Death Valley Daze 2004

[kbasa]

Have you ever had one of those days where you just have to say "What's Next?". Some strange thing will happen and you can deal alright. Then another strange thing will happen and you'll start to wonder what's going to happen next.

We had a day like that last Friday when we rode to Death Valley for DVD IX.

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[kbasa]

The day started out beautifully. We had nice, but cool weather and it was about 35 or so when I left the house at 5am. I rode down to Hollister, CA and met up with John Pierce, BrownAnt, Rob Laposta, Lone*Star, Mark Osborne and Jean-Luc. Most of them are AdvRiders.

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[kbasa]

We had a pretty nice route planned. We'd head down some of the nice roads in the coastal range and then cut across the central valley and climb up and over the southern section of the Sierra Nevada and then cruise on across the desert and into Death Valley.

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[kbasa]

The roads were clear, the traffic was light. We were gonna make some time. There's a kind of feeling you get when you're setting out on a decent ride.

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When the big hand's on the 95 and the little hand's on the six, it's time to watch for the police.

[kbasa]

And then, you find some frost on the north side of a hill and you find something like this.

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We were up and out of the valley we'd been following and had started to cross the hills to get to Coalinga and the central valley. We came around the corner and the whole canyon wall was covered in frost. So was the road. Tony Brown went down and the rest of us managed to coast through the glaze and get stopped.

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[kbasa]

We kept Tony on the ground until the cops showed up and started to help him. Prior to the CHP arriving, we'd determined he knew who we were, knew what day it was and all his fingers and toes worked.

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[kbasa]

The CHP showed up and set to work. Officer Hall, in the blue uniform, turned out to be an LT rider. The guys were great and were concerend with Tony's well being first and the details second.

Thanks, guys. We owe ya.

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[kbasa]

Well, the CHP called an ambulance and a helicopter and they both showed up within a couple minutes of each other.

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The EMT techs were all over it. They assessed Tony, splinted his wrist and got him ready for transport.

[kbasa]

And then he flew away, off to Santa Clara. The ambulance crew explained the airlift this way: since Tony's injuries really weren't that bad (it seemed). We were a good hundred miles in either direction from a hospital. An ambulance ride down the bumpy roads were on would have been torturous. So they called the chopper.

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We found out today that they kept him over the weekend and let him out yesterday, Monday. He's got a broken foot, a broken wrist that's going to require surgery, a bruised kidney and a lacerated liver. He broke a couple ribs and got him self a little scraped up.

All the Gear, all the time, kids.

[kbasa]

Tony's bike was kind of a mess (notice the big hole in the valve cover) and the CHP had arranged for towing. We grabbed Tony's electronics and took them with us so they wouldn't "disappear" in the towing yard. We also found a couple bags of chocolate chip cookies and gave one bag to the EMTs. We tried to give them to the CHP, but they all rubbed their stomachs and talked about needing to lose weight.

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[kbasa]

So off we went, across the big nothingness that is the Central Valley of California. We passed mile after mile of Almond trees and other orchards. We were heading south now and would pass by where James Dean got killed.

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[kbasa]

Well, we made it across the Central Valley without incident (except for when the cops pulled me and Lapost over for going around that gravel truck at the stoplight and then let us go) , and headed up and over Greenhorn Summit on CA155. The summit is at 6000 feet, so there's a pretty good possibility of snow during the winter. We got up to about 5000 feet and started seeing snow on the sides of the roads. Lots of snow on the sides of the road, actually. Then we started seeing lots of sand on the road. Some of the sand had snow and ice under it! :yow

When we got to the summit, Lone*Star was pulled over and stopped. He had broken his clutch cable on the way up the hill and had ridden up the hill without a clutch - through the icy patches!

Luckily, I had a spare RS clutch cable with me that we used to replace his GS cable. It's not a perfect fit, but it got him home!

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Lone*Star on the left, Rob Laposta on the right.

[kbasa]

Jean - Luc's KTM decided it was jealous and demanded a little attention by spitting out the bolt that holds the sidestand switch in place. One Big Honkin' Ziptie later, we were rolling again and on our way to Ridgecrest.

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[kbasa]

When we got to camp, they had two things we like to see:

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[kbasa]

It was cool that night. Winter nights in the desert usually are. We saw 37F overnight. Met some new folks on Saturday - Here's MrCob with his cool old GS.

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[kbasa]

Here's Ricardo Kuhn explaining something I don't think I want to know about. It probably involves milling aluminum to manufacture a really sweet GS gizmo if history holds to form.

The man's a genius with design.

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[kbasa]

Here's Traveltoad with his big GSA. Those guys headed up Lippencott Road, which is hugely gnarly and not maintained at all. There's a big sign that warns the road should only be traversed by high clearance or 4x4 vehicles.

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[kbasa]

Here's DesertRat and his modified F650. Out in the desert, GSs are in their element. This one gets used for lots of offroad and has the scars and mods to show for it.

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[kbasa]

I also ran into Mick McKinnon and his lovely wife, whose name I have forgotten because I'm a last word getting, self centered kind of guy. Sorry, Mick. Your wife's a peach.

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[kbasa]

Here's Mark. We rode down and back together. He lives up in Sebastapol and I covet his motorcycle.

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[kbasa]

Rick Landi was there and wasn't too happy about me catching him with a bad case of tent head.

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[kbasa]

Here's Brian Curry (DATA) on the right and a couple of guys whose name I can't recall. See previous notes about last word, etc. for lame excuse.

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[kbasa]

Not sure who this guy is, but it's probably wise to keep your bourbon away from him.

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[BradfordBenn]

Originally posted by KBasa
I also ran into Mick McKinnon and his lovely wife, whose name I have forgotten because I'm a last word getting, self centered kind of guy. Sorry, Mick. Your wife's a peach.

You sure it has nothing to do with Bourbon?

[kbasa]

:uhoh

:1drink

[username]

great report kbasa, looks like it was fun.

[kbasa]

So anyway, where was I? I was still wandering around the campground, trying to head up for some breakfast, where I ran into DarrylRi, JF Brown and Steve Woodward, who were on their way to the campground.

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[kbasa]

At breakfast, I ran into these folks:

Herb and Wilma Stark, who'd ridden in from Avinger, TX:
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and Skipper Brown, in from Phoenix:
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[kbasa]

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[kbasa]

I pretty much spent the afternoon doing a whole lot of nothing. I was going to take a ride and do some hiking, but instead, I sat around and shot the breeze all afternoon with the other slackers.

Dale Blanchard came by on his electric scooter, outfitted with a ham radio rig.

Dale's a geek. He's one of my people, I think.

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[kbasa]

Not much else to do but walk around camp a little and admire the scenery.

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[BradfordBenn]

I am so jealous of the riding and scenery. Oh yeah and of the fine adult beverages.

Glad to hear Tony is going to be okay.

[kbasa]

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[kbasa]

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[kbasa]

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[kbasa]

Well, long about 4, it was Swag Time. We had a nice collection of swag donated by dealers all over the west.
Thanks to all the dealers for helping us out!

We had enough stuff that everybody got something and then we had to put all the tickets back in and start drawing again. Outstanding! We also had a $250 gift certificate for a Rocky Mayer seat. His brother Rick was there and anted up the same toward a Rick Mayer seat.

Cary Little of Marin BMW donated a whole bunch of stuff and was kind enough to ship items that donors sent me here at the house.

If I think about it a little, I can come up with the Mayer brothers, Marin BMW, Santa Cruz BMW, A&S BMW, California Sport Touring, Bento's in Bakersfield, Kern KTM in Bakersfield, Santa Rosa BMW, Marty's BMW in San Diego, Harry Poindexter from Center Conway, NH and Bones over at Post Enterprises.

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[kbasa]

And Flash Gordon MD donated a copy of his book, Blood, Sweat and Gears and also a little something special for some lucky guy.

Or girl, maybe. :dunno

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[kbasa]

Rich Kapushinski was the pin guy and had all the pins that Fulton Martin put together. Thanks Fulton! :wave

We also gave out door prize tickets at the same time. If you look, you can see Steve Sanchez over at the other end of the table giving the tickets out.

Is there anything better than folks volunteering?

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And, of course, Mr. Curry got up and addressed the crowd.

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[kbasa]

After that, it was time to head back to camp, arrange some dinner and hit the sack.

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[kbasa]

GSMully and AceRPH discuss the finer points of digital photography.

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[kbasa]

And there you have it. Another trip report, in the can.

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DVD X will be in January again next year.

[BradfordBenn]

Originally posted by KBasa
DVD X will be in January again next year.

I need to know the dates for DVD X.

I will be in Anaheim in January again for work. I think we all know what I am thinking.:D

[ian408]

Nice ride report kbasa!

Glad to hear Tony's ok.

Ian

[dbrick]

Outstanding report, Dave. It *was* just exactly like that!

[Rad]

Daymn:eek

Some nut posted a report just like this over on the ADV Rider site


Imagine that:D

BTW….Both are nice reports:clap

[helliott]

Great job with the ELPH, Dave! I enjoyed the report and am glad to hear that Tony' s going to be OK.

[DarrylRi]

If you want to see Kbasa leading 4 others back over Walker Pass (among other things) you can have a peek at the trip report (http://darryl.crafty-fox.com/motorcycles/2004DVDIX.htm) on my site (http://darryl.crafty-fox.com).

[knary]

All this talk of Death Valley...:cry

Anyone up for a DV trip in a week or three? I need to go to Tahoe *very* soon and I might as well have some fun.

[The_Veg]

Great report Dave! Maybe next year, if I can get my camp gear up to speed by then...!

P.S. Love that CA198...gotta ride it someday- discovered it in a rented Dodge.

[bmwmick]

Darryl,
GREAT pictures, thanks for posting them.

Mick

[Cliffy777]

Wow, for such a self-serving moderator you sure do share some neat stuff. Glad I took the time to read (see) your report. Thanks for sharing. Glad Tony is okay.

[RebeccaV]

Awesome report. I'm glad that the accident wasn't worse. How is Tony doing?

[kbasa]

We got a note from him on AdvRider. He's got a busted foot, a busted wrist and a couple busted fingers. He sprained his other hand, bruised his kidney and managed to put a little nick in his liver when he broke a couple ribs. Despite all that, he's in good spirits and dishing out the abuse on Adv.

We're glad he's going to be good and are looking forward to seeing him back on the road in a 'stich.

[legion]

Originally posted by KBasa
...looking forward to seeing him back on the road in a 'stich.

Looks like the Levi's gave their all on that skid! Glad to see he's not too scuffed up.

Nice report, sausage!