A trip Report is more of a perception of where you've been than a
declaration of route numbers traveled on. I will try to convey the
personality of my travels with my 2 friend OMB (Old Man Bud) and 'Nip'
Morgan as we take a 2 week trip from Socal to Leadville, Co and back.
OMB, is older than dirt. He still loves his motos to distraction. He
once drove his VW bus into Mexico City with
his wife and 4 kids on Holiday. They had no concrete plans, but he
stopped at the first motorcycle shop that he came to (about 1950), and
as his wife says, "Even before he found them a hotel room or got the
family fed, he talked the Horex dealer into sponsoring him a 500cc
Horex to race up the Mtn that towers over Mexico City". She's still
pissed about that. Ha.
BTW, for background, OMB raced all the Catalina Grand Prixs back in the '50s, and 20 years of the hair and Hound events in the Los Angeles area. At one time there was a snow storm in the LA mtns and the night before he put 8 short lengths of motorcycle chain around his rear tire. ....and he actually built and sold swing arms kits for motorcycles in the late '40s for hardtail dirt bikes of the time.
So when I go somewhere moto, I always see if Bud, at 90 yrs old, still wants to go along. He always says, "Yes".
Nip, on the other hand is an old V65 Sabre rider who is a good rider/traveler......and he's one of the good guys. Bud and I met Nip
when we stopped for a short rest at the Park in Lone Pine, Ca We were on a Bonneville Salt Flats trip. He provided us a place
to stay the first night out on that trip, and has proved to be a good friend since then, as we stayed at his place on the western slope of the Sierras that night and a couple more times since then.
Bud and I wanted to cross the western desert at a little higher
elevation around Tonopah Nv, so Nip was contacted for a possible
overnight, and he was in the mood for a ride-about, and decided to
come along with us to Leadville Co. We were to meet an internet
groups of rider there from all over the USA.
I went to Bud's house the morning that we began our trip. I was
towing my Dualsport bike with my '84 V65 Sabre. Bud was riding his
'84 VT500 Ascot. Engine wise it is only half-a-bike, but can cruise
at 70+mph which is faster than I run my Sabre when towing. We loaded
up and hit the road at 9:30am.
The first surprise happened not 5 miles from Bud's place.....A car
pulled up along side us on the I-5 freeway just south Of Oceanside Ca
and tooted it's horn. I figured it was someone wanting to tell me
some of my pack was falling off my cycle.
But then the guys was familiar looking.....for Christ's sake it was
Milt Oberman....a long time moto friend from LA taking his grandson to
Legoland. Soon we had found an off ramp and pulled over for a howdy.
It was a 1 in a million odds
situation. Truth is stranger than fiction......but, although it was
good to see Milt, I would rather have won the lottery with my '1 in a
million' coincidence. Damn.
I decided to take us thru LA rather than the inland route thru
Riverside because the weather was hot. I don't think it was much cooler either way. We hit some
traffic in LA, but not bad,....gassed up a couple times and Hit the
highest temps of the day at Mojave Ca, maybe something about 105.
Gas Stop north of LA
It
probably dropped to high 90s at the Coso rest stop on 395. The green
grass and shade invited us to take a short nap. Felt good
Coso rest stop south of Lone Pine
Sierras from Coso
Nip called to see where we were. I said we'd be there soon, as we
were just 40 miles short of his place in Lone Pine. We hooked up at
Nip's about 5pm. The swamp cooler had cooled the place down nicely.
There was moisture in the air....
More sky
Nip loaded most of his stuff in that nice yellow dry bag. Nip's rig always looks tidy and nicely packed.
We compared what we were packing for the trip. Nip was going to
free camp with us which wasn't his norm, but he looked well prepared.
Just to put things in order, Nip is 64, Bud is 90, and I'm 70. We all
watch our pennies. :) Did I mention that McDonald's is our best friend?
Around 7pm we slipped out for something to eat at Micky D's a couple blocks away and
were probably in bed before 9. We'd get really started on our trip tomorrow.
We were up early. On the road by 8. First business was to gas up
at a station in Independence that had a Carl's Jr. We got breakfast there, then hit the
road in earnest. We took Westgard Pass thru Dyer toward Tonopah. It
was a nice ride thru Canyons, Mtns, farming flatlands, and outright
desert on the way to Tonopah. Tonopah is up at 5000+ft which kept the
temps sub 100, and with our cool vests we weren't heat stressed at
all.
After 2 minute ride north on 395 toward Independence.
On the way to Westgard Pass.....
A fellow can fill his camera with pics of mountains when riding out here all too easily.
Entering Westgard Pass going east out of Bishop....
Nip told us about a college out this way. It's a working ranch and they only accept the brightest of the bright. They encourage free thinking and innovative methods. Nip applied for a teaching job there to teach art. It's over there in that green sum'ers.
Coming out the east side of Westgard Pass. It was another 150 miles to Tonopah.
I checked to see if my towed bike was still there
After more then 12000 miles towing that bike, I'm finally getting used to it and trust it to follow me without upsetting me too much. Nowadays I carve thru the curves at a comfortable rate and cruise the highway at 60 to 70. The brakes that I added after my first trip was a big help with the confidence.
On toward small town Dyer
Downtown Dyer....we added a gallon of 5$ gas in Dyer
On toward Tonopah
It was 170 miles with no gas to Ely Nv or 165 miles to Ash Springs along the
exter-terrestrial Hwy of Nv, past area 51 and Groom Lake, ....and all that
stuff. After gassing up we choose the UFO HWY.
I should have cleaned the mirror. :)
Looking toward Area 51
Bud thinks his tank is 2.8 gals, right at half of mine. With his extreme MPG that is 10
miles total per tank from what I can do while towing. Bud get's 70 mpg when
traveling in the low 60s. Nip can get 200 miles from his 2001 Harley.
So theoretically we can make it to gas. A simple 10 mph headwind
would change everything dramatically. My ace in the hole was the 4 gals that my
Dualsport carries. In a pinch we could transfer gas from that bike.
The ride thru that area of Nv is full of interesting Sights The
road is up and down and twisty, and you can see forever....never any
pesky trees messing with the view. I like that.
There's one small town at mile 120, Rachel Nv. The A'Le'inn is
there at the access road to Groom Lake. [url]http://www.littlealeinn.com/[/url]
They have a combo Bar/cafe/store. They have lots of alien souveniers.
We stopped for a break and soda.....and to rewet out vests. While
there, an owner stopped to tell us that many motos get stuck there out
of gas......and that she stocks 5 gal cans of gas for folks in
desperation. That was good to know.
A'Le'Inn along the extra Terrestrial Hwy at Rachel Nv. Pick up your souvineers here.
While taking this break there were a couple little light squalls
come thru. The west is getting moist air from Mex this time of year
and anything is possible. The rain passed on and so did we.
We moved on down to the gas station at Ash Springs. Ash springs
is just a gas station without much else....but Nip told us that there
was a public hot springs in the patch of trees just across the street.
No kidding?? Damned if he wasn't right. We cruised on over there
and were delighted to find the neatest little spring fed swimming pool
that I'd ever seen. Clean water at about 90 degree. Bud and Nip
stripped down to their shots, and I being without the complications of
shorts went swimming in my Levis
Nip in Ash Springs...
In the heat it felt like Paradise. We lounged around there for an
hour...what an oasis.
About 6pm we moved on, all about finding a campsite in mind. We were headed
toward Caliente Nv with a small mtn range in between us and town.
When we got to those MTN we sent Bud into the lead to find us a
suitable camp site. But has always been the 'Kampmaster'. We'd send him off to find us a freecamp. Bud spotted a dirt road and told us to wait while
he went in to check it out. 50 yards later Bud had gone out of
sight. We heard his moto shut off, soon he walked back and waved us
on in.....
We'll, Bud wasn't waving us in to camp. He wanted us to
help him pick up his bike as he had dropped it in the soft
sand.....but by the time we found that out, me with my trailer and Nip
with his Harley, were already in the soft sand. That's where we spent the night
We picked up Bud's bike then I pulled up in there a little farther
and cut my trailer to close to a stump. I couldn't move till I
unhooked the trailer and moved it by hand. Nip pulled up in there,
too.
I was Stuck behind that stump for the night
The good news was that we were out of sight from the road and the
area was big enough to camp in. Looks like in spite of ourselves we
found a place to camp for the night. And there was plenty of firewood. Getting turned around and out of there in the morning would be
dealt with tomorrow.
The weather looked good for the night. I declared that there
would be no rain that night. I couldn't have been more wrong. :(
We quickly set up our beds and bags. Bud had taped 2 trash bags
together to make a waterproof bag to put his sleeping bag in. I had a Blue
Tarp that I lay on half of, and fold the other half over me for rain
Protection. Nip had a tent, but brought the wrong poles for it, or
some such complication We were set for the night....kinda.:wink:
A fire was built, we told some lies, and munched on snacks for
dinner. The fire was comforting as we watched the sky's lightshow, and
listened to thunder in the distance. Hummm,.... seems like that thunder
is getting louder......and the lightning is getting brighter.
The rain started about 9pm which sent us scurrying for our bed
rolls. The thunderclaps, lightning and rain went on for 2 hours.
Even though we all were partially wet, we slept thru most of the
night, and due to summer temps weren't cold .
The first night in the elements had proved to be very interesting.
