Death Valley - Thursday, 19th September
Yesterday afternoon we met up with our fellow travellers - 5 Germans, 2 Swiss (German speaking), 2 Danes, 1 Dutchman, 1 Kiwi and 6 Brits (including us) and our Group Leader, Alan, and Support Vehicle Driver, Steve. The evening was spent at Gene Simmons (Kiss) restaurant in Los Angeles getting to know each other, albeit the main topic of conversation was sleep (or lack of it!). Something to do with the age profile of the group, I think......
Tracey and I by the official transport:
Thursday morning saw us all pile down to the Eagle Rider premises in LA to collect our rental Harleys - Tracey and I have a Electra Glide Ultra (armchair on two wheels). We don't have these replicas of Billy and Wyatt's bikes:
And so off in to the horrendous Los Angeles traffic passing the end of the runway where Billy and Wyatt did their drug deal with the pusher (played by Phil Spector) and then north towards the spectacular Panamint Valley and ultimately on to Death Valley via Ballarat, an abandoned 19th century mining town, where those of you that have seen the film will recall Wyatt (Peter Fonda) stuffed the money earned from the deal into a plastic tube hidden in the his gas tank and threw away his watch. This particular location was accessed down a two mile stretch of soft gravel road - 'interesting' riding two-up on a 800lb motorcycle! Sadly, at least one of our number succumbed to the conditions and slid off, unharmed, in to the roadside. We are assured that there will be no further off-road excursions on this holiday.
The final part of the day was spent battling high winds and dust storms on the rather inaptly named Death Valley Scenic Drive as we rode to an elevation of 5000 feet before dropping back down in to the valley itself at sea level. Our group leader, Alan, said that he had never experienced such conditions in Death Valley.
After a ride of around 320 miles we arrived just after dark at our overnight accommodation The Ranch at Death Valley in temperatures in the high 80s. The daytime temperature in Death Valley today was 102F - unseasonably low, apparently.
Quiz question for the day - how do we know that Captain America/Wyatt's bike is a replica?
Answer: the original did not have a front brake!
Tracey and I by the official transport:
Thursday morning saw us all pile down to the Eagle Rider premises in LA to collect our rental Harleys - Tracey and I have a Electra Glide Ultra (armchair on two wheels). We don't have these replicas of Billy and Wyatt's bikes:
And so off in to the horrendous Los Angeles traffic passing the end of the runway where Billy and Wyatt did their drug deal with the pusher (played by Phil Spector) and then north towards the spectacular Panamint Valley and ultimately on to Death Valley via Ballarat, an abandoned 19th century mining town, where those of you that have seen the film will recall Wyatt (Peter Fonda) stuffed the money earned from the deal into a plastic tube hidden in the his gas tank and threw away his watch. This particular location was accessed down a two mile stretch of soft gravel road - 'interesting' riding two-up on a 800lb motorcycle! Sadly, at least one of our number succumbed to the conditions and slid off, unharmed, in to the roadside. We are assured that there will be no further off-road excursions on this holiday.
The final part of the day was spent battling high winds and dust storms on the rather inaptly named Death Valley Scenic Drive as we rode to an elevation of 5000 feet before dropping back down in to the valley itself at sea level. Our group leader, Alan, said that he had never experienced such conditions in Death Valley.
After a ride of around 320 miles we arrived just after dark at our overnight accommodation The Ranch at Death Valley in temperatures in the high 80s. The daytime temperature in Death Valley today was 102F - unseasonably low, apparently.
Quiz question for the day - how do we know that Captain America/Wyatt's bike is a replica?
Answer: the original did not have a front brake!
Sounds amazing. That dust storm must have been quite something to encounter.
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