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Southwest Spring Desert Tour
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Arizona, California and Nevada
March 18 - 27, 2005
Thursday, March 24 Yucca Valley, CA to Baker, CA 538 miles
Day 5: Mojave Desert to Death Valley
I still wanted to continue with the planned route but there were a few things bugging me this morning. Number one: there was rain in the forecast for today and the weather channel mentioned heavy rain possible along I-15 near Barstow. Number two: I had no idea what the elevation was of 247, there were some big mountains near by and rain could mean snow in the higher elevations. Number three: there were a few towns to pass though on the way if we took 274, Barstow being the biggest one and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to deal with any more traffic in the rain. Number four: it would appear that we were not the only people traveling these parts, we definitely needed to get a reservation for tonight. This was going to be our longest day of riding. At 6:50AM we were ready to head downstairs and load up the bikes when I changed my mind and crumbled up the post it that had the route written on it.
I needed a fail proof plan for today. I needed to come up with another route. At 7:15AM we were on our bikes, at 41 degrees it was only a few degrees colder than last night. We got some gas in Twentynine Palms and headed towards Amboy Road. I was actually nicely surprised by the awesome scenery on this road. We were definitely in the desert, along the side of the road there was sand and shrubs and some grass growing, and some pretty wild flowers too. The pavement was rough at times, the road sometimes straight and sometimes had decent curves. I was surprised to see any cars on this road, it looks like such a remote and desolate area but yet there were some people traveling through here. The road climbed for a bit and then we started the long straight descent. You could see for miles in front of you. Down below there was a lake, the road ran right though it. Near the lake the grass was green, further out you could see beige sand.
We pulled over by Bristol Lake. I was just amazed by the beauty of the desert and water in such close proximity. There is just something magical when you can see the reflection of the mountains in water and this lake was as smooth as glass and as reflective as a mirror. It was a salt lake, I’ve never seen one in person. The salt looked like snow or ice from a distance and shimmered like small rough diamonds up close. The lake was very shallow and you could see the bottom through the clear water, a cracked desert floor. The temperature was very warm here and the sun felt hot on my face. It was peaceful here, the silence only interrupted by a passing car or a sudden boom from the military bomb range in the distance. I could have stayed there for hours.
Amboy was a tiny town, I looked but I did not see a gas station, Brian saw some pumps near the general store, which I missed. I-40 was a few miles ahead, I was hopping there might be a gas station there. We turned left on Kelbaker Road. A few minutes later we passed I-40 which was above us, but no gas stations. A few minutes later we entered the Mojave National Preserve. Finally there was noticeably less cars on the road, we maybe saw 5 altogether though the preserve. Just when I though it was getting warmer, it would get cold again. The electric vest and heated grips came on again. The road meandered through the desert. There was also some straight parts and some nice high speed sweepers. There was sand at the edge of the road, sometimes crossing the white line, trying to swallow the road. I didn’t know how much further to Baker and since we didn’t tank up since Twentynine Palms we needed to conserve our gas. Although it’s hard to do that when you are all alone on a nice road. The road dipped up and down, the pavement beat up in many places. All the sudden I come down over a hill. I saw it but it was too late. The road was flooded. I braced and tried to slow down. I ended up crossing though shallow water and deep mud at about 80MPH, splashing water and mud everywhere. Brian was still a bit behind me. He went through it about 100. Our bikes caked with mud.
The conservation of gas didn’t go as planned and my gas light that usually comes on at about 155 miles came on at 141 due to strong headwinds and 100+ speeds. We pulled in to Baker on fumes and gassed it up with some expensive $3.00 high octane gasoline. There was no time for a sit down lunch today, but since it was 11:30AM and the gas station had a Taco Bell and we grabbed something to eat as we pumped gas and cleaned the mud off our tail lights. I hung out by the bike and checked the maps and Brian went to find us a room. My grand plan was to get a room now ahead out to Death Valley and come back here tonight. I think we counted four motels in Baker, two places were already booked, one was a dive. We got a reservation at the Wills Fargo Motel across the street from the Bun Boy Motel and restaurant and the world’s largest thermometer. Less then an hour later we were flying on 127 northwest passing anything and everything in our path. The road had some nice high speed sweepers and some turns posted around 35-45MPH. There were a lot of semis and campers on this road, but soon we arrived at 178 and headed North to Death Valley. Since 190 was still closed for construction, the traffic was heavy on 178. The speed limit though the park is posted anywhere from 45-65MPH, which wasn’t too bad. We were definitely speeding all day through the park but not once did we see a park ranger. The continuous passing of cars started on 178 and continued thought the park all day. Again, this park had no paved places to pull over and take pictures. There were small gravel pullouts but most were tiny and steep, I was finally able to pull over at the Bad Water parking lot. Bad Water is 282 feet below sea level; it’s the lowest point in the western hemisphere. You could see the heat rising in the valley and it felt like 80 degrees here. We left the morning clouds near Mojave National Preserve and now the sun was shining, if there was rain on the way it didn’t look like it from here. I had seen pictures of Death Valley but what I’ve seen and read about it did not prepare me for what was actually here. The valley itself – enormous, totally surrounded by beautiful mountains, the taller ones still covered in snow. In the center of the valley more salt lakes. Death Valley is also one of the hottest and driest places in the western hemisphere with temperatures averaging over 100 degrees and an average of 1.96 inches of rain per year. Recently Death Valley has received a lot of rain.
A lot of layers came off and then we continued north on 178. There was some construction at the intersection of 178 and 190. Signs said up to 20 minute delay as the construction workers only allowed traffic in one direction at a time. Then I saw the hill and uneven dirt, gravel and bigger rocks that we had to cross. We only waited about 10 minutes, the going was slow. I hate going slow in gravel and dirt, especially uphill. The cars were going so slow that I was actually loosing my balance unable to go this slow and had to put my feet on the ground a couple of times. Loosing traction as I started up hill again, I thought I was going to drop the bike. Still in the gravel we made a left on 190 West and continued to the gas station nearby. The high octane gas was even more expensive here $3.10 per gallon. We ran in to another sportbike rider at the station, a guy from San Francisco on a red ZX9 heading the other way. We also saw a couple on cruisers, each riding his and her own bike and a couple on dual sports, again each riding his and her own bikes, but this was the only other sportbike in the park that we ran in to. At the end of the day we would see two more people riding sport touring bikes.
The pavement started really rough at the southeast end of the park. There were a few tighter turns but most were posted at 45mph. Closer to Bad Water the road started to dance right and left then right and left, over and over - for miles. All turns were not the same even though they appeared to be. Some were tighter and sometimes there was gravel in the right handed curves. By the time we reached 190 the pavement improved.
We went by the huge sand dunes and started climbing again from below sea level to 4,956 feet. It was cold now at the top. I was a bit tired of taking my layers off and putting them back on so I was going endure the chilly air for a while. The road dropped in elevation and the awesome sweepers started, some almost felt like they went full circle. I wanted to turn around at Panamint Springs, it was getting late now. We already knew we were going to ride back in the dark but depending on when we started heading back, that depended on how many hours we would have to ride after sunset. There was still a twisty section up ahead so we continued. This section had very tight turns and I was having trouble navigating though the turns with the sun in my eyes. This and the previous twisty section of 190 was definitely the best riding though the park for me, so many curves here, great pavement and spectacular scenery. I found a larger graveled pullout and pulled over. It was 5PM and sunset was around 6:30PM. The views, the curves, this park was amazing I didn’t want to leave but we could not see the whole thing in a day unless we stayed in the park for the night. It was time to head back. I will have to come back again, when there are less people here. I wanted to see the crater and Scotty’s Castle but we always seem to run out of time. By leaving without having seen the whole park, almost guarantees that we’ll back.
We made it back to the same gas station at 190 and 178 and got more gas and placed our clear shields in our helmets. I saw the sun disappear behind the mountains as we took off for Baker. The construction zone was a breeze this time, open in both directions and downhill. We continued to pass cars for a while until it got totally dark and finally settled in to the caravan of cars heading south on 178. It was slow going at speed limit, but the roads in the south end of the park were pretty deteriorated, I couldn’t ride fast though the pot hole anyway in the dark. Last night the moon looked full, but tonight it was even fuller. I was using it‘s light to guide me though the darkness. Once we got to 127 South the traffic thinned out. If it wasn’t that we started riding 14 hours ago without hardly any breaks, I would have enjoyed this road more in the dark. But I was getting sore. The last 130 miles we rode non-stop and arrived at our motel at around 8:30PM. The temperature was in the mid 50’s.
Wills Fargo is an OK motel, although the parking lot is gravel. The motel has multiple buildings, Brian parked his bike next to the adjacent building since all the spots in front of ours were taken. I also parked there but as I walked towards our room I noticed two doors down there were two empty cases of beer next to the door. The last thing I needed was some drunk messing with my bike late at night. Since the floors were tiled in our room, Brian pushed my bike inside. There was space for both bikes but he didn’t care, so he left his outside. The rain that was in the forecast for today never came.
We changed our clothes and walked down the street looking for food. We crossed the street to go to Coco’s but it was 9:05PM and they closed at 9, so Jack In The Box across the street would have to do and I didn’t mind one bit.
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