Snowbird December 2020

For the month of November and first week of December I was employed on a contract job. Unfortunately it was just a short term thing and also unfortunately it was mostly remote and by the end of it I was bouncing off the walls again. After all my endless map searching for the perfect or at least good route through the Southwest I decided to leave.

In previous posts I've mentioned about negative inertia and how hard it is to break free of being stuck at home during this pandemic depression, so I feel I must point out that my special lady and my dad had a role in motivating me to get out and take this trip.

After much deliberation the plan was to trailer my bike to Bakersfield area and then ride Death Valley, Monument Valley, and whatever else in the AZ/NV/UT area I run across.

Day 1: Lebanon, OR to Willows, CA. I spent Saturday preparing and Sunday I loaded up and made it as far as Willows. Usually I'd be going to the happiest place on Earth (ThunderHill Raceway Park) but this time I was staying in the second noisiest Motel 6 on the west coast. But at least they had the yule log channel and I pretended to have a fireplace.

Day 2: Willows, CA to Weedpatch (Bakersfield), CA. Weedpatch to Lake Isabella (40 miles). Favorite road Hwy 178. The start of my ride! I checked my car into a storage facility and unloaded my bike. My destination for the night was just forty miles away but it was a pretty canyon run with good curves. Unfortunately the traffic made it less than perfect but it was a good start. Just outside of Bakersfield the highway runs through Orange groves and the smell of the city gives way to citrus and high desert.

Lake Isabella Motel is run by a nice oriental lady who has a score of red tabby cats.

Part of this trip was about escaping the gloom of the pandemic and I started to escape it by eating my dinner in the back yard of a bar. Its not quite "dine in", but close.

Day 3: Lake Isabella to Death Valley, out and back on CA-190 past Panamint Springs, to Badwater Basin to Shoshone to Pahrump NV, to Mt Charleston, to Las Vegas 450 miles. Favorite road: CA-190 past Panamint.

The first part of the ride was just making up miles in the desert. Past Lake Isabella and NAS China Lake is pretty flat and boring.

Eventually the road going through the mountains and into Searles Valley where the "Death Valley" vibes start. The Searles area smells like sulfur and half of the buildings in town are boarded up and decaying. After all there's no reason to be in the Searles valley unless 1. you work for the mineral company 2. you support people working for the mineral company or 3. you're on your way into Death Valley.

But I digress, the beauty of the desert is evident in all directions. At one stop I got to watch F-18s from NAS China Lake maneuvering and saw one flying at low altitude over the road.

There are some really fun twisty sections going through the mountains and then dropping into the valley. Thanks to my Butler map I knew that once I got to Panamint Springs I could do an out and back on CA-190 to the Northwestern edge of the park and back, which is probably the coolest road I was on that day.

Next was to go through Badwater Basin and oo and ah over the below sea level desert with all the other tourists.

The rest of DV was pretty but pretty much the same.

I was glad to reach Shoshone and head towards Pahrump NV. My initial plan was to stay in Pahrump but I got there about 3pm. It was too early to stop for the day so I powered North through the emptiness then back South and East past Creech AFB (I got to see a Predator drone landing) and on to Mt Charleston.

Mt Charleston is one of those "I saw it on a map and its a squiggly line so I'm going to ride it" things. Once I got on the access road I realized maybe my ambition was outweighing my talent. Road 156 ascends up the side of the mountain more or less straight for miles at 6-10% grade. It was already sunset and I was on the opposite side of the mountain from the sun and temperatures were dropping as I powered up the mountain. As an aside I have to congratulate the Interceptor because I was in sixth gear most of the climb going 80. 

At the mountain viewpoint around 8000 feet I took some terrible photos that don't do the sheer altitude justice.

I descended as fast as reasonable because it was darn cold up there. Apparently there's a mountain resort community up there as well as a ski area. Who'd have known?

The road dropped into the valley and I made my way into Las Vegas. Without a real plan I got more than a little lost before checking into a just off strip casino hotel. On entry the security guard checked my temperature with a FLIR thermal camera (overkill?). All the staff were masked up but I was able to dine-in Dinner and Breakfast there, so that's a win!

Day 4: Las Vegas to St George UT to Colorado City to Fredonia to Marble Canyon to Page to Kayenta AZ. 405 Miles. Favorite Road: 89A Fredonia to Jacob Lake to Marble Canyon to Bitter Springs.

After breakfast I slabbed out I-15 into Utah. Things started to get scenic past Hurricane (where I had dine-in lunch!). After Fredonia AZ I got a speeding ticket from an AZHP officer who wasn't wearing a mask. Seriously though why the eff was there a cop out there? 89A is so deserted. Anyways 89A up the mountain is where normally you'd turn to access the North Rim of the Grand Canyon which was already closed for the year.

This area is not without its scenic views.

This is the Colorado river upstream of "The Grand Canyon". So I guess that makes this deep canyon the "Slightly Less Grand Canyon".

It was getting late and I needed to make time to Kayenta. I cruised through Page AZ, home of the famous Horseshoe Bend which is open and the famous Antelope Canyon which is closed, and out through more middle of nowhere. The temperature was dropping fast as it got dark and I ran my heated gear on high the last ninety miles into Kayenta.

The Navajo reservation has an 8pm-5am curfew so all the restaurants close at 7. The restaurants also don't have lobby service so I froze my tail off walking through the drive through then back to my hotel room to eat.

Day 5: Kayenta Az to Monument Valley to Kayenta to Page to Fredonia to St. George. 325 Miles

Monument Valley was supposed to be one of the check boxes on this trip. In the morning is was low-30s and snow flurries were in the forecast. I loaded up and departed my hotel. One depressing thing about Kayenta and Navajo land was just how many PSA signs and billboards there were advising against substance abuse and domestic abuse. At the hotel there were signs advising not to give money to panhandlers and while at a scenic view pull out from the highway a truck filled with Navajo men stopped to ask for money.

Once in Monument Valley I tried to go out Monument Valley BLVD to get close to the Sentinel and Mitten mesas and ran into a roadblock. Wait, didn't we already do this in Washington several months ago?

Literally there is nothing out this road besides a closed visitor center and a few viewpoints, why close it? If I really wanted to spread a disease which I don't have why not stop at any of the houses along the way or cough on people in the grocery store in Kayenta?

Anyways I took my scenic photos from the main highway and it started snowing on me.

After seeing this area and witnessing how cold it gets I really appreciate how tough the Navajo used to be. Now they are panhandlers and drunks that have to be told not to beat their family. The reservations are mostly 1960s looking cookie cutter government built buildings that are falling apart and pre-fab homes that are falling apart and surrounded by dead vehicles and trailers.

I wasn't alone in Monument Valley, there was a fairly steady stream of Sprinter van RVs and other obvious tourists (and a few adv bikes) going in and out of the valley. My observation about Monument Valley is that the mesas aren't unique, its just this is the most well known of them because of films like Forrest Gump or National Lampoons Vacation. Having ridden through the Marble Canyon area and then seeing Monument drove that home. The experience was anti climactic perhaps due to the famous viewpoint being closed and the cold weather.

With the Monument Valley checkbox checked and with the foul weather moving in I set out. I took a different route back west because the high mountain route past Jacobs Lake had gotten snowed on just after I went through. I rode back to St George and spent the night with an old friend.

I have to give credit to Southern Utah as a whole. For the several hundred miles I spent in Utah I can say it was clean. The properties I could see from the highway were well maintained without the dozens of storage containers, dead cars, and dead travel trailers common to rural properties in CA, NV, and AZ. Even the city of Hurricane and St George were cleaner feeling than most cities I've been in.

Day 6: St George to Valley of Fire State Park NV to Hoover Dam to Kingman AZ to Seligman AZ. 312 Miles. Favorite Road NV 167 through Valley of Fire State Park.

Out of SGU I slabbed it into Nevada and followed signs for the Valley of Fire State Park. The fun road starts after two cities worth of 25mph speed limits and stop signs. Once in the park the pavement is good, the roads are twisty, and at least when I was there the traffic was minimal. What traffic there was indicated the pattern of people getting out of restrictive western states (CA, OR, WA) and heading out to camp in the middle of the desert.

This rock is supposed to look like a face screaming in agony about being a rock.

After Valley of Fire I hit Hoover Dam for the obligatory stop.

One of the doors was polished so well I had to take a selfie.

There was a Zodiac sculpture along with the other art-deco stuff. I'm a Gemini.

After hoover I slabbed it to Kingman where I'd initially planned to stop for the night. But since it was still early (and Kingman just felt sketchy) I pushed on RT-66 to Seligman. The old 66 was kind of a neat ride through different terrain with minimal traffic. Every ten miles or so there's a decaying abandoned gas station or roadside motel. In another season I'd like to go through here and go to the Grand Canyon Caverns or some of the other attractions. There's also another reservation complete with manned roadblocks. Makes me wonder how much it costs the tribe to rent the guard booth and roadblock stuff and man them for the marginal benefit of stopping curious or lost tourists.

At the end I found Seligman, checked into one of the roadside motels that's still operating and ate at the Roadkill Café.

I bet the lady working at the motel had a giggle about putting Tim in the room that Timmy once slept in.

Day 7: Seligman AZ to Ash Fork to Prescott to Wilhoit to Skull Valley to Iron Springs to Jerome to Cottonwood to Camp Verde to Hwy 260/87 to Winslow AZ. 282 Miles. Favorite road: 260/87 between Camp Verde and Winslow. Honorable Mention: 89A from Prescott to Jerome and Iron Springs Road through Skull Valley.

I left Seligman after a hearty breakfast at Roadkill. My route was uneventful and mostly nice scenery down until the sprawl of Prescott. South of Prescott the road goes up and through the mountains which would be just great if the speed limit wasn't 35 and the cars were going 25. After the mountain twisties I cut off through Kirkland valley and Skull valley where the road was less busy. This road was curvy and runs along hilltops for miles but before long I ended up back in Prescott.

Outside of Prescott to the east is the road to Jerome. This is a super twisty road which would probably be better mid week. Hitting it on a Saturday with a million Californians on it was no fun. The road winds down into Jerome which is an old mining town built on the side of a steep mountain. Go look up the photos of Jerome on Google Maps, the architecture of the town is neat. Its also super touristy and every other car parked in Jerome had a California plate. Lots of refugees getting out to the Free State of Arizona and away from the pandemic gloom of their own state.

After Jerome its more spread out city for a while until the road climbs into the mountains again. This section of 260/87 between Camp Verde and Winslow is lots of fun and sparsely traveled. Its also very high elevation and there was snow beside the road.

After the mountain on the open plain the wind gusts picked up to the point where it was hard to maintain a straight line. The last twenty miles into Winslow were uneventful straight line where it was hard to not go license remover speed.

In Winslow I checked into a cheap motel, which was surprisingly nice inside, and went out in search of the famous street corner from the Eagles song. This was mostly just for the sake of my dad living vicariously through me because I don't personally care for the Eagles that much.

It was cold and windy in Winslow and probably a third of the buildings/houses along the main drag are deserted and boarded up. Near the famous corner is the touristy stuff and I forgot to buy a RT66 sticker for my side cases. I found a pub that was open and had a good dinner and some great beers. While eating dinner the weather snowed, sideways. At least it didn't snow that much.

I looked at the forecast and again questioned if my plan, or lack thereof, had gotten me into a bad situation.

Day 8: Winslow to Flagstaff to Glendale/Phoenix to Quartzsite AZ. 326 Miles

In the morning the weather was clear and in the low teens. I walked to the local circle K for coffee and any bit of exposed skin I had protested mightily. My dad asked how I was doing since he saw the weather forecast, and I commented that our Prudhoe Bay adventure in 2019 had prepared me mentally for riding in this kind of weather.

With my heated gear on high I set off on the slab. I planned to have beers with a friend in Phoenix and after the previous night's storm most of the interesting roads at high elevation might have been sketchy. My bike doesn't care how cold it is or apparently how high. The VFR performed just fine on the high altitude freeway to Flagstaff and then south.

I made great time and arrived in Phoenix/Glendale mid afternoon. I'll say this for being unemployed and taking trips, at least I've seen people that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. The ride west from Phoenix was uneventful and the weather was warm. Near Tonopah the air took on a bad sewage smell, as if someone was evaporating a sewage treatment pond. I noticed a sign for the Palo Verde Generating Station and being a former nukie I decided to look it up later. Turns out PVGS uses treatment water as part of its cooling, so my estimation of the smell was accurate.

In Quartzsite I got checked into my motel and explored local culture. Its pretty much just another desert town that caters to travelers. Its also a stopping point for societies' refugees on the way to/from Slab City.

Day 9: Quartzsite AZ to Joshua Tree NP to Lucerne Valley to Barstow to Weedpatch.359 miles. Trailer to Santa Nella 180 Miles. Favorite road: through Joshua Tree NP.

In the morning I took a brief walk in the desert to see some cacti up close and discovered why they call it Quartzsite. The stuff is all over the place.

After coffee and a Danish at the truck stop I hit the interstate. I stopped for fuel at a place called "Chiriaco Summit" and discovered a General Patton museum complete with an outdoor tank and military vehicle exhibit. It appeared closed so I continued on and into Joshua Tree National Park.

The southern half of the park was great riding. The northern half had a lot of traffic.

There's some scenic and interesting rock formations on the north side of the park but as time was wasting and the parking areas were full I pressed on past the park and onward.

At the intersection of TwentyNine Palms, Victorville, Big Bear, and Barstow there's a place called Lucerne Valley. Its part of rural California you'd never know existed unless you traveled it. There's a café there that is unashamed to display flags for their presidential candidate and bumper stickers advising to neuter the current California Governor. My kind of place since I'm all for flushing the current Oregon Governor. But I digress, the food was good and I got to talk to some of the locals in the outdoor seating area. There's a bunch of rally cars and what I'd call "redneck art cars" in the parking lot of the café along with a stage that I can imagine has hosted many classic rock bands over the years.

Into the Mojave desert the wind started picking up and the temperature dropped into the low 40s. Near Tehachapi I gave in and put on my heated gear for the last hour or so into Weedpatch. At the storage place I loaded up my bike and called a motel to reserve a room.

In Santa Nella there were dozens of feral cats, and they took an interest in my bike and car.

Day 10: Santa Nella to Eagle Point 479 miles

The run up the freeway was uneventful and boring. Fortunately I made it through the pass before the latest storms arrived. I stayed with my parents and said hi to their cats.

Day 11: Eagle Point to Lebanon 216 miles

I got home mid afternoon and started unloading/cleaning my stuff. Total mileage on the bike:2532. Total mileage on the car: 1610. The weather mostly cooperated with my trip although to ride more of Northern Arizona and or Southern Utah I'd say October/November would work better. The concept of trailering down and starting from California works and I might do it again. There's a lot more to Arizona and Utah to explore. For that matter if the Governor of California hadn't decreed more state of emergency crap while I was down there I might have stayed and ran around the mountains east of San Diego.

There's always something for next time.