I left my house around 6:15 in the morning and had a nice ride up to Hisperia, which could be considered the beginning of the high desert. The temperature was a very nice 58 degrees. I was very warm in my banana suit riding gear. As is typical for SoCal, the skies were clear. That isn't always a good thing because there are no clouds to blanket the atmosphere and trap some of the earths heat. Shortly after Hisperia I noted that the temperature was now 47 and my hands were getting cold. An hour later, as I went up and down 'hills,' I realized that I was in a temperature inversion, where it gets warmer as you ascend, so there there was this constant rolling temperature between the low 50's and the low 70's. By then, the sun was starting to come up; but, it wasn't going to change this picture until after 11am. I can only imagine some of the "extremes" that go on up there.
My first "look see" was was the Southern California Logistics Airport. I've noted this several times going up and down 395. It is a large expanse of land that is set back from the road over a mile. "The boneyard" as it is referred to has over a hundred retired jet liners parked there. The airport has a distinctive military feel to it though. Maybe it's just me; but, I do have a knack for picking up on military installations that are hidden in plain site. I decided to take a ride in to see what's what. It turns out that it is in fact a retired military base and probably still does some of that activity. It also serves as "The boneyard" and commercial freight. It has a 15,000' runway and a shorter, intersecting runway. To give you an idea how long that runway is, Denver International sports a 16,000' runway for commercial jets at an elevation over 5,000'. This airport is at half that elevation and is nearly as long. They could bring some monstrous airplanes into this airport!
Back on the road, it was getting to be about time for some breakfast and I ended up stopping at a Burger King. What kind of breakfast serving restaurant does not have tea...or hot chocolate? That was at Kramer Junction. Never again will I go in there. They're heathens.
Getting on the bike, warmed up and with heavy gloves on, I continued on to Death Valley. The desert is gorgeous; but, the star of the show really was the wild fluctuations in temperature.
I'd been to Death Valley before. In fact, I took a look at my blog to see where I'd been and where I hadn't been. I came to find that I was in Death Valley the same week 3 years ago. I had no idea. I camped at Stovepipe Wells the last time and it works out that I had ridden a large part of the southern end of the park, so this time, I wanted to explore the northern part. Scotty's Castle Road goes up into the Northern part of the park. As circumstance would have it, it was closed above Mesquite Spring Campground, so I got that far and had to turn around. There are plenty of gates on this road, so I imagine that as snow consumes the road, they just cut off access until spring.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Death Valley Video goes here>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I made a decision coming back that would lengthen this trip from the planned 742 miles to it's final distance of 876 miles - I decided to exit the park to the east, into Nevada and ride US95 all the way to I-10 before turning west and heading home.
Lunch was at KC's Outpost Saloon in Beaty Nevada. I had a roast beast sandwich au jois. It is a decent stop if you're riding through; but, not a destination stop by any means.
Just outside Las Vegas, I started seeing signs for Hoover Dam. I had never been to Hoover Dam, so I thought I'd stop in. I knew I was several hundred miles from home and it was right around 3pm, so I thought I'd make it a quick little ride through and get back on the road. By this point, my Go Pro card was full, so I don't have video and damn, I'll have to go back. I did get some pictures though and it just so happens that some monster trucks were coming through, so I got some of those pictures as well.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Hoover Dam Pics go here>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
After leaving the dam, I came across the Eldorado Dry Lake. This is like a recreational meccaa with people operating drones, hang gliders, quads and whatever else. It's pretty long and at first, I thought it was a salt flat. I had this tempting thought of taking my bike on it to see how fast I could get it going before hitting the rev limiter in 6th gear. I'm glad I didn't. Apparently, it isn't in good shape for that sort of thing maintenance wise.
The rest of this ride was fairly boring, except for the stretch between Parker Junction and Blythe. Right after the agricultural check point, I got passed by a black pickup truck. I wasn't traveling slow, by any means; but, it was now dark and there isn't any lighting on this stretch of road. It's also in the desert with turns mostly labeled at 55mph, with an occasional 35 mph turn thrown in for good measure. This black truck provided most excellent lighting and a very nice 'pace' for this stretch of road. Of course, we got behind the occasional donkey that wouldn't pull to the right; but, other than that, we made Blythe in excellent time. This was good because I had another 2:30 minutes of riding from Blythe home.
Dinner was at the Chiraco Summit Coffee Shop in Chiraco Summit (where else?). I asked for a meatloaf sandwich and got a meatloaf sandwich without much meatloaf, a whole lot of instant potatoes and a quart of gravy. There is no need to stop there again, unless necessity dictates.
Home: 10:15pm.
The map of the route - sort of resembles a pig. Orient using the tail.
Southern California Trips during this contract.
All trips to date. This picture is really starting to fill in. How do I make my next contract up in Idaho or maybe Oklahoma/Texas?
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