The Great Basin

The Great Basin
Wheeler Peak

Friday, December 23, 2016

2016 Rides

In 2016, in addition to my Sunday morning rides, for the most part with my sister and brother in law, in a different canyon each week and a good hearty breakfast, I did go on three trips. In years past I used to go on a lot more trips and although my current bike a BMW S1000rr is not a touring bike in any sense of the word, it did just fine and although I am unable to pack as much as I could on previous bikes, I had what I needed. The first trip in April I rode down to Mexican Hat via highway 6 and then on to Hanksville, and highway 95 and after the turn off I rode the Mokie Dug-way down to Mexican Hat where I spent the next two days. On Saturday, I spent the windy day, touring Monument Valley. I took a tour in a jeep with a family from Israel, and finally after the guide telling us the names of all the formations in Monument Valley, I asked him what they were called in Navajo, and after that he would tell us the Indian name as well, I think he enjoyed that. I was very windy and tough with contact lenses. I had a hearty meal at the San Juan Inn that evening left the next morning for the ride back to the Wasatch Front. Very little traffic on Highway 95 and I went very fast by anyone's standards on several sections of the road.
My second trip of the season was to the 49er Rally in Mariposa California over the Memorial Day weekend, I went with my good friend DeVern and his wife Cathy. They have a side-car rig and over the last couple of years they have done a fair amount of traveling and participated in the 2015 Three Flag's rally. We met Wednesday morning on the on-ramp near my house and proceeded West on I-80 to Wendover where we got off of the slab and rode towards Ely Nevada on 93A. They can run about 75-80 and still get decent mileage so I just tucked in behind them and enjoyed the scenery. At Ely, we gassed up, had a snack and proceeded on one of my favorite roads in Nevada, Highway 6 towards Tonopah and our days end. It is a 167 mile stretch with very little traffic and mountains, mountains, mountains, wherever you look. This part of the Great Basin is after Afghanistan the second most mountainous area in the world, with peaks that have still probably not been climbed. I find something new each and every time I have ridden this road. We had reservations for the night at Tonopah Station. After a breakfast the next morning at Tonopah Station, we continued West on Highway 6 till we turned off towards Benton Station and the California border. From there is the roller coaster road to Lee Vining, where before turning off for the ride through Yosemite Park, we had a lunch at Nicely's Cafe which has been around since about 1954.
I have ridden from Lee Vining through Yosemite countless times on every BMW motorcycle I have owned, it never gets old and the scenery is all ways breath taking. This was on a Thursday and the holiday traffic was not bad and it didn't take all that long until we were fast approaching the fairground in Mariposa and the site of the 49er Rally. This rally was the first BMW rally I ever attended back in 1989 and its site was Mariposa back then. It has always been one of my favorite rally sites. The crowd was lot grayer than the last time I attended a rally and somewhat smaller but I did have a nice time. My sister who lives in Fresno and is an attorney drove up after appearing in court in Merced, abut 45 miles away and we had lunch the next day. On Saturday we road up into the mountains and had lunch and then I didn't ride my bike again till early Monday morning as we left for the ride back through the park. Thankfully most of the traffic was going out of instead of into the park. We again ate at Nicely's and instead of spending the night in Tonopah again, we road back across the Great Basin to Ely Nevada. It was nice to go to a familiar rally and to be out on the open road .
In August, again with DeVern, but not Cathy, I met DeVern at the Utah Idaho boarder off of I-15 on the ride to around Stanley Idaho and this year's Stanley Stomp. I have been to this rally many times, but this was the first at this location and the first one in many years. The resort where it was held is at the end of a seven mile dirt road. The Stanley Stomp is noted for its good food and coupled with a spring fed hot swimming pool and hot springs at the side of the river, it was a nice and relaxing time. We stopped in McKay Idaho on Sunday morning for breakfast, which took forever, and had a windy hot ride all the way back to Zion.
On November 18th I met DeVern at BMW of Utah , for a ride to Victorville California. We had a quick ride through the Virgin River gorge , and I made it to Mesquite, on even less than fumes, the computer showed no miles left in the tank, but it did not sputter. After putting more gas in the tank than I ever have before, even more than it supposedly holds, and after a brief lunch, we started the ride to Las Vegas and the worst traffic you could imagine, it took us 45 minutes in Vegas traffic to go less than about 25 miles, We ended up getting to Victorville, with gaining an hour with pacific time, a little after 8 pm and the room at the La Quinta inn was a welcome site. We had tickets to the Long Beach Motorcycle show on Saturday and also a commitment, and the reason for the trip, at Pink's Hot Dog emporium for 10pm Saturday evening and an annual get together of Long distance riders. I had never been to a motorcycle show and it was slightly over whelming with not only all the vendors but the mass of people. We parked in about a 4 acres parking lot completely filled with motorcycles of every make and description. After that we rode back to Victorville, a mistake and a chance to rest, before heading back to the Los Angeles basin for the get together at Pink's . During these jaunts around LA, we did our share of lane splitting and although I picked up the hang of it, I always was a little daunted by it, which was probably a good thing.
I did not know any of the people we met a Pink's, DeVern from DeVern's long distance riding and several Iron Butt's, about 38 people showed up ,and after having a famous Pink's Hot dog, smothered in chili, and a Lemonade, after DeVern said his good bye's we started the ride back to Victorville, We arrived at the La Quinta about 1 am in the morning and were on the road for the ride back to Salt Lake by 8 am.
DeVern is an easy person to travel with; I hope he says the same about me, and after 27 years we have ridden thousand of miles together. The tank on his K1300GT is larger than on my bike, but he was very good about filing up on my timetable rather than his. It got cold, once we were in Utah on that Sunday morning and I was glad to have my heated gear, seat and heated grips.
I am pleased with the bike and its touring potential and have a lot more trips planned for 2017. I purchased some Hebco Becker hard bags for the bike, and also to accommodate the bag on the exhaust side, I purchased a new exhaust system and up graded the lighting on the bike by buying LED lights for all the turn indicators. I can't wait to take my first trip next spring.

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