2 day, 2up 700 miles - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

MichaelW · 05-01-2009, 10:24 AM

2 day trip, 2 up and 700+ miles.
Michael, The Old Bald Fat Guy
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2009-04
Death Valley CA
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We started off on Saturday morning following a really miserable riding day on Friday, our original departure day. It was snowing in the morning on Friday and the weather wasn't really getting better. It was cold and windy. The outlook for Saturday didn't look wonderful either. But the weather broke enough for us to bundle up and take our ride 2up on Saturday. We packed really lightly as we wore most of our clothes as we mounted up and head down the road.

We only got about 6 miles from the house when the timing between, me, having my camera and our local celebrity hanging out on their favorite perch with their commanding view of the lake.

Can you see it? Okay, how about a close up.

Hey turn to the camera; I'm taking your picture!

Thanks! That's better.

Yes, that is one of our local celebrities. We have a pair of Bald Eagles in our valley and people are coming from all over to take their pictures. Today it was just Debbie and I and some other lady who pulled over to take a picture with her cell phone. Yeah, you know it’s going to be a good ride when you get a start up view like that.

So heading out of Carson City and south on 395 it is a little cool still and we are dressed in layers and I have my leathers on. Debbie only has a jacket and no chaps yet. But she took my advice and wore her insulated jeans with tights underneath so she is staying warm as long as I am in front breaking wind.

Not that kind!

I hope Debbie soon gets chaps as they don't just block out the wind but offer better than jeans protection, just in case. The problem is that Debbie has had many bouts with cancer and some more in one leg and not the other, that the one leg is significantly different size than the other. So off the shelf chaps will not do. We hope to meet up with a lady that does good and custom work in June at the Street Vibrations in Sparks, NV, Spring Fever event to see if she can help Debbie out and her quest for some chaps.

They would have been nice for this trip but she is staying comfortable or comfortable enough to not complain about the chill as we ride through the winding mountain curves and up through the summits and then back down into the early spring green meadows. We stopped in Bridgeport, a sleepy hunting and fishing community that lives mostly off of the “turistas” that come their way. The local gas station seriously lives off of the travelers. Well it’s not like you have a bunch of choices so you either have gas or you buy gas. In our case we had gas but stopped to stretch out and warm up as it is a little cool with ambient temps in the mid 40's to the low 50's. I snapped this picture of my bundled girl.