1. On the road again

    September 6-8, 2015
    Posted on June 20, 2017

    It was a Sunday morning – great time to be needing to send that last box of leftover motorcycle parts home. The post offices are all closed and usps.com does not accept a non-US credit card billing address. After much trying, I finally tricked it into giving me a shipping label, left the box with the hotel clerk and we were out.

    In about two hours we turned off the main highway somewhere in the Coachella Valley and I had to finally stop and snap a photo of these marvellous wind farms, which were literally everywhere.

    Upon finishing this masterpiece of desert photography, I was about to start riding again but forgot the WR250R was a tad taller than my previous ride, and the road shoulder had a slant, and the stars were not aligned right… In glorious slow motion I tilted to the side and did not stop tilting until my bike and I were down in the bushes.

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  2. At least they have beaches in LA

    August 31 — September 5, 2015
    Posted on May 31, 2017

    There are worse places to get stuck in, I suppose. Death Valley would be one of them. A little known fact is that there was a time when I dreamed of being a movie star and coming to Hollywood. By the time we started this trip I was feeling the opposite, and was going to skip Los Angeles entirely. The joke was on me, here I was, involuntarily stuck in the City of Angels, betrayed by the blown pistons of a tired 225 cc engine.

    The broken heart of the XT225

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  3. Reaching Critical Temperature in Death Valley

    August 30, 2015
    Posted on March 27, 2017

    Our journey out of Death Valley began by heading for the very heart of it. Descending from camp, the first curious thing we found were the charcoal kilns. Used at some point to make charcoal for a nearby smelter, they stood there looking alien and inviting. Alex obviously had to ride inside of one.

    Charcoal kilns

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  4. Hot and Smoky in the Owens Valley

    August 28-29, 2015
    Posted on March 24, 2017

    Several things caught up with us today. Aside from picking up Alex’s cellphone from the restaurant (yes, it was patiently waiting all night) and seeing a dentist to take care of my tooth, we also visited a motorcycle mechanic to inquire about the oil disappearing from my motorcycle. In other great news, the whole town was covered in a smoky haze due to nearby wildfires.

    Smoky sky and dirt roads in Owens Valley

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