travel – Page 2 – Sisyphus and Associates

2024 Red Rock Canyons Spring Ramble: Ride, Camp, Repeat

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, a proverbial phrase fittingly describes the writer’s extensive desert adventure. Facing wintry challenges, they embarked on a meticulous journey, blending familiarity with the unfamiliar for an enriched experience. From Red Rock Canyon State Park in California to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada, the trip featured unique geological landmarks, encounters with motorcycling enthusiasts, and unexpected surprises along the way. Amidst the landscapes, historical sites, and wildlife encounters, the narrative captures the essence of exploration, camaraderie, and personal reflection. Reflecting on both the joy of seasoned travel and the allure of venturing into the unknown, the writer shares their aspiration for a future adventure, blending nature’s diverse offerings and the prospect of new companionship.

The content provides insights into the challenges and pleasures of the extensive desert trip, offering a captivating blend of personal experiences, historical references, and geographic details.

April 7 – 12

**Red Rock Canyon State Park, Kern County, CA**

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” is a common saying that originated from a Chinese proverb. The quotation is from Chapter 64 of the Dao De Jing ascribed to Laozi, although it is also erroneously ascribed to his contemporary Confucius. (Thanks Wiki…)

This saying teaches that even the longest and most difficult ventures have a starting point; something which begins with one first step.

This spring’s first step took place as the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas, 2023) following Austin Bound, Austin Nevada That Is, launched me into planning our next winter/spring desert adventure. Winter’s heavy snowpack was still blocking the familiar Ebbitts, CA-4/Monitor, CA-78, Sonora, CA-108, Tioga, CA-120, and Sherman Pass Rd, Forest Rte 22S05, all passes we’ve taken from our home in the Central Valley of California to cross the mighty Sierra. Late winter/early spring storms threatened closing our more familiar southern routes including Alta Sierra, CA-155, and Walker Pas, CA-178. Tehachapi, CA-58 would only be considered in desperation to avoid defeat.

Timing, as they say, was everything. Variables informing my route planning included setting a week’s worth of time for a journey of a thousand miles with calendar approvals from the invitees, a cautious eye to 15 day weather forecasts, securing what has become the nuisance of a campsite reservation (given our age induced entitlement, we don’t boondock), and deciding what new features of riding, camping, and repeating would make this spring trip to the Mojave different from those of the past.

I’ve always wanted to compare California’s Red Rock Canyon State Park to Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Note that there are “Red Rock Canyons” in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, perhaps multiple-named features in each state and probably anywhere else there’s oxidized iron in the soil through which a river once flowed. Laozi would be proud of narrowing the scope of our journey of a thousand miles to just two red rock canyons in two states.

This tour’s invitees included Pete and Andy. Pete was “from-the-get-go” a go after prodding him to actually look at a calendar and check in with his partner Cheryl to clear seven days. Andy was crickets until two days before our planned departure after indicating he’d be available after his wife Toni’s birthday in early March. But he bowed out due to an odd impairment from dragging baggage in Guatemala. That’s an excuse for the books…

If you have followed the exploits of Sisyphusdw7.com, then you are familiar with Pete and Andy. Pete rides a Suzuki V-Strom and Andy sports a Moto Guzzi Norge while I mount on a Moto Guzzi V85-TT. You’ll also be familiar with Andy’s absence on all but one trip, Riding Under a Fool Moon, and Pete’s perfect attendance on each moto adventure I’ve chronicled on Sisyphusdw7.com since its inception in 2016. Next time, eh Andy?

Click the links of the daily headings to see the route maps.

Day 1, Merced to Red Rock Canyon State Park

The first leg of the journey of a thousand miles began at our usual meeting place, the Chevron station on G St and Yosemite Ave in Merced. There happened to be four fellow bicycle riders who were meeting for a Sunday morning ride when I arrived to meet Pete. Loaded and ready for rambling, as is often the case describing our plan to our cycling friends, a faraway look in the eyes of one of the bicyclists was punctuated by, “I wanna go! I wanna go!”

This first step of the journey included some 200 miles through the San Joaquin Valley floor skirting farming communities of Dos Palos, Firebaugh, Mendota, Tranquility, Lemoore, Corcoran, Allensworth, and Wasco. We even passed near the community of Neufeld, perhaps named for members of Andy’s farming lineage. Passing by Corcoran, a lake called “Pa’ashi” by the indigenous Tachi Yokut tribe, that had disappeared 130 years ago from California largely by way of the diversion of the Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern Rivers for irrigation and to a lesser extent, periodic drought, and now, after a series of severe weather events in 2023, the lake had returned.

Images from NASA’s Aqua satellite orbiting the earth show the progression of flooding in the Tulare Lake Basin from March 2 through April 28, 2023

As a result of mitigation by stakeholder groups, the lake is now receding. What may also be receding are dreams of high speed rail in California as funding of the controversial project is questioned. Below is a drone image courtesy of hsr.ca.gov taken near Wasco in the southern San Joaquin Valley where the viaduct is being constructed to raise the rail-bed above potential flooding.

**Could this become the high speed rail to nowhere?**

Leaving the valley, we traveled another 100 miles through the pump-jacks of the Kern River Oilfield, along the outskirts of Oildale, through the Kern River Hart Memorial Park, and then meandering through the Kern River Canyon past Lake Isabella, over Walker Pass on CA-178, to south on CA-14, all en route to our first campsite at Red Rock Canyon State Park. The California version of a Red Rock Canyon.

**These images are within a mile of one another, the Kern Oilfield and Kern River-Hart Memorial Park. You decide which is which…**

Many of the pump-jacks appeared to be new and they were dipping and rising en masse in what must be the expression of how us ‘Meri”can”s have nearly achieved oil independence. Who needs high speed rail when up through the ground comes a bubblin’ crude? Just in case, I’m joking. Though I ride a fossil fuel consuming motorbike, I support alternatives for mass and individual transit (high speed rail and bicycles) that don’t entirely depend on the crude.

The Kern River Oil Field covers an area of 10,750 acres (43.5 km^2) in a rough oval extending over the low hills north-northeast of Bakersfield, in the lower Sierra foothills, hills which are now almost completely barren except for oil rigs, drilling pads and associated equipment. This area is the densest operational oil development in the state of California: Midway-Sunset southeast of the Kern River oilfield, which has more wells, is almost three times as large in surface area, for a lower overall density.

There are others, like the McKittrick fields I’ve featured in a previous Super Bloom post. Yielding a cumulative production of close to 2 billion barrels (320,000,000 m^3) of oil by the end of 2006, it is the third largest oil field in California, after the Midway-Sunset Oil Field and the Wilmington Oil Field, and the fifth largest in the United States. Its estimated remaining reserves, as of the end of 2006, were around 476 million barrels (75,700,000 m^3), the second largest in the state. It had 9,183 active wells, the second highest in the state. The principal operator on the field is Chevron Corporation. (Thanks Wiki…)

The contrast between the verdant ag lands of the valley floor and the desolate oilfield, from which the last barrels of carbon were being extracted, is striking. For a detailed history and updated production figures, check out: Kern River Oilfield. Our impact on the environment for feeding our civilization is fragile when you consider that as few as 150 years ago the indigenous peoples of the region lived in relative harmony with nature.

The temperatures were just right until we began climbing up to Lake Isabella. Clouds and a passing cold front made for a chilly section of CA-178, the Kern Canyon Road. Along with a couple of “Roadwork Ahead”, “Prepare to Stop” signages as two lanes merged into a single lane, a chilling scene unfolded as we came upon a motorcyclist who was writhing on the road having apparently been thrown from his bike that was lying against the canyon wall some hundreds of yards away…

Be careful out there… (Pardon the expletive), with the Steve Miller Band, Further On Up the Road

Once we made it to the divided four lane portion of CA-178 as we approached Lake Isabella we experienced a brief respite from the twisty canyon road traffic traveling down the Kern River Valley with a lunch stop at The 178 Bar and Grill.

**In moto parlance, I believe this gallimaufry would be called a one into four…**

The sun broke through the clouds and we enjoyed a little thermal respite besides that transmitted through heated grips on the motos. It’s always a challenge to insulate against the cold and heat when moving from one elevation/climate zone into another, namely the Sierra to the Mojave, regardless of the season. Passing through the small lakeside communities of South Lake and Waldon, we then passed through the more rural agricultural communities of Onyx and Canebrake. It’s there we began the climb over Walker Pass (el. 5250 ft) where, coincidentally, the Pacific Crest Trail intersects.

The pass was charted as a route through the Sierra in 1834 by Joseph Rutherford Walker, a member of the Bonneville Expedition who learned of it from Native Americans. Walker returned through the pass in 1843, leading an immigrant wagon train into California. In 1845 the military surveying expedition of John C. Fremont used the pass. He suggested it be named after Walker. Walker Pass was used in 1861 by cattlemen from the San Joaquin Valley and the Tejon region of the Tehachapi mountains to drive cattle to the silver boomtown of Aurora near Mono Lake. Aside from the paved road, the pass is essentially unaltered since Walker mapped it in 1834. (Thanks Wiki…)

Join Sisyphus with Dwight Yoakam and Neil Young on a hyper-ramble over Walker Pass

The view from Walker Pass to the vast expanse of the Mojave desert is stunning.

At the intersection of CA-178 and CA-14 we headed south, arriving at Red Rock Canyon State Park in just a few minutes. This state park has no reservation campsites, however, each site has a table, potable water and pit toilets are available, some even open air stalls! There is a fee that we paid, including a $2 senior discount and our reasoning that since a second vehicle added $6, our two 2-wheeled motos were the equivalent of a 4-wheeled vehicle requiring no additional fee. Having no pen or pencil we left the envelope in the drop box (duh) keeping the tag just in case a friendly ranger or maintenance worker checked in with us suspecting turnstile jumping dirtbag motorcyclists.

**The campsite at Red Rocks State Park in eastern Kern County**

The area was once home to the Kawaiisu people. Some petroglyphs and pictographs are found in the El Paso Mountains and represent ritual sites from ancestors of the Coso people were early indigenous inhabitants of this locale. They created extensive carvings in rock within the El Paso and neighboring mountains of Red Rock Canyon and conducted considerable trade with other tribes as far as the Chumash on the Pacific coast.

The colorful rock formations in the park served as landmarks during the early 1870s for 20-mule team freight wagons that stopped for water. The park protects significant paleontology sites and the remains of 1890s-era mining operations.

Providing several unique, dramatic areas, and close to Los Angeles, since the 1930s Hollywood has frequently filmed at Red Rock Canyon, including motion pictures, television series, advertisements, and music videos. (Thanks Wiki…)

And of course, here’s one of my very favorite programs filmed in the Red Rock Canyon State Park, Huell Howser’s Golden Parks episode

A blustery welcome to our first night campsite on the Red Rock Canyons Ramble…

**Pete’s selfie-ish photo that might have broken the internet if only he had social media…**

The nearest provisions were at the Jawbone Canyon Store, whose motto is, “Let them eat dirt!” around 7 miles further south on CA-14. That is where we thought we were going to get our dinner and 3R’s beverages after setting up camp. By then the wind was howling out of the south. When we arrived at the store that is popular among the ORV crowd around 5:30 pm, on this Sunday, the store was closed, so I guess, eating dirt was our option.

A quick search of Google Maps indicated that California City, about 14 miles further south, appeared to be a settlement of some consequence, so off we went battling sidewinds as the sun began to hug the western horizon.

After fueling up, procuring our favorite beverages, along with a bag of Fritos and a bundle of firewood at the One Stop Market, apparently in the midst of billion dollar lottery fever given the size of the crowd buying quick-picks, we headed back to camp after a 340 mile day. Fritos would have to do as our hearty lunch in Lake Isabella would sustain us…

Day 2, Red Rock Canyon State Park to Shoshone

Twas a bit windy through the night, however as the sun arose on Monday morning, the wind had settled down.

Good Morning Red Rock Canyon State Park

Neither Pete nor I are paleontologists, but are both fans of the Flintstones. We agreed we had found the remains of *stegosaurus rubrum*…

**There are some rocks worthy of being described as red…**

A shorter day by ~100 miles lay ahead as we planned to sprint south on CA-14 to Redrock-Randsburg Rd en route to dawdle a bit in Randsburg on our way across Death Valley to Shoshone, one of our favorite stops.

Randsburg California, or Rand Mining District as it is also known, is considered to be a “Living Ghost Town”. Holding on to the very brink of existence, this small mining community is located in the Northern Mojave. Outdoor recreation booms here: ATV, dirt bikes, 4x4s, motorcyclists. RVers & car clubs are welcomed. Weekends can be busy with tourists, local horsemen & desert dirt boys, but on week days you’ll have the place to yourself. An old fashioned soda fountain at the general store & a real old west saloon, hours vary with season. The Joint is the local bar. Randsburg is a great place for interesting desert photography. (Thanks to the Randsburg.com website, the domain for which is 4-sale)

It was around 9:00 am on a Monday morning and in spite of the promotion about how people are dying to go to Randsburg, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Wait, there was a dog barking at us from afar. We did pretty much have the place to ourselves except for a couple of local spirits.

Pete was intrigued and wondered how much was that little Yamaha in the window. The Bulltaco was probably a better deal…

**Is that an apparition appearing in the photo?**

Next we were off to Trona on, what else but, Trona Rd and our favorite Trona cafe, Esparza’s for breakfast. You could consider that Exparza’s has a lakeside location. Except for the fact it’s Searles Lake. What the restaurant lacked by way of a view was more than compensated by the delicious fish tacos. I only hope they weren’t fresh from Searles Lake…

**Eclipse? What eclipse?** **I’m here for the tacos**…

From there it was off to Death Valley via Trona-Wildrose Rd with a tailwind for a change. At the intersection of the Wildrose entrance to the park and the CA-190 Townes Pass entrance, there appeared a sign warning against the faint-of-heart tackling that route. We came upon a couple who we speculated were on rented Harleys, harleying their way to Death Valley, in full Haley regalia; riveted black leather jackets with fringe and matching chaps, hers with fringe, the chap’s, fringeless. They came to a sudden and mildly confused appearing stop as we approached at customary cruising speed on those long lonesome straightaways, safely under 100 mph. We passed, losing their tableau in the rear view mirror. I hope they chose well. It would be sad if they suffered like those bleached Randsburians…

Right on CA-190 and the first real “super-bloom” was evident.

Geraea canescens, commonly known as desert sunflower, hairy desert sunflower, or desert gold, is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae that was showing off. Telescope Peak from the west, sporting some late spring snow, is still feeding Lake Manley on its eastern flank.

Death Valley was in the very pleasant mid-60’s when we arrived in Furnace Creek for a fuel stop. Ill Mio Rosso likes expensive stuff. Pete’s V-Strom uses the budget stuff.

**Yikes! The downside of supply and demand**…

We contemplated taking CA-190 to Death Valley Junction, then CA-127 south to Shoshone. But, seeing an actual Lake Manley in Badwater was something worth the slightly added distance, heat, and traffic.

Channeling Ansel Adams, Pete busied himself composing a photo of the Seldom Seen Lake Maley as we pealed away layers of insulation.

It’s sometimes hard to capture the scale of the vastness of terrain, especially that of Death Valley. Below is Telescope Peak from the east at 11.049 feet taken from 282 feet below sea level at Badwater with Manley Lake in middle-ish ground.

**The remains of Lake Manley’s source topping Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range**

In no time we made our way on Badwater Rd to Jubilee Pass Rd, the continuation of CA-178 to CA-127 then south to The Shoshone Trailer RV Park. I’ve noted that Shoshone is one of our favorite destinations. The campground is perfect, the Crowbar has the best eats east of Trona and the Chas Brown Market can provide for all occasions including offering a geode for $2800. If I had space for it on the Guzzi, well, maybe. We settled on procuring beverages for the 3-R’s. I’ll ask my grandaughter how to take a selfie without looking at your trigger finger… The lens needs some attention.

Day 3, Shoshone to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Good Morning Shoshone!

**Aerial view of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas, Nevada, looking northeast** (Thanks Wiki…)

A short 86 miles to our next destination, the Nevada version of a Red Rock Canyon, commenced by heading east on the Old Spanish Trail Hwy. We soon learned there was no breakfast to be found until we reached Blue Diamond the nearest community serving the National Conservation Area. The community includes a park, private pool, library, elementary school, event hall, church, and a mercantile/gas station. The mercantile (general store) was built in 1942 and originally sold household staples and sundries to residents who were mostly miners at the Blue Diamond Mine. The store has maintained its original external look. Walls inside the store showcase many of the town’s historical photos, courtesy of the Blue Diamond Historical Society, an all-volunteer organization.

Cottonwood Station is a local scenic eatery in the historic village of Blue Diamond, minutes from Las Vegas. Near Red Rock Canyon and Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, Blue Diamond attracts many hikers, mountain bike riders, road cyclists, and guys on motorcycles, like us. There was, to our surprise, a large upscale Trek store next to the eatery. Drop by the Cottonwood Station for a latte while waiting for the wrenchers to adjust your electronic shifters and hydraulic brakes I reckon…

**The breakfast pizza was killer! Pete still searching for the eclipse…**

From Blue Diamond it was just a few miles to our campsite in the Red Rock Canyon NCA. After procuring a couple of whistle wetters at the Blue Diamond Market where the cashier shared that they would be closed by 5:00 because the owner didn’t want to pay her until 8:30, her preferred closing time, we strategized our dinner plans that would follow a tour of the Red Rock Canyon Loop. But first, a couple of whistle-wetters.

Onward to the Campground… with Sheryl Crow

**Electrolyte replacement is very important**

Didn’t make it to Las Vegas so we didn’t need to leave. But, life was so bright on a Tuesday afternoon…

Dropping off our gear and setting up our tents, we headed for the park. We passed through an entrance station that boldly displayed a sign indicating reservations were required to enter the scenic loop through the canyon. I noted to the attendant that we had a campground reservation to which she replied that wasn’t enough. So, in my best, “You can’t possibly deny us entry into this fine geological feature of Nevada that would have to take second place to the okay geological feature of California that wasn’t even red if we cannot enter to determine its superiority” plea.

She asked if I had a park pass. I whipped out my National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass and with that she said, “That’s two dollars.” and waved me through.

Nearly speechless, I thanked her, pressed once forward on my shift lever and moved to allow Pete to pass through. When he pulled up next to me he said that he had just paid $10 to get into the park. I later consoled him by acknowledging that his additional $8 contribution to the National Conservation Area helped to support the tricked out bicycle repair station that was installed in one of the turnouts. I assured him it was less than the latte back in Blue Diamond that he was supporting the people’s repair stand.

**Still smarting having been fleeced out of $8 by the Feds**

Always eager to make new acquaintances, I met Marlon Ma of Wu Tang Chinese Martial Arts Institute. He approached us admiring Ill Mio Rosso Bela, which, by the way, gets noticed far more than Pete’s V-Strom these days. When Pete first toured on his Triumph T120, my little Kawasexy Versys was hardly noticed despite its candy orange color scheme with matching panniers and drybags. It seems that everyone we would meet would get all misty-eyed recalling their love affair with a Triumph from yesteryear. No longer do we see misty-eyes but eyes of wonder and bewilderment as curiosity is voiced, “What’s a Moto Guzzi?”

**A new friend Marlon, a Wu Tang master**

Marlon was a sport bike guy who also owned a BMW and a Harley. I wasn’t going to hold that against him after I requested and he obligingly shared his first stance and move when encountering a foe that was in every way, vintage Bruce Lee. Marlon no longer lived in New York where he founded the Wu Tang Institute. He now lives in Las Vegas where, coincidentally, the Wu-Tang Clan can be found in their historic, first-ever Las Vegas residency, at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vega Rolling Stone Wu-Tang Residency.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Loop with Donald Fagin and Walter Becker

After moseying through the park loop, we made our way into Angel Park Ranch, a tony North Las Vegas zip code and found an Albertson’s to procure the evening victuals and, of course, the 3R beverages that would complement the grub as the relaxation, rehydration, and reflection hours awaiting.

**Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area campground**

**Our evening stroll took us to new heights**

Descending the hillside, we ambled through the campground coming upon what appeared to be a tent worthy of gale force winds. Indeed, the gentleman who excitedly shared his tupik said that since he often camped in windy deserts, he found this Swedish Expedition Tent to be ideal. It was designed to withstand winds up to 70 mph. Though it looked somewhat complicated, he said it was a snap to set up. He had a luxurious mattress that covered the entire floor! No blustery tent flapping, rocky floor night’s sleep for this fellow. I guess he could have slept in his van, but if you’ve got a Hilleberg Tara why would you?

A man, a tent, not just any tent, a *Hilleberg Tara*, and pride…

In the distance we could hear jet fighter aircraft, ostensibly from Nellis Air Force Base just a few miles to our east. As night fell, the maneuvering jets quieted having practiced their tactics, we kindled a fire and reflected as we relaxed and rehydrated viewing Jupiter and the waxing crescent moon.

On the western horizon, **Jupiter and the waning crescent moon**

To the east, the bright lights of Lost Wages

Good Morning Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area!

Day 4, Red Rock Canyon to Caliente, NV

*A fellow motorcyclist sharing stories over coffee. That lens needs attention again..*

We’re accustomed to the sound of military aircraft doing tactical maneuvers as the former Castle Air Force Base is located near our hometown in Merced. The one-time Atwater Air Force installation was home to the U.S. Strategic Air Command, a part of America’s Cold War nuclear triangle. For a time a fighter squadron occupied the base too. With the base closure in 1995 the Strategic Air Command picked up and flew the coop. Nowadays there is a commercial pilot training facility, the Castle Air Museum, UC Merced facilities, the U.S. Penitentiary Atwater, along with other portions leased to Google for development of self-driving technologies (known as Waymo), the County Animal Shelter, and a few local businesses including a brewery, The Tarmac. The fighter jet scream was familiar.

We made our way east through North Las Vegas on NV-604, avoiding I-15, skirting the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Nellis Air Force Base, home of the USAF Thunderbirds. As noted, all the previous afternoon into the night and the following morning we heard the distant thunder of aircraft, most likely fighter jets, perhaps even the Thunderbirds, working on maneuvers, tactical or otherwise…

Satisfying our machine’s thirst for fuel, we decided to save time and look to the Loves Fueling Center store to select a “delightful” Loves Fueling Center breakfast that we ended up eating in a dog park. Rushing through a fruit cup and blueberry yogurt, we then headed up US-93, the Great Basin Highway, to our next destination the Kershaw-Ryan State Park near Caliente, Nevada.

Back when considering the route, searching maps on the interwebs, taking those first steps on this journey of a thousand miles, I happened upon an Atlas Obscura Article about an interesting property next to the Western Elite Landfill that serves Las Vegas. It’s known as RyanHenge. This Stonehenge-inspired solar calendar stands alongside a landfill, in the middle of the Nevada desert. Along with the replica of the ancient Neolithic henge monument in Wiltshire, England with a twist, can be found beautifully restored rail cars once used by Teddy Roosevelt, Annie Oakley, and Wild Bill Cody. There are other vintage vehicles and an interesting collection of animals at the site, including a camel.

Arriving at our campground at the Kershaw-Ryan State Park, yet another novel feature of this ride of the familiar and the unique satisfied, we were disappointed to find our reserved campsite was occupied by a monster motorhome of the lumbering mastodon sort. We knocked about trying to find a ranger and searched for an alternative site checking to see if any of the reservation tags indicated a vacancy for the night. Finally, we did see that the Ranger’s vehicle was at the entrance and so it was fitting to tell him the tale of our misfortune. It all began with a faulty 404 error on the Nevada State Parks Reservation system…

Situated in a colorful canyon, with towering walls up to 700 feet high and a long, verdant valley in between, Kershaw-Ryan State Park is an oasis in the desert, a sharp contrast to the rugged landscape that surrounds it. Natural springs grow a garden of wild grapevines, white oaks, fruit trees and willows, and a spring-fed pond provides a refreshing children’s wading pool. It is not unusual to see wild horses, deer, and other wildlife come to the water. (From the KRSP website that worked…)

Back in early March I was unable to make the reservation on-line due to a glitch on the Nevada State Parks Reservation website. So I called the Parks HQ in Carson City making the reservation over the phone. The delightful parks employee I spoke with assured me that she would send a confirmation email for the site, post haste. Two days later no such email had appeared. I checked the spam folder: nada. I called back to get a different parks employee at the Carson City office who said that her computer was down (hmmm) but that she would check and resend the reservation confirmation by way of email. Just in case, I requested the site and confirmation numbers from her. A few moments later, she gave me the site number, 10. I never received that promised confirmation but my credit card had been charged. I figured that was good enough.

I explained all of this to the very helpful Ranger Evan who was on a Zoom meeting but happily left the call to check his records. I had arranged for one night at the campground. He shared his paper reservation roster that indicated that I had reserved a primitive campsite for 6 days. What-what?! He thought that unusual since they never reserved primitive sites, they were on a first-come first camp basis and besides the fee charged was $60 instead of the $10 single night fee. I was actually charged $25. What-what?!

The remedy was that he handed us the reservation list and said that several sites were available for the night that were reserved for the next couple of nights. He wink-wink, nod-nodded us commenting on the frequency of glitches on the Nevada State Parks Reservation system. He was of the opinion that a cheaper, less robust system was purchased by the State and that was the cause of all of the errors. Alas, a campsite would be found, tents would be pitched, and we would head into Caliente for dinner and 3-R’s provisions.

**Take your pick of any of the empty campsites…**

**Found one next to the donation based fire wood shack…**

Just as we departed the entrance shack with roster in hand to select our homestead for the night, an interesting “conversation” piece rolled up, right out of the Black Rock Playa… When I stepped up to the pick-up towing this unique trailer, I inquired, “That’s quite the conversation piece ya have there,” to which a passenger replied, “So you wanna have a conversation?” with a British accent.

**Montana Slim’s Traveling Robot Orphanage**…

If there’s something that looks a little familiar about this aircraft converted into a Traveling Robot Orphanage by Montana Slim, well look no further…

Amelia Earhart disappeared over the South Pacific in a Lockeed Model 10 Electra. Montana Slim’s plane is a Beechcraft Model 18. Though they look alike, there were only 149 Lockheed Model 10 Electras made primarily in the 1930’s. There were 9,000+ Beechcraft Model 18 manufactured from 1937 – 1970. (Thanks for the checked facts Wiki…)

*Montana Slims Traveling Robot Orphanage* makes a stop at the *Amargosa Hotel* and the *Angels Ladies* brothel just north of the famous hotel.

The plane that’s full of graffiti at the brothel is the same plane as Montana Slim’s a.k.a. Sean Gurrero, a Beechcraft C-18. Check out artist Sean Gurrero’s work:

Montana Slim, aka Sean Gurrero or @seangurreroart Instagram

After a fine dinner at The Side Track Restaurant in the rail town of Caliente, Nevada, a charming and remote ciudad pequeña in the Great Basin of Nevada, we took a quick tour of the burgh as we made our way back to our campsite. We came upon a restored/updated motel Pete had stayed in some decades ago, formerly the Midway Motel, now known as Patty’s Motel. We met the proprietor, Patty, who seemed quite cordial inviting us to check out the venue.

We declined Patty’s invitation to stay as we were camping, however, this property is on the checklist for our next Nevada ramble! Mixing a little of the new with the familiar, I say…

Another evening around the campfire, relaxing, reflecting, rehydrating and knowing our skies are safe! True to the labyrinth in RyanHenge, Life is Good!

Day 5, Caliente to Panamint Springs

**A corvid friend greeting the new day…**

Another gas station fuel-up at Dino’s Sinclair for the bike and a breakfast of cranberry juice and a Kind Bar for the pilot began the long 350 miles across what would be increasingly warm, from the mild spring weather we had thus far enjoyed, speedfest across Nevada.

**I would love to have a Sinclair Dino for my grandkids to play on in our yard, in our front yard, and for all the kids in the neighborhood.**..

This was to have been our longest day, riding some 350 miles from Caliente on the Extraterrestrial Highway, NV-375, through Rachel dropping by the Little A’Le’Inn for a whistle wetting ginger ale and to drop off the morning rental coffee.

From Rachel it was on to Warm Springs on US-6, then to Tonopah where at a stop at the Beans and Brews Coffee House for a turkey croissant samie and RedBull light, we met a fellow on a well traveled DR 650 Suzuki who had made it from Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina to Tonopah on an epic ramble. Except for shipping his bike from Brazil to San Diego skipping the Darién Gap, he was on a circuitous route back to his home in Salt Lake City after months on the road. He was by all accounts road weary, but given his youthfulness and efficient looking rig, I’m sure the final miles to Salt Lake City would be a fly by.

From Tonopah it was down US-95 through Goldfield, past the shuttered Angel’s Ladies Brothel outside of Beatty.

The Interesting Case Of The Abandoned Aircraft And The Brothel

Angel’s Ladies was a 5,000-square-foot legal brothel situated on a 70-acre ranch which was located three miles north of Beatty, Nevada. It was known as Fran’s Star Ranch until it was renamed Angel’s Ladies in 1997 after being purchased by Mack and Angel Moore. It has been closed since August 2014. Prior to the 1970s, the brothel had been known variously as Circle C Ranch and Vickie’s Star Ranch. On May 28, 1977, an accident during a promotional stunt on the property resulted in the crash of a twin-engined light aircraft. The wreck has been located next to the brothel’s billboard ever since, and used as a spectacle to attract customers from the road. Mack Moore attempted to sell Angel’s Ladies in 2007, but ended up taking it over again two years later as a result of foreclosure. He subsequently sold the business again in 2010, this time for $1.8 million, and continued to run it as a leaseholder. On 10 August 2014 he retired and closed the business. (Thanks Wiki…)

I digress. Then it was west through Rhyolite (see Sisyphus and Associates Tour Rhyolite) and Daylight Pass Road into Death Valley with a quick stop in Stovepipe Wells to shed some insulation and enjoy a RedBull Light and some conversation with the proud parents of an Australian Cattle Dog, like my very own, SoBe. The trio was traveling in Death Valley from their home near Huntington Lake. I’ve written about rambles through all of the places in this segment of our ramble in previous postings in my Much Ado About Nada website, Sisyphus and Associates if you’d care to check them out. Maybe someday I can bring SoBe along on one of these rambles as a most welcomed associate…

It seems we would be just in time for the hottest part of the day when crossing Death Valley. If it weren’t for the heavy ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time) the mercury nearing the 90 degree mark when we descended into Stovepipe Wells wouldn’t have seemed fifteen degrees warmer. Visions of a cool beverage took the place of the distortion of light by alternate layers of hot and cool air as wishfulness overtook an optical illusion induced mirage…

**That ain’t no mirage… We just got a jumpstart on the 3-R’s**

Since this trip of a thousand miles was a blending of new roads to ramble with some of our favorite, greatest hits destinations, you can’t travel through Death Valley and not stop at Panamint Springs, just outside of the park on CA-190.

Panamint Springs Resort is a small, rustic, western-style, resort located in beautiful Panamint Valley in Death Valley National Park that provides lodging, camping and RV services, a restaurant and bar, and a gas station with a well stocked general store. (Thanks PSR…)

Just as the refreshing beverage was beginning to sate our thirst, a young mom, with a newborn strapped to her by way of a front sling, walked up the steps to the Panamint Store. I had to acknowledge how wonderful it was to see the little one getting exposed to a desert adventure. Only a few weeks old, the proud mom said that she had already been to three national parks! About the same time the woman’s mother walked up and lo and behold the conversation revealed that I began my career teaching with her mother who was at the end of hers. Furthermore, the young mom was the daughter of a rancher I knew back home. So, Kevin Bacon, beat that… two degrees of separation.

Now, I imagine for most people, when the word “resort” is used to describe a setting, this might not be what their imagination congers. I, on the other hand, could not imagine a more fitting word, defined as: a place to which people frequently or generally go for relaxation or pleasure, especially one providing rest and recreation facilities for vacationers. It ain’t the Furnace Creek Inn, but for my money, it’s every bit as satisfying! There could be fewer rocks in the campground, but alas, it’s the desert and what would the desert be without rocks?

**Relaxation, reflection, and rehydration on the menu at the Panamint Springs Resort**

No braying burros or noisy Boy Scouts or laughing religious retreaters from our last stay at the resort keeping us up throughout the night: Panamint Spring 2023

Day 6, Panamint Springs back Home

What was to be either a route to Kernville or Three Rivers adding another night to a sixth day’s travel, was now subject to a brewing spring downpour in the forecast for the following Saturday. So we decided to ride some 360 miles after a longish 350 mile day across Nevada from Panamint Springs back to our homes in Merced on our sixth of seven planned days, Friday.

**Another glorious Panamint Range/Valley sunrise**

We decided to ride like the wind (except it was into the wind) retracing our route back on CA-190 south to Trona for a last breakfast at Esparza’s.

I’ve written in the past about how Pete’s metabolism is remarkable. Pete had eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, biscuits and gravy. My chili verde was superb! I gained weight on the trip. Pete lost weight…

There was no eclipse to regale this day but we did meet a local fellow who was a resident of Trona for some 20+ years. When Pete asked what it was like living in Trona he replied that it was all right, that there wasn’t much to do, and he said that he had “caught cancer” and was in need of chemotherapy, which, not surprisingly, wasn’t available in Trona. We assumed he worked in the mineral extraction business, but who knows, living in Trona on the shores of Searles Lake is perhaps carcinogenic itself. We bid him blessings and the best of luck as we headed south to Ridgecrest.

From Trona not far south on the way to Ridgecrest on CA-178 you’ll find an interesting geological feature, The Fish Rocks.

Passing through Ridgecrest, we hopped on to CA-14 south for a few miles before heading west CA-178 over Walker Pass, a reprisal of our first day’s route of this Red Rock Canyons Ramble. Figuring the pass (el. 5,250 feet) would be a bit nippy, we insulated up. It would be at Hart Lake Memorial Park just north of Bakersfield where we stopped for fuel and swallow a RedBull Light that we de-insulated as the valley temperatures were rising.

Saturday in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July… No, wait, it was Friday, April 12. We were in a park though…

North through Oildale, east to Shafter, north on CA-43 through Myricks Corner, Wasco, Neufeld, Elmo, Pond, Kernell, Allensworth, Angiola, past the Tule River Viaduct, Corcoran, Hamblin/Hanford, zig-zagging by way of the GPS through Caruthers, Raisin City, Rolinda, Kerman, Ripperdan, Parkwood, to the Pilot Travel Center on Ave 18¹/₂ where I pulled over for fuel, but was talked out of it by Pete who was tired of stop signs every couple of miles and traffic backed up due to road construction. It had been slow going and was pretty warm, especially having to stop-and-go on several segments of the route.

I had just about enough fuel to make it home and so he compelled me to jump on CA-99, against my better judgment and where at the CA-152 and Hwy 99 exchange we were nearly run off the road by an indecisive cager who did a multi-lane change confused by the left lane exit to Los Banos and the through route north on CA-99, cutting us off and driving us to the shoulder of the road.

At that point, Pete led us to the LeGrand exit where we once again zig-zagged merrily on county roads with little traffic the rest of the way to the security and comfort of our family, pets, and homes.

Epilogue

I began this post by acknowledging that a journey of a thousand (and 212±) miles starts with the first step. For me the first step is in imagining how I might recreate the cheer and satisfaction achieved on all of the other rides I’ve chronicled while recognizing that the balance of the familiar with the unknown and how it brings the greatest ROI. I guess that as a geezer, I enjoy seasoning travel with a sprinkle of sentiment being careful not to overdo it by marinating in nostalgia.

At the same time, I reckon I’ve lost the desire to just hang it all out there and come what may, ride with abandon as I know it’s tougher to assemble a coherent narrative without taking the time to immerse in the adventure. Since on most of these rides, despite being retired and relatively free to ramble, the calendar no longer waits for procrastination or indecision. Hence, we return to the familiar to glean from the present what we overlooked in the past. As for the unknown, there’s always satisfying our curiosity with the novel, offbeat, unique, or strange. Take for instance RyanHenge or Montana Slim’s Traveling Robot Orphanage, not something you come across on a given day.

And as the calendar waits for no hesitation to plan the next moto adventure or my increasingly fidgety travel lust only marginally deteriorating with the specter of another night in a rocky, blustery, and frigid campsite or a smoke filled, sweltering, torturous lonesome highway, I can’t wait to begin planning the next, and perhaps, most epic ride. I think the next one will head north as spring meanders toward summer and where a volcano or two, some redwoods and rivers, and maybe a “popularly priced” motel populates the route. Maybe the forest floor duff will erase the memory of a stoney desert floor and we’ll hybridize our accommodations on this next foray.

As always, stay tuned for Sisyphus and his Associates next episode. Hey, just drop a line if you’d like to join us…

Cheers!

No Italics Necessary: The Tour de Life – A Tribute to Our Dear Friend, Larry Johnston

When We Were Younger: Recap Tour de Ute, 1997

I’ve decided to continue the tribute to Larry in both his words from the itineraries he provided pre-ride and my commentary when synapses are activated to recall my personal experience as the ride unfolded.

Tour de Ute 1997

The Burr Canyon

August 12 – 17 1997 4.5 days cycling L-R Larry Johnston, Lance Vaughn, Chuck Satterfield, Don Lundberg, Chuck Thuot, Richard Vaughn, Glen Rothell, John Holbeck, *Coucou, c’est moi !*, and Ron Burien (taking the photo)

In this first episode of Part 2, I’m going to use Larry’s detailed itinerary that follows and that we all received prior to the ride. I only hope the correspondence that Larry and I had prior and post ride are in some box in the garage that my wife insists that I toss. These notes are postmarked 25 Mar 1997, Mojave, CA.

Tour De Ute “Toor do ü-tay”

When: August 12-17 1997 (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday); 4.5 days cycling.

Where: Across Utah State beginning at Uvada (about 150 miles northeast of Las Vegas), ending at the Utah-Colorado border near Hovenweep National Monument. Best map: “Indian Country” by AAA. [ed. note: maps were those origami paper things that preceded GPS]

Sag Vehicles: Glen’s Suburban, John’s Tundra

Day 1: Travel to Panaca, Nevada for 1:00pm rendezvous; proceed east in sags on Hwy 319 to NV-UT border at Uvada (el. 5,500’±) and ride via Hwy 56 to Cedar City (el. 5,600′). Stay that night at the Super 8 (#30± per person). Distance: 58 miles

Larry engaging a Ranger. He had a penchant for natural history and blond rangers.

Day 2: Ride Hwy 14 east and up, up, up to Midway Summit (el.9,896′) – a definite “Vaug-han”. Check out nearby Cedar Breaks National Monument. Proceed down then up to Long Valley Junction (el. 7,900’±). Turn North on Hwy 89 to Hwy 12. Ride east on Hwy 12 through the tunnels, over the “summit” (el.7,619) to Bryce near Bryce Canyon National Park – stay that night at the $30±/person Fosters Motel (you know, Al Foster’s place). Distance: 70 miles (don’t you love it?). Terrain: Big climbs, big descents; watch out for tourists.

Day 3: Follow Hwy 12 east and north through Escalante and the new national park to Boulder (el. 5,000′?). Stay at Pole’s Place$25±/person. Distance: 72 miles (don’t you love it even more?). Terrain: Up and down and all around; time to play…

Day 4: A short cut’s in store, who could ask for more? Ride east from Boulder on the “Burr Trail” and shuttle the 20± miles through Capital Reef National Park. Ride south to the ferry at Bullfrog Basin; swim or take the ferry across Lake Powell ($9/car – free/swim) before heading east on Hwy 276 where the day’s adventure can end at Hwy 95. Shuttle northwest on Hwy 95 to the only place to stay for miles, the Fry Canyon Lodge (it’s near Natural Bridges Monument); maybe $40+ a piece… it ain’t cheap. Distance: 103 miles not counting the shuttles and ferry; bring paddles/swim suit. Terrain: the Lake Powell crossing will be flat.

“Some parts of ALL the rides leave edible memories, but that morning in Utah riding with you (…we were first out together) when we both dropped in to the entrance of that canyon on the Burr Trail was, for me anyway, perhaps the most ‘spiritual’ moment I’ve ever known in a wilderness setting (… and that’s after traveling on all 7 continents). At that moment I felt like I shouldn’t even speak so as to not desecrate experience. I remember us stopping and observing with profound awe at our stunning surroundings without a word be said between us…. thanks for being there !!” Chuck Thuot from a conversation prior to his passing…

Day 5: Spin 12 easy miles back to Hwy 276 and continue east on Hwy 95 past the Natural Bridges cutoff (Hwy 275), the Mule Canyon Ruins, the Arch Canyon Ruins, and the Butler Wash Ruins to Hwy 191 at Blue Mountain (el. 6000’± just south of Blanding. Take Hwy 191 south to White Mesa. Turn left (east) on Hwy 262 for a while (9± miles) then take the road that leads to Hovenweep National Monument (more ruins) on the UT – CO border. Pack ’em up and head south and west through Monument Valley, Page, and Zion National Park to St. George or thereabouts. Find a place to stay… Distance: 93 miles, it’s more or less 396 miles total. Terrain: It’s probably all paved… rock and roll, watch out for Navajos.

Day 6: Return to place of origin.

Communication was as important to Larry as the planning and logistics. What follows is an update received postmarked 05 August 1997 Mojave, CA:

All is in a go mode for les Tour! There are 11 participants. The sag vehicles will be provided by John Holbeck (south vehicle) and Glen Rothell (north vehicle). Sag drivers pay no gas.

Logisticas are looking like this:

On Monday the 11th, Lance vaughan will proceed to Waterford from the Bay Area with his bike, John Adam’s bike (John A. please coordinate with Lance on bike transport) and probably Chuck Thuot, but not his bike (Chuck T. may find his own way to Waterford; Chuck, please coordinate with Lance and Richard). They will rendezvous with Richard Vaughan (of “Vaug-han” fame) and Don Lundberg at Richard’s house in Waterford, hopefully around 4 pm.

Leaving Richard’s house at 4:30 pm, they will proceed (with 4 bikes and gear) to Crane Flat where they will meet Glen Rothell and Tom Jones at 6:30 pm. Tom Jones (from Merced) will have earlier joined with Glen Rothell in Mariposa and helped prepare Glen’s Suburban with racks for 8 bikes (Tom and Glen please coordinate departure from Mariposa to be at Crane Flat by 6:30 pm). Richard’s vehicle (or whoever’s) will be left at Crane Flat, all proceeding to Larry Johnston’s house in Mammoth Lakes, arriving around 8:30 pm; all will stay the night at Larry’s house (voulez-vous acouches avec moi?)

On Tuesday the 12th Chuck Satterfield (from Mammoth) will arrive at Larry’s at 5:30 am and join the rest of the north contingent in leaving Mammoth Lakes no later than 6am. Breakfast will be enroute, maybe in Tonopah. The north group will arrive around noon at Panaca, NV. There’s a small restaurant on the southeast corner of the intersection of Hwys 93 and 319. Lunch and rendezvous with the southern contingent will be there.

Meanwhile on Tuesday morning, John Holbeck and Ron Burien will leave (with 3 bikes; John H. will be be bringing a bike for Chuck T. along with extra bike shoes) from Calimesa in time to get to the Las Vegas airport by 9:25 am. This is the time John Adam’s plane arrives from the Bay Area. From Las Vegas, they will proceed to Panaca and meet the north contingent at the restaurant on the corner of Hwys 93 and 319. After lunch all will proceed to the UT border and bike to Cedar City as planned.

The Pine Tree Inn and Bakery, Panaca, NV

There are a couple of notes on the remainder of the trip:

First, the 2nd day’s route will be slightly different. Instead of continuing on Hwy 14 from Cedar City to Long Valley Junction, the route will turn north on Hwy 148 at Midway Summit through Cedar Breaks National Monument and then on Hwy 143 to Panguitch. From there, it will proceed south on Hwy 89 to Hwy 12, then to Bryce.

At Bullfrog Basin (at Lake Powell), the ferry supposedly leaves on the odd hour; 9, 112, 1, etc.

Lodging has been reserved on Saturday the 16th for 11 people at the Best Western Travel Inn in Saint George (Exit #8 from I-15). There will be 3 – 3 bed rooms and 1 – 2 bed room; around $30 per person.

The south and north vehicle people have each been asked to provide a large water container (5+ gallons), bike tools, two ice chests and a floor pump. The south vehicle has been asked to provide an extra set pf wjee;s (one front, one rear). A CB radio will be available for each vehicle at Panaca (via Larry).

For the north vehicle, baggage space will be at a premium; please go light.

Any questions, please call. Au revoir mes amis!

2023 Late Spring: Travels by Land, Sea, and Air

Near the Carrizo Plain on CA-58

Where Has Sisyphus Been? 2023 Late Spring Travels by Land, Sea, and Air the air, on the road, and in the sea…

Following our winter Desert Pilgrimage last reported in a series of posts beginning with https://sisyphusdw7.com/2023/03/01/2023-desert-pilgrimage-day-1-merced-to-three-rivers/, March found Sisyphus and Associates in Atlanta attending the wedding of our dear niece, Rachael. With the arrival of spring the city was enjoying most hospitable weather as blossoms and blooms were emerging and the forest canopies were leafing out.

Mr. and Mrs. Sisyphus, my wife’s sister and her daughter Meg, another lovely niece, enjoyed witnessing the bond consecrated between two splendid young people at The Trolly Barn with an enchanting brick patio surrounded by lush gardens and graceful granite steps where vows were exchanged. The inside of The Trolley Barn with its 30 foot ceiling spanned by the original 1889 beams is where we delighted in meeting other family members and friends of the brides’ in celebration of their nuptial, dancing away the night on a mesquite wood floor at a raucous reception that followed. Raucous (rock-us) in the most courteous manner considering this was the South…

Following the wedding day, the Westies from California joined cousins Margaret Gale and Linda from Colorado, delighting in the hospitality of our hosts, the Floyds. Their beautiful Buckhead home was the scene of a series of late nights savoring family, those of the present and memories of those of the past, with an eye cast to a promising future.

We were there for a week and managed to sample some of Atlanta’s great food and beverage scene at The Lantana Lounge in the Mid-Town Starling Hotel where we stayed the first two nights. The extended families dined at South City Kitchen for a pre-wedding dinner. Later lunches at Serena Pastifico, the Anis Cafe & Bistro, The Treehouse, pizza at Anticas, tacos at Tuza, and and dinner and drinks at Local3 were had in between exploring Buckhead and a stroll through the Atlanta Botanical Garden. And let me not forget to mention the notable meals prepared by my “Sister-Wife,” Lonna, Toni and Ginger’s youngest sister, that were exquisite as we dined in their charming home.

Left to right, Sisters G, T, (Sisyphus), L, and M, G’s daughter, our niece.

Upon returning to Merced from Atlanta signs of spring were bursting out everywhere. Vernal pools in the countryside, tulips, Japanese maples, and camellias in our yard, Mrs. Josephine Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, The Bunny Cake in our home, and fiddlenecks along side of South Bear Creek Drive. All of the evidence was in. Our challenging winter was capitulating to a softer spring.

Since we were scheduled for Maui in May, that left April for Sisyphus to get on the moto, and with Pete, check out what was rumored to be a super-bloom throughout California and parts of the parched West. California had received bountiful precipitation over the winter into the spring causing hardships where flooding took place but nourishing the flora that had suffered consecutive years of drought.

Before and after

Almost to the day, four years ago Pete and I set off in search of the 2019 Super Bloom https://sisyphusdw7.com/2019/04/. Our plan now was to retrace part of that journey to witness the 2024 version of the bounty that water brings to the thirsty hills and dales of California’s central coast, the Mojave, and the Sierra.

Super Bloom 2023

Our son and granddaughter in Antelope Valley in April of 2023

As Pete and I were preparing our route, my son and his family had made their way to see the splendor of the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. That was all I needed to set about planning for five days on the motos on the road.

This would be something of a reprisal of the 2019 Super Bloom Tour, following a familiar route that took us across the Central Coast Range over Panoche Rd, through the foothills of the Gabalan and Santa Lucia ranges to our first night near Cambria. From Cambria it was east bound up and over Mount Pinos in the the Los Padres National Forest and down to into Antelope Valley, Lancaster, to our second night at Saddleback Buttes State Park. Then it was across the Mojave to for our third campout in Shoshone. From Shoshone it was westward back to the Sierra Foothills through Death Valley to our camp in Kernville before returning home along the familiar roads of Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, and Merced Counties: https://go.rever.co/sS8ZMN3OMyb. The route I linked was amended as an exploration here, or a left or right turn there, got us to each night’s planned camp.

Day 1 Cambria

A reunion of sorts took place in Paicines as we made our way through some fog over Panoche Summit. We landed in Cambria where we made our way to The West End Bar and Grill followed by our first night at the Hearst-San Simeon State Park Washburn campground, making new friends along the way.

Our customary route to the coast combines several back roads through the San Joaquin Valley and across the Coast Ranges that I’ve documented many times on previous trips. For this journey we serendipitously encountered three gents on motos, two of whom we met in the spring of 2021 on our trip to Joshua Tree (https://sisyphusdw7.com/2021/04/) at the same little Paicines Store. They were out for a Sunday ride and were debating continuing because it was a tad foggy and they were chilled.

We bid our adieus and continued south on CA-25 riding out of the fog just a few miles down the road near the Pinnacles. Still cool, the warming sun took the frigid sting out of what couldn’t be warmed by the heated grips. The ride into Cambria had us passing through Paso Robles where my wife an I enjoyed some grape and hops tasting last fall. Winter storm damage closed our Santa Rosa Creek back road entry into Cambria, a delightfully narrow two lane road that winds itself through vineyards and oak woodlands that feature valley oaks, blue oaks, coastal live oaks and many more, all interspersed are laurels, madrones, and chaparral including chamise, manzanita, and ceanothus. Grasses are abundant and given the climate, fire is an ever present danger even in a wet year as the long hot summer beckons.

We are apparently creatures of habit as our favorite dining spot in Cambria is the West End Bar and Grill where we re-introduced ourselves to the owner who greeted us on the Moment’s Inattention post from last spring , under considerably less favorable conditions. (https://sisyphusdw7.com/2022/05) Gary, the proprietor, is quite the jovial fellow as one must be as a pub owner.

As a feature of the Three R’s of Moto Touring: Rehydration, Reflexion, and Relaxation, we found ourselves taking our customary evening stroll through the campground since riding a motorcycle all day requires at least some movement. We came across an interesting character who had to share her story of wanderlust. A bit eccentric and perhaps a bit lonely, she regaled us with the tale of her teardrop towed behind a Camry, both completely filled with what must be her worldly possessions. She was from Seattle and had been on the road for some time traveling from National Parks in the southwest in search of, well, we weren’t sure. As far as that goes, upon reflection, we weren’t sure of what we were in search of. Maybe that was because of the rehydration that had taken place…

Day 2 Saddleback State Park

Early the next morning as we prepared our eastward departure, we discovered that a critter, likely a racoon, had invited itself to the remaining chips from last evening’s snacks. I believe that smudge on my nose is sunscreen and not ranch dip.

Departing via CA-1 south to Morro Bay, we headed east on CA-41, A.K.A. the Atascadero-Morro Road, then south on US-101 to CA-58 east. While the verdant spring had been expressing itself upon entering the Coast Ranges, we hadn’t yet seen the evidence of a Super Bloom but more or less a typical spring bloom in fields of meadowfoam, fiddlenecks, and lupine.

Lots of green, not many wildflowers.

For some botanists, “super bloom’ is a vexing term. There is no scientific definition, only the eye test–you know it when you see it. There was no short supply of media trumpeting the one sublime aspect of a burdensome winter, a super bloom, however, we just weren’t seeing it. We were still a few degrees of latitude north for the Super Bloom variables to manifest themselves at this time, this year. What we did see was lots of evidence of damage to road infrastructure, much in repair. We must have encountered a dozen, “Prepare to Stop”, “Road Work Ahead” signs on this trip.

Blossoms and fruit destined to become guacamole

As we were entering Santa Margarita we noticed orchards that appeared to be blooming with an interesting blossom, but also heavy with fruit. Signage along the roadside at the entrance to one such orchard solved the mystery: avocados!

Highway 58 took us just north of the Carrizo Plain where blooms from space could be seen. The hills just north of the monument’s dusty topography had erupted in Super Bloom color: yellow from the hillside daisies, goldfields, and tidy tips, whose ends are frosted white; purple from the phacelia and wild hyacinth; azure splashes from the lupine and baby blue eyes and orange fiddlenecks and poppies. Ah yes, we were in the midst of the 2023 Super Bloom!

I had intended to chronicle all of this remarkable color from a GoPro mounted on my handlebars. Technical difficulties and user error, however, botched the video and I wasn’t able to get the most dramatic of the bloom as we crossed the Temblor Range into McKittrick, the vast orange sea of the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, or the dramatic CA-58 canyon along the raging Kern River. I guess there will be yet another spring trip to film when I figure out the camera… I humbly offer the following:

The beginning features some of the bloom near the Carrizo Plain

McKittrick and checking the investments

I didn’t know at the time, but as we were traveling through the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve along with thousands of other bloom seekers, I thought the GoPro was capturing what the Spanish sailors in the 18th century first had laid eyes on along the California coast, declaring it la tierra del fuego, the land of fire. They had arrived as a giant super bloom of flaming orange poppies, which would later be named the state flower, glowed from the hillsides.

La tierra del fuego

By the 1870’s the poppies were so threatened that the state government and a group of concerned citizens, led by the Great Poppy Lady, Jane Pinheiro, were working to establish a preserve to ensure the blooms would live on. That effort became the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, an island of native flowers among encroaching development and creeping invasive species. Even after the 1,800-acre park was founded, the pace of growth persisted, bringing cookie cutter suburbs, vast solar farms, and nonnative plants that crowded out other species.

Oh, and then there’s Adelanto, a desert city in California’s Mojave as it tried to transform itself from a bedroom community of affordable housing in eastern Los Angeles county and a city of prisons to a metropolis of pot… Check out the Crooked Media Podcast, Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto where ever you get your podcasts: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/dreamtown-the-story-of-adelanto/

Saddleback Butte State Park includes over 2,955 acres (4.617 sq mi) of land, and was created in 1960 to protect the area’s Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) desert habitat. It’s the OG Joshua Tree Park, formerly a monument. The lights in the distance are from Lake Los Angeles. But Lake Los Angeles has no lake. Instead, the now-nonexistent lake is a remnant of the town’s manipulative speculative real estate history. It seems the desert fancies drifters and grifters trying to convince folks of putting down roots. Roots that die of thirst and dreams that evaporate.

I arose the next morning to catch the first rays of the sunrise and noted the desert flora showing off.

A Butte and a Joshua Tree

We only come to the desert as visitors who appreciate the complexity of an environment. While hostile to hominids, the Mojave has an incredibly robust ecology should you take the time to look and listen and learn. Perhaps eco-tourism will at least compel people to consider there’s more there than meets the eyes, eyes focused on exploitation of a fragile landscape.

Day 3 Shoshone

As we planned the day’s ride, rather than retrace a previous route the trusty Butler Map indicated a more direct route to US-395 by heading east on Avenue J. We were still in Los Angeles County when we set off and after 8 miles we encountered the San Bernardino County line where the pavement ended despite our Butler Map guidance for the most direct route. It would be 15 miles on dirt to US-395 and another 9 miles, on dirt, to Helendale where we hoped to join the Mother Road, Route 66 rather than the longer route through Mirage, Adelanto, and Victorville, another desert prison town. Hence, the less direct paved route would have to do.

After getting gas at a sketchy Arco station adjacent to I-15 in Victorville we hopped on the interstate for 10 miles to Daggett where we picked up the National Trails Hwy, Route 66 east. A lunch stop in Newberry Springs where the wind was gusting at 25+mph and I found myself eavesdropping on the conversation of two local residents. I asked if the “desert road from vegas to nowhere, Some place better than where you’ve been, A coffee machine that needs some fixing, In a little café just around the bend”… was open just down the road. One of the lady’s eyes lit up as she shared that she and her husband were extras in the movie, her husband on a HD chopper with Brenda’s carefree daughter, Phyllis, below…

Bagdad Cafe, 1987 and the trailer for the movie https://youtu.be/4G2MEszpox0

When I first saw the movie, I loved the eccentricity of the characters and wagish storyline. Even more appealing was the haunting Bob Telson composition, Calling You, https://youtu.be/IZ0e5AHdDXw . Jevetta Steele recorded the soundtrack for the film. Here’s an update with a beat that features Ms. Steele, however some of the melancholy of Telson’s original, IMHO, has been lost, https://youtu.be/e7dZq8NYZwg.

Today , the Bagdad Cafe is a tired, melancholy roadside attraction.

Having decided that the memories of a whimsical movie about a little cafe just around the bend, are better than the actual cafe of the present, we set off for Amboy and the Kelbaker Rd intersection. You can’t miss it as the Joshua Tree Sticker sign notes the turnoff…

Looks like a lift tower on Chair 7…

From the sign we had another 125 of our 280± mile day’s ride to our destination in Shoshone before us. Kelbaker Road features some interesting desert flora and the granite outcrop in the Boulder’s Viewpoint area is worth a stop.

A controversial mega-solar energy project that would extract massive amounts of groundwater from the area around the Soda Mountains in the vicinity of Baker would also impact the dwindling bighorn sheep population that once flourished in the area. I-15 and I-40 has already interrupted ancient migration trails. Desert bighorns once thrived in the serrated mountain ranges across the Mojave Desert, where they formed a “metapopulation” of groups connected by these ancient trails. Today, their survival is threatened by disease, drought, interstate highways and now, renewable energy.

Flying through Kelso and Baker we made our way through the Mojave National Reserve, arriving in what is our favorite little town of Shoshone, just outside of Death Valley NP.

It’s impossible to get lost in Shoshone

After setting up camp and checking directions, we strolled down Old State Highway 127 which runs parallel to the new state highway past the school and ‘Sorrells House’. I’ve noted in previous posts that the house was designed by Richard Neutra and is now occupied by the surviving daughter of the family whose great-grandfather founded the town and whose family has owned the town, lock, stock, and other revenue generating venues, now with a nod to ecotourism rather than strip mining, solar farms, malls, and subdivisions. That, and there’s a natural hot springs that keeps the community pool at a comfortable 89 degrees year round!

A raucous Tuesday night crowd had gathered at the Famous Crowbar Cafe and Saloon where we enjoyed dinner and a whistle wetter or two. Our server who was working solo serving a capacity crowd at the bar and tables managed to restore our whistles while awaiting victuals from the solo line cook in the kitchen. Somehow the wait didn’t matter. More impressive is that she didn’t write anything down.

Following a delicious grilled Ortega chicken sammie and salad, we checked out the antique Chevron gas pump in the museum area adjacent to the cafe, a relic of a distant past that displayed a three digit price display as in: “_._ _”. We then strolled across the new State Highway 127 to the Chas Brown Market for procuring the first “R” of the hour of rehydration, relaxation, and reflection that beckoned. Pete made a new friend in the market while discovering that beer, by volume, costs more than gasoline. The new Chevron pumps in front of the market, that had sold a $1.9 million dollar Mega Millions lottery ticket in 2020, sported considerably higher prices with updated displays to several digits. You might just be able to fill your Range Rover’s tank with those winnings.

From its headwaters north of Beatty, NV, the Amargosa River flows underground in a southerly direction. Near the Dumont Dunes south of Shoshone and Tecopa, it makes a big u-turn and heads north into Death Valley National Park, finally terminating in Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the United States. The very same water that fills the campground pool and rises to the surface in the wetlands restoration areas, mostly flows beneath the desert surface and is warmed by subterranean thermal activity.

Day 4 Kernville

We decided to take CA-178 into Death Valley. The last time we rode this route was at night and is featured in the Riding Under a Fool Moon post from 2019 https://sisyphusdw7.com/2019/11/ . The route took us through Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation below sea level in the US. The snow capped mountain is Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range and summits at 11,043 feet above sea level. The photo at the bottom shows the sign from the basin viewing area to sea level, some 282 feet above the road.

We decided to forgo the hustle and bustle of Furnace Creek to stop at Stovepipe Wells for a mid morning snack before heading to another of our favorite spots in the desert, the Panamint Springs Resort. We stayed there earlier in March on The Desert Pilgrimage Tour, https://sisyphusdw7.com/2023/03/. This day it was just for lunch before heading up and out of the lowlands on CA-190 to the high desert, US-395 and CA-58 over Walker Pass to our destination for the night in Kernville.

At the Father Crowley Overlook we stopped to view the colorfully striped canyon created by ancient volcanic activity. In Panamint, the market cashier said that Tom Cruise had a few weeks earlier, flown into Panamint Springs to check out Rainbow Canyon that was a location for filming the first, pre-CGI Top Gun. The canyon was nicknamed “Star Wars Canyon” by visitors who came to observe and photograph the military test flights which occured in the vicinity. Star Wars Canyon is part of the R-2508 Complex, which has been used by the military since the 1930s. Unfortunately a jet crash in the canyon in 2019 resulting in the death of the pilot and injury to several visitors in the area, put an end to training flights through the canyon. We did meet two delightful couples, one from Britain and the other from New York by way of France who were curiously hoping for an F-16 to rip through the canyon. We had an enlightening exchange of cultural perspectives of our respective travels.

As Rick Steve’s says about travel: Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity. It helps you understand and appreciate different cultures. Travel changes people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Many travelers toss aside their hometown blinders. Their prized souvenirs are the strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character. The world is a cultural yarn shop. Back Door Travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry.

Ian and Melissa at the Father Crowley Overlook

“Rainbow Canyon” isn’t quite as colorful in the midday light. It was however green from spring rains.

We continued up past the turnoff to Darwin and over the Inyo Range to Olancha. The Owens Lake was beginning to show signs of life as water from the winter storms and the beginning spring runoff was making its way downslope.

Before crossing over Walker Pass on CA-58, Pete and I pulled over to stretch following a fuel stop in Ridgecrest at the intersection of CA-58 and CA14 where we were warned by a passing motorist that there was an unsafe driver ahead. This after a brief conversation with another solo motorist in an “all earthly possessions on board” van who was headed west, back to civilization after an extended desert stay. I guess unsafe drivers are a feature of civilization.

We made our way the Rivernook Campground in Kernville passing by the recently upgraded Isabella Dam. You might find this video recently posted by the Kern County Fire Department interesting as the project overview is examined in the context of this year’s river flows https://youtu.be/cDwY4sWs9MU .

After a fine meal at Kern River Brewing we were pleased to have a bit mellower experience than when we were in Kernville last February during the community’s Whiskey Flat Days celebration (below) where winding our way through the SRO crowd to get to the gas station was the most daunting aspect of that 5 day ride.

Try riding a motorcycle through that crowd

I had a brief clip of the Kern River as it raged near our campsite, but once again, my technical expertise (and budget) doesn’t permit purchasing format conversion to make IPhone video in HDR into a YouTube friendly format. Not sure who the villain is in this, WordPress, Apple or YouTube. I know who the victim is… You, my audience, who can only appreciate the still photo above https://youtu.be/LukyMYp2noo .

Day 5 Homeward Bound

Good Morning Mr. Jetboil

One of the subtle calibrations one makes when “roughing it” is how to maintain the adventurous aspects of unpacking and setting up camp, not showering for consecutive days, making a fire to keep warm while enjoying the Three R’s after riding a motorcycle for 300 miles, sleeping on the ground, awakening to a frosted campsite, only to break down and pack up camp again. How to ameliorate those “hardships” without seeming to be too much of a wuss? A warm cup of coffee, mixed with some chocolate is the solution to the fine recalibration from discomfort to comfort. In fact, it seems like beverages, both associated with the Three R’s and morning reverie, more than compensate for any of the major and minor nuisances of motorcycle touring.

Our route home found us rolling over some new roads through Bakersfield to Oildale because of the closure of foothill roads east of Bakersfield due to winter storm damage. After riding through Kern River County Park into Oil City then out, the contrast of the two could not be greater.

Once through the sucker rod pumps of Oildale we headed north on CA-65 stopping in Terra Bella for one of the best Mexican breakfasts we’ve ever had. The tortillas, flour and corn, were handmade and the huevos rancheros with chorizo were incomparable. The Amigos Restaurant reflects the very best of determined sisters to operate a treasured eatery in the rural Southern San Joaquin Valley.

In Porterville, where once again foothill road closures kept us rolling through the citrus groves Strathmore, Lindsay, Cutler, Orosi, and Orange Cove we made it to CA-168, Tollhouse Road by way of N. Academy Avenue in Fresno County. Our intent was to make our way to Friant and then drop down into Raymond and home. Now, I’m not the greatest navigator once we’re on the road as my issues with Butler Maps, Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Rever have all been documented in previous posts. So, I decided to turn over the last leg of the trip to Pete, acknowledging his ancestral Basque heritage in proximity to Portugal, a nation that once ruled the seas. You had to know a thing or two about navigating to rule the seas.

Our left turn onto CA-168 wound up taking us into the heart of of the 5:00 Fresno slab commute as we merged onto CA-180 followed by CA-41 merge. It was white knuckle, bumper to bumper traffic at 80+ miles per hour until we exited onto CA-145 and Rd-406 that took us on winding foothill roads devoid of crazed cagers at the foot of Hensley Lake and eventually to Raymond on Rd-600. From there it was Raymond Rd to Ben Hur Rd to Buckeye and Yaqui Gulch roads to CA-140 and home. I highly recommend a Sunday afternoon drive on any of the aforementioned foothill roads. Try to avoid becoming a crazed cager, or at least avoid crazed cagers anytime you can.

Epilogue

Extroverts have more fun. If your trip is low on magic moments, kick yourself and make things happen. If you don’t enjoy a place, maybe you don’t know enough about it. Seek the truth. Recognize tourist traps. Give a culture the benefit of your open mind. See things as different but not better or worse. Any culture has much to share. Rick Steves

What creature appears to be washing ashore? Could it be a descendant of Wilson?

Just prior to a delightful week spent in the company of my wife, our son, his wife and their beautiful little daughter in Maui, a new member of Sisyphus’s family arrived…

Two beautiful Italians and a hillbilly

So, if you are interested, or know someone who may be interested, in purchasing the 2016 Kawasexy Versys 650 LT loaded with several touring-friendly features and lovingly maintained with a mere 28,440 miles, message me. Both Italians insist on moto-monogamy!

Addio mia bellezza arancione!

Ciao…

2023 Winter Moto Musings: Thoughts on a Desert Pilgrimage… Is it hard?

“Not if you have the right attitude. It’s having the right attitude that’s hard.”

“I argued that physical discomfort is important only when the mood is wrong. Then you fasten on to whatever thing is uncomfortable and call that the cause. But if the mood is right, then physical discomfort doesn’t mean much.”– Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Feb 7, 2023

Well, wouldn’tcha know, it’s that time again. Time to mount the Kawasexy and roll south and east to the Mojave. Since I’m in a line to access ChatGPT, I went to resource 1.2, Wiki, to make sure my understanding of “a pilgrimage” was at least in the ballpark, or desert, as it happens. From Wiki:

A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about one’s self, others, nature, or a higher good through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life.

That sounds pretty high minded. Not like mindedness after edibles, but mindedness beyond the capacity of my mind, high or otherwise. Since I’ll be in the company of my motley band of brothers, the Silverback Dirtbags, I can’t vouch for their mindedness except to say Pete is all in and Andy is somewhat equivocal. It’s not that Andy has anything against expanded meaning or higher good. In colloquial Dirtbag, Andy, like a Rorschach, is as clear as dishwater in his intent. I suspect if we asked him for a mandala to clarify, he would produce something along the lines of a compass rose, leading us to no clear intent. It may be, if I take him at his word, that his decision to join us depends on a diagnosis and favorable prognosis with regards to an orthopedic issue.

Speaking of orthopedic issues, my guy, Dr. Beauchman has cleared me for any and all activities that will fuel my desire to keep on keeping on in search of self, others, nature and/or higher good. All with the caveat that I will use my good judgment to, Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy, Lighten up while you still can, Don’t even try to understand, Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy.

As is my indefatigable desire to plan, our journey will twist and turn us on backroads, some familiar, others foreign in keeping with the pilgrimage theme, through the Sierra foothills to Three Rivers. From Three Rivers we’ll make our way over Alta Sierra, past Lake Isabella, over Walker Pass to Ridgecrest.

From there it’s to Trona, the garden spot of the Owens Valley, (left, the bustling Searles Valley Minerals plant where Na2CO3•2NaHCO3•3H2O is processed and right, the Trona Pinnacles, tufa,or calcium carbonate spires). Then it’s on to the Panamint Springs Resort. It’s as much a resort as Trona is a garden spot. But it is the desert and we are there not because the “resort” is unknown, moreover, that it is a reminder of “daily life” in the middle of the Panamint Valley where we can enjoy victuals, beverages, and fuel our steeds. Two nights.

The next day we will venture forth to unknown or foreign places to expand our understanding of ourselves, others, nature, and a higher good through the experience of Rhyolite, NV. Okay, it’s not entirely foreign, though it is in Nevada, or for that matter unknown as 40ish years ago I explored Rhyolite in another life. I expect the venture to be rewarding nonetheless. After Rhyolite it’s back to Panamint Springs for the night. Not foreign but there will likely be foreigners there.

Day four of our journey will find us back in Three Rivers for the night in a foreign campground, not our favorite and familiar first night destination at the Three Rivers Hideaway, but now opting for the Sequoia Campground and Lodge for the night.

Day five will be the return route to our daily lives where our no doubt expanded consciousness of self, others, nature, and higher meaning, along with dirty laundry awaits. Stay tuned for the post ride update on sisyphusdw7.com. Cheers!

2021 Fall Moto Musings: There and Back Looking for the Other Abbey’s Road … If you’re willin’

A Proposal of Twelve Days/Eleven Nights on Motos from Sunday, Sept. 26 – Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021

Lowell George & Little Feat – Willin’ Live 1977

Linda Ronstadt – Willin Live 1977

I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari

Tehachapi to Tonopah

Driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made

Driven the backroads

So I wouldn’t get weighed

And if you give me weed, whites, and wine

And you show me a sign

I’ll be willin’… to be movin’

The road beckons, as usual, Sisyphus and Associates are willin’ to scratch the “Quest into the Unknown” itch on this proposed journey that will reprise a scene or two from where we’ve been before (check out the links). This is to satisfy our incurable quest into the unknown, including some new territory close to Tucson and Tucumcari. Tehachapi, meh.

As the seasons begin to change, we hope the weather cooperates and foregoes any extreme behavior. Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. Our first two days are familiar as they include previous stops in Tonopah and Cedar City with drive throughs in Torrey, Caineville, Hanksville, and Green River. Our ultimate destination and turnabout will be Santa Fe in the Land of Enchantment. I’m curious how the state motto, “Crescit Eundo,” translated from Latin, means “It grows as it goes.” I’ll have to ask Bob and Suzanne our enchanting hosts about the allusion to dynamic progress…

Sisyphus is an insufferable map geek. The roads over which our route will take us fall into the Butler designated “road qualities” of Lost Highways, G1, G2, and G3 segments. Check out Mojave Moto Spring 2021 for Sisyphus’s expansion of the Butler “road qualities” descriptions at https://sisyphusdw7.com/2021/04/29/mojave-moto-spring-2021/. There will be deserts and high forested mountains, river valleys, and arroyos to cross through small towns on backroads that are our preferred intermediate waypoints. What did folks do before Google Maps and Earth? Okay, our quest will sort of be into the unknown. Sorry Mr. Natural.

You may think this trip isn’t so much a quest into the unknown what with having covered ground on previous rides and extensive use of mapping. And you’d be correct. The quest into the unknown isn’t so much about the terrain. We know we’ll be awed by the varied landscapes we’ll ride through. The quest is more about the journey following some of Edward Abbey’s travels and the romance of the road that seems to permeate the long-haul trucker’s, poet’s, and map-loving motorcyclist’s zeitgeist. So, why not let’s call it, There and Back Looking for the Other Abbey’s Road (Trip 2021).

For background on Edward Abbey see https://wilderness.net/learn-about-wilderness/edward-abbey.php.

For the deep Abbey dive, I recommend his book, Desert Solitaire, as a start. For a dip of the toe, try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Solitaire

The Route

Sisyphus humbly offers a scroll-worthy (at least click on the blue map links) proposal for this twelve-day moto adventure, broken into Part 1, Eastward We Go, and Part 2 Westward Down and Bound. Bring your imagination along and join us if you’re willin’ as a brief narrative of the route with some images captured previously in-person and from the interwebs detail our intended waypoints and consider the ese on Guest-friendship that follows.

Part 1 Eastward We Go Merced to Santa Fe ~1400 miles

Day 1 – Merced to Tonopah ~281 (~309?) miles

Merced to Tonopah

There’s nothing creepier than a cemetery next to a Clown Motel

The Sierra poses the first “obstacle” to overcome. We’ll take CA-120 by way of J-59, CA 132 to Smith Station Rd. (281 miles) with the Tioga Pass Option, or the CA-108 over Sonora Pass Option (~309 miles) to Bridgeport then Lee Vining on US-395. It just depends on which route is on fire…

From Lee Vining, it’s US-395 to the junction w/ CA-120 to Benton (Hot Springs). From there we make our way on US-6 to Tonopah, across range and basin country, where Sisyphus and his Associate Pete stayed in the fall of 2020. You can read about that trip and the next two legs we are reprising from the Burr Trail Here We Come blog post. sisyphusdw7.com, Burr Trail Here We Come

Day 2 – Tonopah to Cedar City ~288 miles

Tonopah to Cedar City

From Tonopah, we ride on US-6/NV-95 through Warm Springs and catch the road to Rachel on NV-375. We hope to avoid being abducted by aliens who are allegedly held captive at Area 51. That doesn’t preclude stopping for a souvenir T-Shirt at the Alien Research Center at Crystal Springs should we escape. T-Shirt safely stowed, we proceed on US-93 through Caliente, perhaps for a delightful lunch, infusing cash into the local economies, to the junction w/ NV-319 in Panaca.

*Sisyphus’s Associate*, Pete at the Alien Research Center in 2020

From Panaca it’s NV-319 to the Nevada/Utah border where the road becomes UT-56 to Modena. Modena, just an R away from mRNA vaccine name recognition fame… I wonder if there’s a Pfize Utah?

From there we will climb to Cedar City on UT-56.

East of Cedar City, Cedar Breaks from the Chessman Ridge Overlook

Day 3 – Cedar City to Moab ~339 miles

Cedar City to Moab

Following breakfast, an early departure takes us on UT-14 to Tod’s Junction meeting UT-14 and US-89 through Hatch to the junction w/ UT-12 through Tropic, Cannonville, Henrieville, Escalante, and Boulder where we will tip our helmets to the Burr Trail, then roll into Torrey to the junction w/ UT-24.

From Torrey, it’s UT-24 along the Fremont River, past Capitol Reef, through Fruita, Caineville to Hanksville. Staying on UT-24 we make our way through Green River via a brief spin on I-70 to US-191 to Moab, Arches, and red rock country.

Day 4 – Moab to Chama (?) ~265 miles

Moab to Chama

The irony of technology vs the written word was not lost on Edward Abbey

Via Moab US 191 through the La Sals and into the Rockies to Monticello and the junction w/ US-491 we make our way through Lewis and UT-184, to Mancos and UT-3 and US-160 to Pagosa Springs. Here we take US-84 through Chomo, cross the Colorado/New Mexico border to the junction of US-84 and US-64. The last leg on US-64 is to the junction w/ UT-17 into Chama.

Day 5 – Chama to Santa Fe via Taos (?) ~164 miles

Chama to Santa Fe

Via US-64 from Chama, we pass through Brazos, staying on US-64 at Tres Piedras, we cross the Rio Grande on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on our way to Taos. It’s fun to walk to the middle of the span and jump up and down. More fun if an 80,000-pound rig passes by.

From Taos, it’s UT-68 to Pilar, where we roll alongside the Rio Grande to Espanola and Pojoaque, then take US-285/US-84 into Santa Fe.

= OR =

Abbey’s Road Trip 2021 V1.1, a.k.a. The Aspen Anna Option (with a nod to Taos) (?)

This route option skips the Moab to Chama, Chama to Santa Fe Days 4 & 5 legs of The Other Abbey’s Road Trip V1.0.

With this option, the riding distance for days 4 and 5 increases by 140 miles so that we might visit Aspen. One of the other Associates, Andy, who you will recall from the Riding Under a Fool Moon post, has daughter who resides there. And Anna happens to be a former student of Sisyphus. Who knows, maybe we’ll see Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie riding their bikes, neither of whom is a former student, but Aspen is a small town. The bonus of crossing the Continental Divide resplendent in fall color looms as we make our way through the Rockies.

Day 4 – Moab to Aspen (?) ~315 miles

Moab to Aspen

Briefly, south out of Moab on US-191 to the junction w/ UT-128 to junction w/ UT-46 in La Sal. A short distance to the Utah/Colorado border where UT-46 becomes CO-90 we roll to Naturita where we don a few extra layers and take CO-141 up and up to the junction w/ US-50 just south of Grand Junction to Delta. Junction US-50 w/ CO-92 to Hotchkiss and junction w/ CO-133 to Carbondale and the junction w/ Rds. 101, 100 to CO-82 on to Aspen. Lots of twisties in the mountains.

Day 5 – Aspen to Santa Fe*(?) ~323 miles

Aspen to Santa Fe via Taos

Out of Aspen, likely wearing every stitch of clothing we’ve packed, it’s CO-82 over Independence Pass. Unless closed whether the weather! Then on to the junction w/ US-24. US-24 due south to the junction w/ US-285 near Johnson Village. US-285 to junction w/ CO-17 to Alamosa where we pick up US-285 crossing the Colorado/New Mexico border to Tres Piedras and US-64 to Taos. From Taos it’s UT-68 to Pilar where we roll alongside the Rio Grande to Espanola, and Pojoaque and take US-285/US-84 into Santa Fe.

Should the decision be made to skip Taos, remain on Hwy-285 to Santa Fe (Aspen to Santa Fe) ~303 miles. If my vote counts, I say Taos it is.

Meanwhile, on to Santa Fe…

Day 6 – Santa Fe Layover*

Without imposing too much, while in Santa Fe we anticipate that the Bob and Suzanne Delaware, our resident hosts, will consent to allow Bob to summon his considerable skills as a platinum tour guide to provide Sisyphus and his Associates with a condensed tour of Santa Fe. This skill set has been honed over a number of years shepherding student travelers to the nation’s Capitol and the Big Apple, as well as his personal European and stateside rambles.

Hopefully we’ll not have to deal with any plague spreading oppressors! Besides, Bob’s tour will get us out of Suzanne’s lovely red hair…

Part 2: Westward Down and Bound Santa Fe to Merced ~1,554 miles

Day 7 – Santa Fe to Mexican Hat ~322 miles

Santa Fe to Mexican Hat

From Santa Fe, we head north on US-84 to Pojoaque and cross the Rio Grande on US-285 to Espanola. Remain on US-285 to La Quachia (US-84) along the Rio Chama to Abiquiu, with Georgia on our minds, or choose the option to head west and visit Los Alamos via NM-502, -501, -4, and check out what’s shakin’ at ground zero for mutually assured destruction. In either case, then proceed to NM-126 through the mountains to the junction w/ NM-96 and US-550 near La Jara. From the US-550 Interchange, we roll through Counselor, Nageezi to US-64.

On to Farmington along the San Juan River to Shiprock where US-64 will take us across the New Mexico/Arizona border to Teec Nos Pos and the junction with US-160 and the Four Corners Monument north on US-160, a six-mile (x2) round-side trip.

Back on US-160 near Red Mesa, we cross the San Juan River just west of Bluff to the junction w/US-163 to Mexican Hat.

Day 8 – Mexican Hat to North Rim Campground ~265 miles

Mexican Hat to North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Okay boys keep the bikes in the middle of the lane

From Mexican Hat on US-163, in the midst of the Navajo Nation, to Kayenta and the junction w/ US-160 and AZ-98, up to Page and the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell where we’ll spend a moment considering the abject reality of climate change, then head to the junction w/ US-89 across Antelope Pass to Bitter Springs and US-89A crossing the not so mighty Colorado River on the Navajo Bridge across Marble Canyon to Jacob Lake (from Mexican hat it’s ~220 miles to Jacob Lake Campground) where Hwy-67, which takes us to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, lies some 45 miles south from Jacob Lake.

Day 9 – North Rim to Williams ~267 miles

North Rim to Williams (Via South Rim)

Backtracking, as the North Rim is an out-and-back, we take US-89A back to Bitter Springs, then US-89 south to Cameron, where we roll to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on AZ-64.

Leaving the South Rim, we motor on AZ-64 to Williams before getting on the Historic Rte-66 the following morning. Maybe we can find a corner to stand on with fine sights to see, not Dallas Alice, but the takin’ it easy girl…

Take’ It Easy You may recognize JB. How ’bout the fiddle player? Hint: DL

Day 10 – Williams to Shoshone ~327 miles

Williams to Shoshone

Getting our kicks on Historic US Rte-66 while takin’ it easy, we roll through Ash Fork, Seligman, Yampai, Peach Springs, Truxton, Cozier, Valentine, Hackberry, Antares, Hualapai, Berry, Getz, to Kingman perhaps to mistakenly stand on a corner scanning to see a flatbed Ford. Road-weary, a kind passerby reminds Sisyphus that the corner about which Jackson is singing is in Winslow, not Williams, or Kingman for that matter, though either city’s name satisfies the meter of the song… There’s probably a corner in Seligman we can stand on too, though there is one too many syllables.

In Kingman we take US-93 to the junction with AZ-68 to the Arizona/Nevada Border.

Entering the great Mojave at the interchange of AZ-68 and NV-163 and crossing the Colorado River again, what’s left of it downriver from the Davis Dam, this time in Laughlin, we head to Palm Gardens on NV-163. From the junction w/ US-95 in Palm Gardens, we roll to Searchlight and the Nevada/California border as NV-164 becomes Nipton Road to the I-15 (Barstow Fwy). From there we “slab” over Mountain Pass past the historic but abandoned and vandalized Hi-Lo Restaurant, to Baker and the world’s tallest thermometer where the Mad Greek Restaurant and Alien Fresh Jerky all await a similar fate.

From there we cruise through the remaining Mojave National Reserve to Shoshone on CA-127, the Death Valley Rd. We will heed the Desert Oracle’s advice and Desertoracle.com, Episode 127, Try Not to Die

Somewhere in the distance is the Amargosa River that “flows” through Shoshone

Day 11 – Shoshone to Goldfield ~147 miles

Shoshone to Goldfield

Our early departure from Shoshone takes us past Death Valley Junction and the Amargosa Opera House on CA-127 or we detour through Death Valley CA-190 ~164 miles to Lone Pine*

CA-127 becomes NV-373 at NV border where we continue to the Interchange of NV-373 and US-95 to Beatty, maybe catching Rhyolite on a short side trip on NV 374 (six miles, twelve round trip) that we missed on the Riding Under a Fool Moon, Death Valley by Moonlight ride (because of Sisyphus’s navigation error) for a picture or two. Then it’s back on US 95 to Goldfield (to check out the Santa Fe Motel and Saloon). Parenthetically speaking.

*Death Valley, Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells, through Panamint Springs on CA-190 to Lone Pine: DV to Panamint to Lone Pine

Goldfield prior to becoming a ghost town

Day 12 Goldfield to Merced ~317 miles

Goldfield to Merced

From Goldfield we take US-95 south, backtracking as it were, to the junction w/ the Lida NV-266 junction crossing the Nevada/California border to the junction w/ CA-168 at Oasis where circular irrigated alfalfa fields thrive. This was the scene of an alien abduction during our Riding Under a Fool Moon, Death Valley by Moonlight moto adventure linked above. This was a pre-pandemic ride in the fall of 2019 with the Associates Pete and Andy, one of whom mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately, for Anna’s sake, he was released by his captors and we were reunited in Big Pine.

Alien guidance systems posing as circular irrigated fields

Over Gilbert Pass, past Deep Springs College, where Sisyphus regrets not having the wherewithal to have attended, and over Westgard Pass to Big Pine Hwy on CA-168 where we take US-395 to Lee Vining and CA-120 over Tioga Pass and CA 140 to la douceur du foyer where there are numerous corners to stand on, but not many flatbed Fords. Thus ending the story of our route with a hard-to-read text, according to my editor…

Deep Springs College features fewer distractions than Chico State, Sisyphus’s alma mater

But wait, there’s more…

Abbey’s Road Trip 2021 Layover Days: Lessons From the Past Regarding Guest-friendship, An Ese…

Where Sisyphus considers a dialog with an Homeric epic. The italics indicate Sisyphus’s considerations…

While ours is scarcely an epic journey, Sisyphus will reflect on how the classics deal with road trips and apply their wisdom to our contemporary adventure. Sisyphus has considerable regard for how the past informs the present and future.

According to J. B. Hainsworth, in the course of the Homeric epic Odysseus encounters several examples of xenia, “guest-friendship” providing models of how hosts should and should not act. The Phaeacians demonstrate exemplary guest-friendship by feeding Odysseus, giving him a place to sleep, and granting him many gifts and a safe voyage home, which are all things a good host should do.

The Delawares have Phaeacian DNA.

Polyphemus demonstrates poor guest-friendship. His only “gift” to Odysseus is that he will eat him last. Calypso also exemplifies poor guest-friendship because she does not allow Odysseus to leave her island.

Polyphemus and Calypso offer classic “six of one, half dozen of another” poor guest-friendship outcomes. I’ve always known the Delawares to offer the finest beverage upon their guests’ arrival and to offer exceptional repast and delightful conversation before bidding adieu. Neither Bob nor Suzanne have ever once hinted at cannibalism. Their abiding hospitably permit their guests who’ve either satisfied or have exhausted their memorable visit to exit with good cheer. The Delawares conduct all guest-friendship with exceptional grace and decorum unlike Polyphemus or Calypso.

Another important factor to guest-friendship is that kingship implies generosity. It is assumed that a king has the means to be a generous host and is more generous with his own property. This is best seen when Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, begs Antinous for food and Antinous denies his request. Odysseus essentially says that while Antinous may look like a king, he is far from a king since he is not generous.

I promise to not relegate Pete or Andy as beggars to test Bob’s hospitality, as Odysseus did to Antinous since I know Bob, unlike Antinous, is kingly in his every manor and exhortation. If at all flawed in his sincere humility, Bob is indeed kingly in his generosity. I am reminded of his wise counsel: It never happened.

Guest-friendship follows a very specific pattern:

The arrival and the reception of the guest.

Arrival will be on September 30, 2021, mid afternoon, baring the incalculable unforeseen delays of any quest into the unknown.

Bathing or providing fresh clothes to the guest.

A garden hose or perhaps a refreshing Santa Fe thundershower will do. We may need to do laundry. Perhaps we can obtain a wash tub and scrub board from one of the vendors on the Plaza.

Providing food and drink to the guest.

We will sustain the first three rounds of any beverage occasion. Beyond that, neither Santa Fe nor the Delawares bear any responsibility for poor choices. The Delawares may still be on the hook to shuffle us off to the nearest pub or contact our loved ones for bail.

Questions may be asked of the guest and entertainment should be provided by the host.

Good cheer and maybe a beverage or two are the only requirements for entertainment since exposure to centuries of Santa Fe culture and history requires more time to absorb and greater tolerance than the Delawares can muster for weary moto riding dirtbags despite my earlier comments about Bob’s superb skills as a guide.

The guest should be given a place to sleep, and both the guest and host retire for the night.

A curb for our mounts, a yard for a tent, perhaps a couch or a chaise lounge will do. Should the Delawares elect to get a room for the night elsewhere, I think we can support their choice, as we pledge to limit damage to their domicile. We can’t guarantee that no harm will come to Bob’s tomatoes, however.

The guest and host exchange gifts, the guest is granted a safe journey home, and the guest departs.

Our gift will be our departure. As for the safe journey home, guaranteed. We will leave more or less on time.

Another important factor of guest-friendship is not keeping the guest longer than they wish and also promising their safety while they are a guest within the host’s home.

Departure will be on the morning of October 2, having stayed with our gracious hosts Bob and Suzanne for two nights max. It likely takes longer than that for the Santa Fe authorities to evict us. Regardless, the Delawares know Sisyphus’s attention span is limited.

Sisyphus will guarantee the safety of our hosts, only insofar as the pharmaceuticals and preventives guarantee our safety. We will respectfully do our best to erase any plague spores the heretofore mentioned oppressors have spread…

Thanks to Wiki for informing Sisyphus of the specifics of the Homeric epic.

The actual post trip narrative will arrive sometime in October, Sisyphus is already feeling it…

Just something to leave you with,The Road to the Sun, Pat Metheny.

See you again in October!