pine to BW, 'NO VACANCY' sign out. Good thing I have reservation, right?

NOT.

Front desk has no idea who I am, or confirmation number. Apparently, corporate's reservation system isn't synchronization with local property meaning corporate is selling unavailable rooms. 

Patricia, the front desk gal, was very nice and VERY stressed as she had to deal with numerous pissed of customers..

Found a nice flea-bag hotel, Lone Pine Budget, at north of town by Shell station. Clean, but older rooms, and no pool.

Called BW corporate, got a run-around but it felt good to express maximum displeasure, and I'm working on a comp'd room for La Pine. CR357203 BW ticket number.

Final calendar / reservation check and discovered I don't have Virgina Creek Settlment reservation for tomorrow, 9/1/21. Called, got another tent cabin, so will have to move.

With that, faded off to sleep.

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

edit

Or not on sleep. Comfie bed, AC worked fine, quiet room, no traffic noise and.... up all night and morning. Scattered bad dreams, oh well.

At least today is a light day, north to Bristlecone Forest, then meander to VCS.

Breakfast at Totem Cafe Restaurant was good! Laptop at table, friendly waitress, AC, very few peeps inside, like 4 total, all spaced at safe COVID distances.
<iPhone pics>

Pushing 9:30 AM, Naomi awaits final packing and time to ride.

Had a great ride up to Ancient Bristlecone Forest.. Over 10k feet elevation <gasp> and yes I was feeling kinda 'weird'.

Took lots of still pics with Canon, Hero 9 and video.. 

...and now have too much data to deal with.  Overwhelming, actually.

And the biggest issue is one has to have date and time stamps *perfectly* aligned for any semblance of chronological order.

About 200 miles today, gotta find a massage in Bridgeport, change rooms b4 0110 2morrow at VCS, then check in at 1500.

So much for the pics, huh?

Edit - as I type this on my obsolete mac book pro, Virginia Creek flows 15 feet ahead of me, while rock softly in wooden chair notes...

in a VCS hotel room tonight.. not 'tent' and it's pretty nice, gotta say.

..and not gonna fix typos or anything else, either... 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

edit

 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

edit

 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

No pics today, just lounged around and enjoyed the day.

edit

Fires. Routing Eastward to Winnemucca. Tyler, Steve, Don.

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x   

x 

x 

x 

edit

VCS - RR10 D6 VCS to Winniemucca from dcarver220b on Vimeo.

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

edit

Fun day. Midnight to sleep, 0730 wake up. Text from Ray, 'Breakfast'? Yep, 8:15 Harvest Depot. Call AC folks to fix leaky new AC blowing hot hot Hondarosa air. Great breakfast.

Over to Rays in pickemuptruck. Removed exhaust header from ATK Xr600 engine, tricky, since the coupler piece was hidden under heat wrap and would NOT come off until heat wrap removed and slip joint found..

Oogled and awed the 80 Kz1300 she is a freaking beauty! Truly a barn find stored indoors all its life and never molested. Switch gear in great shape, harnesses and connectors too.
 

Decided to start the 14k mile bike and take a video after some pics...

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

xx

xx

xx

edit

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

xx

edit

x xxxxxx

x xxxxxx

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

x 

xx

xx