Ten Days and No Where to Be

Broke camp early and headed north to road J41 which goes over Sherman Pass, Kennedy Meadows, Nine Mile Canyon Road which eventually dumps out on Hwy 395. Explored some side roads during the days ride. Didn't really care where I ended up for the night so just explored.

Some side road exploration. Would love to come back up this way on my XR650L. Places the Strom just wasn't real comfortable with.



Took a break around lunch at fire tower lookout. About a 4 mile drive off the paved road and then another 1/4 mile hike in. Nice guy manning the tower so hung out awhile.



Top of Sherman Pass. Was running heated gear up here. Got pretty cold. Great riding with zero traffic.



Kennedy Meadows (Think this was the name of the little stop. Doing this at work so I don't have a map in front of me).



After dropping off the summit and going thru Kennedy Meadow started down the eastside towards 395. Ran into two couples from France who didn't speak a whole lot of English. They had rented two bikes out of Vegas and were headed to the coast. They were a little lost so I tried to point them in the right direction.

That looks like a great spot!
Your photos are always so nice.


Hey, I like your new rig - it's really cool!
I love that you can ride it in the snow. That's so awesome!

and, I found the perfect man purse to go with it...

Thanks. I could of sat out front there for hours just people watching. Next time I'll have my zoom lens so I can get some quality shots! You live near some quality riding out your way.

Lil Wan...... How dare you. The green in that purse would clash with my Desert Camo Ural! I do have an image to maintain. I know you got that purse out of BigWan's closet so if he has one in Desert Camo please send it to me!

Hit Nine Mile Canyon road. Perfect temps, sunshine, no traffic and an epic road with views. It doesn't get much better than this. Started losing altitude heading towards the Owens Valley.








It ended way too soon. Had spent the majority of the day getting down to 395 in the valley. Weather was still holding but starting to build to the north. Once I got on 395 I let the Strom haul the mail and had planned to just keep going north. Of course, when I got to Lone Pine I thought.....hell, I'm here might as well ride up thru the Alabama Hills up the road that leads to Mount Whitney. A big mistake as I would later realize. I could see the weather building but my stupid ass figured it would hold off. I'd had perfect weather for the past week....why should it change now!



Putting in the miles headed north.





Alabama Hills outside Lone Pine enroute to the Mount Whitney portal road.

No need to turn around. Just put it in reverse and back it up! Two wheel drive and reverse It would easily come in from the Swansea side even on that one hill. Put it in two wheel drive and it would crawl over that. Pretty sure I couldn't come in from Cerro Gordo. When I did it on the XR I had it pinned going up the one steep hill. I'd love to take the Ural up there and camp for a couple of nights. I remember a good spot right after the tram up top.

After screwing around in the Alabama Hills got back out on 395 and headed north again. Up thru Big Pine, Bishop and started climbing up towards Mamooth Lakes. Had hoped to get over the pass and into the Carson Valley. Didn't happen. As soon as I left Bishop the temps started dropping and light was fading. Decided to call it in Mamooth Lakes and found Motel 6. Temps were really falling and the sky wasn't looking good. Soon as I walked in the manager said I'll give you a room but if you stay I don't think you'll get out of here on a bike tomorrow morning. We're expecting snow. Now I was regretting all the stops and picture taking I had done during the day. If I'd of just kept moving I would have dropped down into the Carson Valley and missed this. Back on the bike, hook up the electric heat and haul ass north in the dark. Soon as I left Mamooth it started snowing mixed with rain. This was not going to be fun. I hate riding at night as it is and now I get to do it in snow/rain. Remembered back to two years ago when I came down to Death Valley in late spring http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=688728 and ran into a bad snowstorm trying to get back home. Not having much luck in Mamooth Lakes.

Pic from a previous trip to Death Valley



Rode about 20 miles from Mamooth and had two deer run across the road right in front of me. Knew this was stupid trying to push thru this stuff in the dark. Decided to try and make Bridgeport and hole up there. If I got snowed in for a couple of days so be it. At least I wouldn't kill myself hitting a deer or freezing to death. Snow started sticking to the sides of the road and knew it wouldn't be much longer before the road started holding snow and icing up. I was creeping along at this point. Came up on a little resturant/lodge in the dark and decided I wasn't going any further. Walked in dripping wet. Lady said they had a room above the kitchen but it was pretty femine. WTF? Said it didn't have a bathroom or TV plus the heat didn't work real well. I said if it doesn't leak and has a bed I don't care how femine it is or how much it is. I was freezing and wanted off the road. Room was right above the restuarant and you could hear every word. I heard everything from wedding plans to why our country was going to shit in a hand basket. Only thing I was concerned with at this point was when is my ass going to warm up and when that damn resturant was going to close for the night. Luckily the last patrons finished up around midnight.



Following day was by far the worst day I have ever spent astride a motorcycle. I left my femine abode at daybreak in full on cold rain with 30 mph winds. Oh yea.....let the fun begin.

Gorgeous! Love this one.

Sorry. Every purse in his closet is KTM orange.

I thought I saw BigWan with an Orange purse at the KTM rally. Pretty sure it was that fluffy one top right.

Left Bridgeport and the plan was to ride all the way into Bend. 510 miles. Weather and wind was bad all day. Rain, snow and high winds. Made it as far as Lakeview, Oregon before the snow was just too much. Last 10 miles into Lakeview was done at about 10 miles per hour. Finally made it to Lakeview which is about 150 miles from home. Posted up on a local forum and a friend, Dave Wachs, of the famous Rescue One Service said he'd come after me. Thought about sitting it out but they were calling for more snow the following day and I wanted to get home. Dave showed up the following morning and we loaded up and hauled the bike into Bend. All in all...... a great ride.





Wachs......Rescue One has shown up to save the day. Big thanks to Dave for driving over to Lakeview to get me.




The end!

Good show!

Now for a post script - you should put wachs in the sidecar and head down to Death Valley!

He can hold your purse while you drive...



Thanks for the report!


it was a nice distraction from working on mine.

Great RR. I clicked on it and was surprised to see many of the same pictures that we took this spring. We even stayed in the same place along the Lost Coast. Then you hit me between the eyes with your seventh post. Your new toy is what we were in the process of bringing back home! Thanks for bringing it all back for me.

Alabama Hills:

Headed to your RR tonite to read about your adventures with the Ural. Only had mine about a week and love it. Can't wait to take it out on some overniters.

LilWan...... Wachs just left my house after having a cold one. He's mended up now and was just down in the Fields area roosting everything in sight. If he'll ever slow down enough and get off that KTM I'll get him in it. Trying to catch him in the Ural may prove to be a little tough. Pictures coming soon! Glad you enjoyed the report and it gave you a break from yours. Can't believe the time and effort you put in your reports. Take care.

Nice! It looks great. DD

Here's a stock photo for you. BP in his element. Not riding but recovering from massive amounts of bourbon!

HA! I just stumbled across this. Great RR. Great scary pic of BP. I think he "likes" you

He only likes me because he has my credit card number!

Hey nice RR Park.

As usual.