DV ’15 –
The Ride, Section I of Lone Pine to Las Vegas
To read this post’s title
one would think that we simply got on our bikes one Sunday morning in Lone
Pine and rode to Las Vegas to partake in all the things that happen in Vegas that stay in
Vegas – a destination ride like the one we’d made the previous day in getting
to Lone Pine. Lone Pine was the place we wanted to be and we took mostly long straight
highways to get there and made stops for food, rest, and a meet-up in a cool
old mining town – destinations. I don’t discount the destination ride; I make
plenty of solo destination rides and they are almost always superior to driving
them. As reported, we rode along some fantastic roads with views of stormy
Eastern Sierra Mountains that just cannot be as fully appreciated in a cage.
However, our Sunday ride, while it
did include a destination with a specific arrival time, was anything but a
simple destination – it was about the road experienced in 360os with
all of our senses tuned to the pathways, the riders around us, and the vistas
that we became a part of. In this post, I’ll take us up to the brunch stop but
not inside.
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Sue - ready to ride courtesy of Tim Robertson |
We mounted up and left Lone
Pine after a quick breakfast at the Alabama Hills Café, if we are allowed to
consider half a freshly made cinnamon roll breakfast. Since our one deadline
was a reservation at The Inn at Furnace Creek for the brunch buffet, the roll
was enough (and tasty enough) to get us there but hungry for a big meal. I stepped
back from my bike for a moment and watched the others making their pre-ride
preparations; stowing gear in saddlebags, strapping on luggage, hooking up GPS
and phone units, checking their pockets and zipping up jackets, and doing circle
of safety walks around their bikes. Having finished hers, Sue leaned up against
the block wall that she scaled the evening before and soaked up the gentle rays
of the sun, collecting them for our chilly ride into Death Valley.
From the parking lot of the
Dow we hopped down the 395 a short way to SR (State Route or old Sign Route)
136 and along its length riding along Owens Lake, a dry lake bed, to SR 190
which took us to and all the way through Death Valley National Park. I have
traveled all of these roads over my 19 years as the Microwave Radio Network
Planner for AT&T using a little Jeep Cherokee at first and then a
full-sized crew-cab Silverado 4X4 pick-m-up truck. There is no comparison to
driving these roads for work and riding them for sheer pleasure. Don’t worry, I
stayed 19 years in this position because I was able to drive roads like this
and go places few people do, in particular to Mormon Peak that at nearly 10,000
in elevation provides a vista view of Death Valley seldom seen.
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Tim Tarbet's gem of SR 190... |
SR 190 quickly wound us up
and into the Panamint Mountains, past Rainbow Canyon, through a pass with the
Argus Mountains to the south and our right, and past the Panamint Springs
Resort where we were afforded a view down the highway into the Panamint Valley,
across the white strip of the Panamint Dry Lake bed and a preview of the route
ahead of us up into the mountains on the other side. I have never seen a photo
that represented the feeling of the ride better than the one that Tim Tarbet
took from just after the resort; I could define the ride that day by his photo.
There are several great shots of this view but Tim’s hit the Facebook community
and spread like wildfire.
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The road ahead from Kevin Shaw |
Carving through the hills
and down into the Panamint Valley we were as tuned as a wedding orchestra; the
subtle variations of tone and tempo showing up in our spacing and slightly
varied lines through the curves. Our bikes lifted sand-swirls from the grains
hidden in the cracks of the asphalt and they wiggled across the road like sidewinders
across the dunes. Rooster tails were tossed up behind each bike and we had to
adjust our positioning to avoid pitting our rides and face shields. We changed
the tune to adjust to each mountain range, pass, and long straightaway that
adjoined the various wilderness areas we rode through.
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The crew, ready top re-mount at Stovepipe Wells from Kevin Shaw |
We fueled up at Stovepipe
Wells, home of the Badwater Saloon, and where we had hoped to pay our entry fee there
but were instead referred to the visitor center in Furnace Creek, just a few
short minutes shy of our scheduled breakfast stop. SR 190 passes by sand dunes
that do the desert justice. While you really couldn’t get lost in them, you can
drop down on the other side of the first dune and feel the need to grab your
canteen. We rode through Devil’s Cornfield and hooked around to the south at
the turnoff for Grapevine and Scotty’s Castle. The cornfield is born of
Arrowweed bush up-croppings standing sentry duty in the Mojave. Arrowweeds
taller than a person can be found a good walk in from the roadway.
Brunch was a short-hop away
with a quick stop at the visitor center for Jed to pay our entry fees. I dare
say that we could have easily traversed the park as we did without paying the
fees. I don’t advocate that we do that at any time as the fees go to take care
of the parks that we enjoy. I’m just pointing out that DV National Park could
upgrade the entrance process.
Off the soapbox now and on
to completing the ride, section two post…
Please, keep the iron side
up.
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