dON'T gO cRAZY

Thanks! Yep, no shortage of riders in SOCAL..but there are times when I really do enjoy going at it alone

Momma went away with our baby girl to Thailand to visit with her side of the family...I would have loved to go, but $$$ and work kept me here....

So after a month of hanging around local, working, riding and hanging with our dogs the itch returned...the itch for some adventure beyond the county lines of Ventura...reading some reports and peeping at pics had me thirsty to see the Eastern Sierras again....ADV rider DAAANG coming out from VA Beach to Mammoth Lakes sent me over the edge...I had to go now!
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Keep it coming Chris!

Nice shout out to Lost For A Reason
http://lostforareason.org/
I had to throw a few bucks over there too.

Your family is lovely.


Ride on!!!

Will get it going later tonight..got sidetracked by Skype :happy


lvscrvs- your report had some inspiration in this trip for sure!

Eastern Sierra Get Away

So, let's get it started

Just like all good big poser dirt bike reports this one starts at SBUX :huh


In the predawn hours I had to get my instant


While sipping my tall Sumatra I decided to rig up my GoPro camera, on inspection I noticed I made a rookie move....No SD card
No big deal..I'll just yank the one out of my camera, let it shoot pics onto the internal memory...well, while getting the SD card out of the camera I somehow dropped it onto the bike's seat where it quickly slid into an unseen crevice to be swallowed whole with a tink, tink, tink noise...all under the cover of predawn darkness and a light drizzle...:huh

Out comes the surefire and the search is on...off comes the seat, off comes the gear....of course the helmet falls from the bike while looking and smashes on the concrete..the rotopax comes off and the tool kit is next....now we are making "progress"



As you can see by the pic I looked for quite sometime for this SD Card, as the sun is up now...finally she gave it up....it took me saying "Fuck it, I'll buy another on the road" for her to show herself



Jeez loueeze...can we get going now



Super Dooper Slab it out of town...just in time for rush hour

Thank goodness for lane sharing

Going along at a pretty good clip, sharing a lane or two my visor on my Shoei Hornet looks a bit lower than I recall....I shrug it off and blaze along....until

SLAM!! The damn visor comes all the down in front of face!!! :eek1:eek1:eek1 Now I am speeding along and looking at the inside of my visor...the face shield broke off months ago, so there was no resistance to this thing coming down to blind me :eek1:eek1:eek1

Apparantly when it fell off the bike earlier the top screw broke that keeps it in place



well, out comes the tool kit again....twice in the first hour of the trip

This isn't getting off to the start I had imagined

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We fly into Mojave, quick fuel and piss break then on....



We barely slow for Red Rock State Park





Soon I begin to see the land begin to change



The temps are about perfect and not a cloud on the horizon

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Hauling through Jawbone, Pearsonville, Lone Pine....

Another quick gas stop, piss and eat something quick in Independance



On to Big Pine and Bishop

Decided to take some dirt out of Bishop

Casa Diablo Road



Little sandy and loose in spots, but totally doable on the big bike



You can really begin to get that middle of nowhere feeling out here







The road was about 30 miles of nice dirt, nothing too bad, just fun speedy dirt roads

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Came out on Benton Crossing Road and went right



Passing Lake Crowley





For a paved road, this one is quite beautiful..lots of green, lots of cows, some hot springs and a river crossing...plus it heads toward the beautifully majestic Sierras

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Don't you just love it when stuff happens and you're barely out of your diveway....

Love this shot...

Benton Crossing

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Popped back onto 395 just south of Mammoth...temporary lay up to ADV rider DAAANG

While I waited for him and his partner on this trip to finish up some sight seeing.... I decided to explore some trails around Mammoth



What could go wrong?

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Zigged when I should have zagged ​

Of course it was waaaaayyy steeper than it looked on camera, but it was more the sand that got me and my lack of talent more than anything

Need more speed next time...yep...waayy more speed :huh



now, to recover the big heavy bitch



first, get the bags off



then get her pointed down hill



had a hard time lifting her up enough to get the one side case free

good shot of bad technique...should have back and butt against bike and walk into while squatting upwards...but this was the point where I was lifting while simultaneously knocking the left pannier out of the way...:eek1



once I did get it off, she came up like nothing...damn those bags were loaded up
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Let me get off these trails and onto some dirt roads...the F8 is alot more at home here

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I feel that too! Thanks for sharing, your style has been fun to read!

Back into Mammoth

and

Up to Horseshoe Lake for some sight seeing



Pretty, but deadly :huh







:huh CO2?! :eek1





This was definitaley a first for me...guess I am sheltered, but I had no idea such a danger existed



Love the last line That would just about every activity I do in or around snow





Cool old building sitting abandoned close to the lake



Selfy



Lake Mamie


Finally ran into DAAANG and guest...never did get the good riding up so good to see you it's been too long pic or pic of my burger...ADV I have failed you



It was a great dinner of laughs, memories and talk of future adventures ​

HOLY BALLZ this is good.

After dinner I retreated to the woods off of Mammoth Scenic Loop

According to the Ranger you could camp for free anywhere off of there or just about anywhere east of 395

Up and at em at dawn



A gear bomb goes off in order to make some coffee and oatmeal



Met up with DAAANG and out to the open road















Up and Over Sonora Pass (108) with DAAANG then back through Yosemite via Tioga Pass (120) for me while they pressed on to SanFran was the plan

Down and through Bridgeport....cow pasture make for great foregrounds to the Majestic Sierras



Sonora Pass...one of the most scenic and twistiest roads I have ever known

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