Death Valley......

[Wacked]

DAY 4 - part II .......   Beginning of The End

After fueling up in Beatty, we back-tracked to Titus Canyon.  Let me say this place was awesome.  Photos can't even begin to touch what this place is like.  It is a 1-way road that descends several 1000' into the valley.  Must be 25-30 miles long.  You can take a vehicle on but it's tight and winding.  Multi-colored and rugged great vistas that has steep rock faces right up against the road.  It's great on a bike. 

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Two-thirds down the road we stopped to eat lunch deep within a rock lined canyon.  Since we were near the end, I think PegLeg and Wally were getting brave and wanted to test their bowel systems.  I wasn't going there! 

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After making it through Titus Canyon, we again hit slab and hoped to make it to one last interesting spot before loading up and making the 3hr trek to Apple Valley.  The "Charcol Kiln's" would be our last stop.

The weather was perfect for riding slab.  After an hour or so, we turned off to the Charcol Kiln's.  Nope.... Just Kidding.  A mile up the road they'd shut the gate.  "Closed".  It looked like a snow gate and we could certainly get around it easily enough; but then again it was 2:00 and we still had packing and driving to get done.  Well, we called it quits and made tracks for Panamint Springs to  load up.

That's the trip........... although we did have final note of adversity. 

You see, the concept of adversity and adventure came from the philosophical side of Wally. 

During this trip he laid out his theory, that adversity is the key ingredient to any adventure.  Otherwise, it's just an event that fades in our brains.  Think about your trips.  For example, you remember the truck breaking down for 3 days in that poh-dung town, or when a family member got a big gash fishing and they had to get 10 stitches, or when mom slid off the road and you spent the night huddled in the car.  The other trips, you just can't remember.  Adversity turned those trips into an adventure worth remembering.

For us, Day 1 was the gravel wash we couldn't navigate.  Day 2 was the nasty cold night.  And Day 3 was the travel in the dark.

So, we're in the truck half way back to town, BS'ing, and Wally needs to pull over for a "Chippy" (California term for a Highway Patrol) who has his sirens on and wants to get by.  Nope.  I guess he wants us.  Apparently, Chip had his feelings hurt because we did not immediately pull over for him.  We were in the right lane, but I guess he'd been asking us to pull over for the past couple of miles so his nose was bent out of shape when he got to our window.  Nobody was happy.  There was a ticket issued.  I thought the only way to salvage this event was to document it in picture form......  Mr. Popo wasn't keen with that idea and told me to piss off.

3 miles up the road, PegLeg reminded Wally that this was only another moment of adversity.

Yea, it was a good adventure!  Thanks guys.


Wacked

[pegleg]

good job wacked, you didn't even make me look like the weak link that I was in this adventure. what a friend. just for that, i'll turn you on to some spam when I get home.

[Fletch]

looks like  a great trip, I will have to put it on my list.. thanks!

[jacin theis]

Thanks for sharing. That sounds like a great trip!

[locopny]

excellent report.  Thank  you for sharing.  Was there once but not on a bike.  Sounds like an epic adventure.