Part 6 of 9
Thursday October 18
I'm having one of the best trips of my life. I'm about 3 weeks into my adventure. All the stresses of life have left me. I'm eating healthy. I'm sleeping good at night for the first time in years. I can't believe how fortunate I am, to be riding this amazing GT, on this epic highway, it was all just so perfect. One of the best things to ever happen in my life... As far as I know Mr. Hearst himself never got to ride a BMW motorcycle. His life was not complete. Mine is. Hearst Castle tho was pretty awesome.
Some 3000 year old statues, he really liked to collect art.
It was a really neat tour, what an estate! Late afternoon I saddled up, said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean, and headed into San Luis Obispo. This was a really cool town, one I would love to live in.. if only it wasn't in California but I digress.. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Apparently every Thursday for many years they have a big
farmers market festival in town.. which I just happened to stumble upon. Booths of all kinds selling fruits, vegetables, art, so much more.. live music.. like 8 city blocks of fun, lotsa town people turn out every week for the festival. Quite the party! One live band I saw playing was incredible! (I've been playing blues guitar for 25+ years, love live music.) I wish I had gotten their name, bought a CD. The music (fender strat guitar thru a marshall amp, drums, and some sort of small keyboard/organ, reminded me of the Doors) was amazing... long jams, great guitar. The guitar player had a young daughter selling the CDs. They were playing in front of a book store. If anyone in SLO knows who I'm talking about please let me know, I really want to hear their music again.
Friday October 19. My original plan was to head to Bakersfield, then way around South to Joshua Tree National Park. But when I got to Bakersfield, I was kind of depressed about the prospect of 8 days or so with nothing but desert ahead of me, making my way back home thru Southern CA, AZ, NM and TX. It just didn't feel right. So instead I headed back to Death Valley. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Turns out this was an excellent decision cause if I had headed South I would have run right into the San Diego fire evacuation mess. I was totally ignoring the news on this trip and had no idea about what was happening down there. But I was very happy to head back to Death Valley again, and with a working camera this time. It was a pretty long ride from SLO all the way back to DV, but worth it! I entered the park late afternoon, and rode thru it at sunset. It was so beautiful!
Back to Badwater, the lowest point below Sea Level in North America. The little white sign on the cliff behind my bike notes where Sea Level is. An amazing place! Dried salt lakes, great roads, beautiful mountains in the distance.. I was very glad I headed back this way.
I love all my reflectors and “Back Off Please – Thank You!” letters. They really seem to help! I managed to get back to Pahrump late that night, stayed at a casino hotel but I was too tired to play poker. The next day Saturday was laundry day, then I went back to Vegas for 2 days of R&R at the
Imperial Palace.. This time I was by myself tho.. and going to Vegas solo isn't as much fun. I was getting homesick too. Where was Jeff? Back in Houston wishing he was still on the road with me. I slept alot, played some poker, walked around alot.. but by Monday morning I was ready to get out of town.
to be continued...