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I apologize for so few pics of the terrain and the ride itself. You need to keep moving and not dilly dally on this ride.

Here is Tim and James on a hard section of day 1. The ride is broken up into Hard, Easy, and Bail sections. The Hard sections are rockier, sandier, and longer than the Easy sections. The easy sections are by no means easy all over. There is still a lot of Sand, Sand, and more Sand.



I give this guy a lot of credit. He was going thru hard sections on this GS that I would have never thought that bike would make it through. There were a few 990 KTMs out there that went through some nasty stuff. We even caught up to 3 in Red Rock Canyon, the most technical part of the course, though it is not that long a section it looks like murder on a big bike.




He got stuck right after this pic was taken, you can see he is grounded into the sand, the GS models don't offer a lot of ground clearance for deep sand when a rock comes along. We took off because right behind him was a group of Jeeps that would help him out. The Jeeps are like the Harleys out here. They just creep along at a Snail's pace and can be a PITA to pass on some of the sections.

Lots of Side by Sides out here. They seem to me to be the best choice for 4 wheel life here IMO. I saw some climbing hills with 2 people in them at Jawbone that if I had someone to wager with I would be short a C note. Not that they would make it up the hill, but that they would flip over.




This is why you can't dilly dally out here. Paul got a front flat about 4:00PM on Day 1 with 30 miles to go. There seems to be some discussion about "Who" pinched the tube we brought and installed on the tire, so now after spare tube mounted we were at dusk with a still NG front tire. As God surely loves fools we ended up getting another tube from a couple of guys passing by from Northern CA. Larry was sure to track them down at the end of day one a get them a beer. As luck would have it my headlight sheet the bed first thing in the morning and we had to ride out with me sandwiched between Tim and James to see. The Desert is not fun at night. In fact riding out at night on Day 1 reminded me of one of those Haunted Hayrides. People pop out of nowhere asking for hydraulic fluid, master links, and anybody got a beer? In CT you can break down just about anywhere and walk a few miles at most in any direction to safety. All that stuff you saw on TV about getting lost in the desert? Believe it. Oh, and that Orange blanket they are changing the tube on? It ain't no blanket it's a signal flag that doubles as a clean workspace. Timmy carries everything, and I mean everything. We laugh in the beginning but he is the man of the hour more than a few times.



The first gas stop on day 2 was in Baker, CA. home to the world's largest thermometer, though Kim Jong Yuang says his is bigger especially now that he knows the way to hit America is in it's wallet.






Tim and James at the gas in Baker. The 3 of us rode together most of the time. You just can't beat riding with good friends. I think that is one of the best things I like about all types of riding, the camaraderie.




On our way back into Vegas from Red Rock Canyon and the finish we stopped at a Seven Eleven and got something to wash down the dust




Tim, Myself, and James end of ride at The Orleans. That had to be the coldest, best beer I've ever had, and I've had a few.

End of the ride, bikes loaded, and off to the strip on Sunday. We ended up at The Double Barrell to watch The Patriots game and a sign in the Men's Room mentioned something about "Lascivious Behavior" ? we still aren't sure what that means but we think Timmy may have exhibited some.


All in all this was another great trip with great friends. This was our second year in a row going out there and though I love this ride, next year will most likely be something different, I've seen enough sand to last me a couple of lifetimes. Go CT Ramblers!