I just made a quick pass through Death Valley two+ weeks ago while tagging along on the group ride that Tyler put together. We came into DV from the Panamint side, and I only had time to made a quick loop through Artist's Drive and then a dash up to Dante's View before heading to the Longstreet at sunset. Due to my work schedule, I had to head for home the next morning. I saw quite a few flowers between Stovepipe Wells and Artist's Drive, but from reading Tyler's most excellent Ride Report, I knew I had missed most of the good stuff south of Badwater Basin. I really wanted to get back there and see what I'd missed, but how long would the "super bloom" last?
Then I noticed that I had eight days off work in late January/early February. I looked at some news stories and discovered that the bloom was still in full swing. And Kristi had three days off that matched mine. Very rare. Once she learned that a bloom like this was quite unusual, maybe once every 10 years, she readily agreed to a two day ride to check it out. She has never been to DV, and hasn't done an overnight trip on the bike with me in just over a year. I was excited to get out on the road with her. With only three days advance notice, finding lodging in the Park was out of the question. Even if rooms were available at the Furnace Creek Inn, I certainly can't afford to stay there. $500/night is way too rich for me. Prices are more reasonable at the F.C. Ranch and Stovepipe Wells, but they're booked until April. The only real option is the lavish and luxurious (but not really) Exchange Club motel in Beatty NV. It's tough to beat $67/night. The rooms are clean, and the guys from a BMW forum stay there when they do Death Valley rides. Works for me.
Packing is a breeze for an overnight trip. I think I was ready to go in five minutes. Kristi took about ten minutes to pack. She's awesome. We hit the road on Monday morning, 2/29, around 8:15. We headed west for a bit on I10, then north on 62 to Twentynine Palms. From there, we took Amboy Road up to Amboy. Exactly 100 miles covered, we stopped at Roy's in Amboy for a quick break. That's good root beer! I also had a Hostess cupcake. Road trip dietary rules are in effect...don't judge me!
Back on the road, we headed east on Route 66 for 5 miles until turning north on Kelbaker Road. The pavement on Kelbaker is pretty good to the south, but as you head north it gets pretty rough in a few places. There's a 10-mile stretch north a Kelso Junction where the pavement is utter crap. I've been on dirt roads smoother than that area. The sad part is, there are two areas where Caltrans is preparing to straighten out a couple of the only fun curves for many miles. It seems like a waste of money to me. Just leave the curves as-is, and spend the money on fresh pavement! We rolled through Baker and continued north on 127 to Shoshone. That is a pretty boring stretch of road. Not much to see there. Shoshone is 233 miles from home, and 133 miles from Amboy. Time for lunch and fuel. The fuel gauge was blinking reserve for the last 10 miles into town. We stopped for lunch at the Crowbar, which apparently is famous because the sign says so. I'd never heard of it before my first trip through Shoshone ten years ago. My FJR is parked next to a bad-ass red chopper that might be comfortable for a 50 mile ride.
We sat on the patio and ordered sandwiches. While waiting for the chow to be brought out, I took the FJR across the street to the Chevron to top off the tank. The chow showed up just after I got back to the table. Perfect timing. After lunch, we continued north on 127. Normally you would take 178 over Jubilee Pass to enter the Park from the south to join Badwater Road, but 178 is still closed since the heavy flood damage last fall. Still no estimates on when it will re-open. That made for a lot of extra miles in backtracking to see the bloom at the south end of Badwater. We turned west onto 190 at Death Valley Junction and continued to Furnace Creek. It was a bit of a zoo around Furnace Creek with all of the tourist traffic. The temp was around 90 degrees, so we chugged some water and then headed south on Badwater Road. The traffic lightened quite a bit south of Badwater Basin, and luckily that's when we started seeing the best of the blooms, as seen in Tyler's photos. My crappy little Nikon point-and-shoot takes decent photos, but they're just crap compared to what others (again, Tyler) can do with a much better camera. But who cares...this is for my entertainment.
We went to the south end of Badwater Road, and then went the short distance up 178 until we came to the closure barricade. The blooms were just spectacular. Around every corner was a beautiful photo-op, but multiple stops for pics in full riding gear are a royal pain in the ass, especially at 90 degrees. Plus, the sun was getting lower and we still had to ride 85 miles to the motel in Beatty. But we still stopped twice more for a couple of pics.
Heading back north, we stopped at Badwater Basin for a quick break and to chug more water. After that, no more stops until Beatty.
I then made the tactical error of making a pass through Artist's Drive. Big mistake. The drive is spectacular in the evening light, and I thought Kristi should get to see it. However, I forgot about the stupidity of drivers in larges masses. We got stuck behind a line of about 5 or 6 cars. The speed limit is 25mph, but these morons puttered along at 15mph, and almost slowed to a stop on some of the corners. And of course NONE of these people know what a turnout is for. So we were stuck in that slow-moving parade for the entire 8 miles. Finally back northbound on Badwater Rd, I wicked it up to 90mph and followed a KTM to get past all the morons. North of Furnace Creek, the traffic died down and I ran at my usual pace of 5 to 10 over. The sun had set and it was getting darker as we headed up Beatty Rd towards 374 to Beatty. I forgot to pack Kristi's clear visor, so I wasn't going to stop and switch my visor out. How rude would that be? So when it got scary with the tinted visor, I raised the windshield and visor for the last few miles into town. I sure love my Hella FF50s. We had covered 445 miles that day. Not bad considering Kristi hasn't ridden with me very much in the past year.
We checked in at the Exchange Club, and I ran the FJR down the street to top the tank. At that point, we were both ready for chow and a few beers. We headed across the street to the Sourdough Saloon, but the "restaurant" in the back looked like utter mayhem with people standing around trying to figure out how/what to order. Ain't nobody got time for that! So we ended up at the Happy Burro Chili & Beer next door. With a name like that, how can you not like it? We snagged two spots at the bar, and the cute bartender brought out a Stone IPA for me and a Sam Adams (plus a tequila shot) for Kristi. The menu was basic, but road-trip-awesome. She ordered the chili cheese dog, and of course I had the chili cheese burger. We started powering them down so fast, I never thought to get a food-porn pic. We chatted with the bartender, and then a local named Todd joined in the conversation. It seems that Todd works at the Motel 6 down the road, and he likes to get a buzz and hang out at the Happy Burro. When I say buzz, I mean he was pretty drunk. But he was a cool drunk, not one of those obnoxious assholes that you sometimes run into. I had several more Stone's, and Kristi had another shot and a few more beers; let's face it...we got pretty drunk as well. It was entertaining talking to the locals, and when it was time to settle the bill ($57), the bartender told us that another guy had picked it up for us. Huh? It was a gentleman that I hadn't even talked to, but I thanked him and asked, why? He said that he'd been watching Kristi and I talk to Todd for quite a while, and he thought it was cool of us to not give Todd the silent treatment as some tourists will do. Nice guy...you don't see that very often. After that gentleman left, I decided to order another round for Kristi, Todd, and myself. I then gave the bartender $40 for our $17 tab. She had earned it. Luckily it was a short walk (stagger?) back to the motel.
Needless to say, we were NOT back on the road at dawn the next day. I woke up around 6, but she was comatose until around 9. We finally rolled out of the motel at 10. That's just embarrassing! We headed down 374/Daylight Pass Road back into the Park. We stopped at Stovepipe Wells for breakfast...but it was already time for lunch.
I wanted to head west on 190 to go over Town Pass and down to Panamint Springs, but since we got such a late start, we didn't have time to do that and still get home before dark. So from Stovepipe, we just headed back east through Furnace Creek, and then southeast out of the Park. But we still had to make the dash up to Dante's View. It was a beautiful day up there, nice and cool.
Chugging more water before heading back out to Shoshone.
We headed back down to 190, then east to 127, then south. Made a quick fuel stop at Shoshone, and then the boring ride down 127 to Baker, and the shitty pavement on Kelbaker Road...and you can't go through Amboy and NOT stop for another root beer.
Now we were racing the sunset again, and we had the sun right in our eyes for 40 miles on Amboy Road and 62. The sun set as we passed through Yucca Valley, but there was just enough light to keep my visor down until we pulled off I10 near the house. We covered 393 miles on Monday, for a whopping total of 838 miles. Now the bike is covered with dead bugs, but I haven't felt motivated enough today to go clean it up. I think I'll tackle that problem tomorrow.
Then I noticed that I had eight days off work in late January/early February. I looked at some news stories and discovered that the bloom was still in full swing. And Kristi had three days off that matched mine. Very rare. Once she learned that a bloom like this was quite unusual, maybe once every 10 years, she readily agreed to a two day ride to check it out. She has never been to DV, and hasn't done an overnight trip on the bike with me in just over a year. I was excited to get out on the road with her. With only three days advance notice, finding lodging in the Park was out of the question. Even if rooms were available at the Furnace Creek Inn, I certainly can't afford to stay there. $500/night is way too rich for me. Prices are more reasonable at the F.C. Ranch and Stovepipe Wells, but they're booked until April. The only real option is the lavish and luxurious (but not really) Exchange Club motel in Beatty NV. It's tough to beat $67/night. The rooms are clean, and the guys from a BMW forum stay there when they do Death Valley rides. Works for me.
Packing is a breeze for an overnight trip. I think I was ready to go in five minutes. Kristi took about ten minutes to pack. She's awesome. We hit the road on Monday morning, 2/29, around 8:15. We headed west for a bit on I10, then north on 62 to Twentynine Palms. From there, we took Amboy Road up to Amboy. Exactly 100 miles covered, we stopped at Roy's in Amboy for a quick break. That's good root beer! I also had a Hostess cupcake. Road trip dietary rules are in effect...don't judge me!
Back on the road, we headed east on Route 66 for 5 miles until turning north on Kelbaker Road. The pavement on Kelbaker is pretty good to the south, but as you head north it gets pretty rough in a few places. There's a 10-mile stretch north a Kelso Junction where the pavement is utter crap. I've been on dirt roads smoother than that area. The sad part is, there are two areas where Caltrans is preparing to straighten out a couple of the only fun curves for many miles. It seems like a waste of money to me. Just leave the curves as-is, and spend the money on fresh pavement! We rolled through Baker and continued north on 127 to Shoshone. That is a pretty boring stretch of road. Not much to see there. Shoshone is 233 miles from home, and 133 miles from Amboy. Time for lunch and fuel. The fuel gauge was blinking reserve for the last 10 miles into town. We stopped for lunch at the Crowbar, which apparently is famous because the sign says so. I'd never heard of it before my first trip through Shoshone ten years ago. My FJR is parked next to a bad-ass red chopper that might be comfortable for a 50 mile ride.
We sat on the patio and ordered sandwiches. While waiting for the chow to be brought out, I took the FJR across the street to the Chevron to top off the tank. The chow showed up just after I got back to the table. Perfect timing. After lunch, we continued north on 127. Normally you would take 178 over Jubilee Pass to enter the Park from the south to join Badwater Road, but 178 is still closed since the heavy flood damage last fall. Still no estimates on when it will re-open. That made for a lot of extra miles in backtracking to see the bloom at the south end of Badwater. We turned west onto 190 at Death Valley Junction and continued to Furnace Creek. It was a bit of a zoo around Furnace Creek with all of the tourist traffic. The temp was around 90 degrees, so we chugged some water and then headed south on Badwater Road. The traffic lightened quite a bit south of Badwater Basin, and luckily that's when we started seeing the best of the blooms, as seen in Tyler's photos. My crappy little Nikon point-and-shoot takes decent photos, but they're just crap compared to what others (again, Tyler) can do with a much better camera. But who cares...this is for my entertainment.
We went to the south end of Badwater Road, and then went the short distance up 178 until we came to the closure barricade. The blooms were just spectacular. Around every corner was a beautiful photo-op, but multiple stops for pics in full riding gear are a royal pain in the ass, especially at 90 degrees. Plus, the sun was getting lower and we still had to ride 85 miles to the motel in Beatty. But we still stopped twice more for a couple of pics.
Heading back north, we stopped at Badwater Basin for a quick break and to chug more water. After that, no more stops until Beatty.
I then made the tactical error of making a pass through Artist's Drive. Big mistake. The drive is spectacular in the evening light, and I thought Kristi should get to see it. However, I forgot about the stupidity of drivers in larges masses. We got stuck behind a line of about 5 or 6 cars. The speed limit is 25mph, but these morons puttered along at 15mph, and almost slowed to a stop on some of the corners. And of course NONE of these people know what a turnout is for. So we were stuck in that slow-moving parade for the entire 8 miles. Finally back northbound on Badwater Rd, I wicked it up to 90mph and followed a KTM to get past all the morons. North of Furnace Creek, the traffic died down and I ran at my usual pace of 5 to 10 over. The sun had set and it was getting darker as we headed up Beatty Rd towards 374 to Beatty. I forgot to pack Kristi's clear visor, so I wasn't going to stop and switch my visor out. How rude would that be? So when it got scary with the tinted visor, I raised the windshield and visor for the last few miles into town. I sure love my Hella FF50s. We had covered 445 miles that day. Not bad considering Kristi hasn't ridden with me very much in the past year.
We checked in at the Exchange Club, and I ran the FJR down the street to top the tank. At that point, we were both ready for chow and a few beers. We headed across the street to the Sourdough Saloon, but the "restaurant" in the back looked like utter mayhem with people standing around trying to figure out how/what to order. Ain't nobody got time for that! So we ended up at the Happy Burro Chili & Beer next door. With a name like that, how can you not like it? We snagged two spots at the bar, and the cute bartender brought out a Stone IPA for me and a Sam Adams (plus a tequila shot) for Kristi. The menu was basic, but road-trip-awesome. She ordered the chili cheese dog, and of course I had the chili cheese burger. We started powering them down so fast, I never thought to get a food-porn pic. We chatted with the bartender, and then a local named Todd joined in the conversation. It seems that Todd works at the Motel 6 down the road, and he likes to get a buzz and hang out at the Happy Burro. When I say buzz, I mean he was pretty drunk. But he was a cool drunk, not one of those obnoxious assholes that you sometimes run into. I had several more Stone's, and Kristi had another shot and a few more beers; let's face it...we got pretty drunk as well. It was entertaining talking to the locals, and when it was time to settle the bill ($57), the bartender told us that another guy had picked it up for us. Huh? It was a gentleman that I hadn't even talked to, but I thanked him and asked, why? He said that he'd been watching Kristi and I talk to Todd for quite a while, and he thought it was cool of us to not give Todd the silent treatment as some tourists will do. Nice guy...you don't see that very often. After that gentleman left, I decided to order another round for Kristi, Todd, and myself. I then gave the bartender $40 for our $17 tab. She had earned it. Luckily it was a short walk (stagger?) back to the motel.
Needless to say, we were NOT back on the road at dawn the next day. I woke up around 6, but she was comatose until around 9. We finally rolled out of the motel at 10. That's just embarrassing! We headed down 374/Daylight Pass Road back into the Park. We stopped at Stovepipe Wells for breakfast...but it was already time for lunch.
I wanted to head west on 190 to go over Town Pass and down to Panamint Springs, but since we got such a late start, we didn't have time to do that and still get home before dark. So from Stovepipe, we just headed back east through Furnace Creek, and then southeast out of the Park. But we still had to make the dash up to Dante's View. It was a beautiful day up there, nice and cool.
Chugging more water before heading back out to Shoshone.
We headed back down to 190, then east to 127, then south. Made a quick fuel stop at Shoshone, and then the boring ride down 127 to Baker, and the shitty pavement on Kelbaker Road...and you can't go through Amboy and NOT stop for another root beer.
Now we were racing the sunset again, and we had the sun right in our eyes for 40 miles on Amboy Road and 62. The sun set as we passed through Yucca Valley, but there was just enough light to keep my visor down until we pulled off I10 near the house. We covered 393 miles on Monday, for a whopping total of 838 miles. Now the bike is covered with dead bugs, but I haven't felt motivated enough today to go clean it up. I think I'll tackle that problem tomorrow.
