Les, The Biker. Man of Inspiration

October 12, 2007 by bobcatou

I met Les in Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley. After a much needed shower, I walked back to my bike to see Les and his Honda Goldwing parked next to me. I asked him how many miles he had on his bike and he told me 275,000 miles and this was his 14 motorcycle over the last 40 years. Right then I figured this man was worth chatting with a bit more.

Les works in Death Valley 5 months out of the year in the fall and winter. He then rides the country with his dog the rest of the year. He’s married too. Understanding wife I imagine.

He chitchatted about standard biking stuff. Places he had seen…several times over. The types of bikes he had. He had a peace and confidence about him that was to be admired. We didn’t exchange addresses or anything. He was just a friendly guy that was a pleasure to meet on my trip.

Waste of a day and it was expensive

October 12, 2007 by bobcatou

The plan today was to do odds and ends here in Las Vegas but I got stuck at a BMW shop for a good part of the day getting new tires put on my bike. I also screwed up my bike by frying a relay when I was replacing/installing a turn signal myself. This is the one that broke in Death Valley at Ubehebe Crater. Let’s just say I did something stupid and leave it at that. Anyway that cost me about $70 to have fixed and I don’t want to go into the tire expense. Tread was low though. No choice. Blown tires aren’t part of my plan for this trip. Because the bike stuff took so long, I wasn’t able to run my errands unless I wanted to be Las Vegas roadkill during rush hour.

The highlight of the day was once again, meeting new people. David Earl and Bill from a bike club that I am in, met me for lunch. Basically we slammed how little it seems that BMW mechanics know. Anyway it was a good time. Yesterday Bill was nice enough let me use his garage to do some maintenance on my bike that was needed.

Like I said in my last post…GOOD PEOPLE.

I plan to get up early tomorrow and get errands done and hopefully hit the strip.

Death Valley!!!

October 12, 2007 by bobcatou

I got to Death Valley fairly late last Monday. It was quite dark out. I took the first campsite I found. It happened to be free. Strangely I checked out the pay sites the next day and my freebie was just as nice. Only difference from the pay sites were that you got a firepit for your $18. Who would want a firepit in Death Valley?

Anyway, below was my view when I woke up from my tent in the morning. Not a bad way to wake up eh?

During the first day of my visit, I was going to take a 26 mile one way dirt road to a ghost town and through a canyon but basically I woosed out. The ranger that told me about area said that there would be lots of people there in case I got a flat or stranded. Though heading up that way, I saw very few people. The dirt road was worse than I thought and I had visions of being stranded 12 miles in the middle of no where. I felt it was better that I didn’t go.

The day wasn’t a loss though. I rode down to the southeastern part of the park and the Bad Water Basin salt flats. This happens to be the lowest elevation in United States.

On the way back to camp, I rode the “Artist Drive” loop during sunset. It was a peaceful way to end my day. There were lots of colors to see.

Now believe or not I got up BEFORE sunrise the following morning. I wanted to see the Death Valley Sand Dunes and take some pictures when there was good light.

While walking out there, it was like I was in a totally different park. It was wonderful way to wake up in the morning. Yes…I probably wasn’t very awake until I got there. Below are some shots I got.

Later that morning I rode up to Ubehebe Crater and man it was windy. So windy that it knock my bike over it’s kickstand breaking a turn signal and part of my windscreen. Ugh.

Well here is the pic that is cost me that damage.

I dealt with alot of wind that day. After the crater I rode out the Death Valley and made it to Boulder City, Nevada. It’s about 20 miles south of Las Vegas. Here is where I am doing some odds and ends. I have a new “refurbished” GPS. My existing one is about dead now. As posted earlier, I had to do some bike tuning up. I have to run to REI and return a flashlight that eats batteries as well as exchange a small lantern flashlight that has a mind if its own. I’m not sure if I am leaving tomorrow or not yet.

More later…