My wife Valerie met me at my dads place near Bakersfield, where we spent Friday night and dropped off the kids, then continued on the bike to Mojave where we met up with Dan & family, and sidecarsusie. From there we stopped at Garlock:
Then we continued on to Randsburg:
Here we are waiting at the park next to the museum for the rest of the crew to show up.
kah92340 was already there waiting when we arrived.
Some things to ponder around the outside of the museum:
A walk through the inside of the museum:
A walk up the street in Randsburg:
Here's a walk through one of the "antique/suvenier/sucker tourist" type stores. In all fairness, we saw some interesting items and the dude out front was quite a unique personality.
Back out onto the street:
After lunch Dan and Susie took us out to the tunnel:
It was an interesting drive to the tunnel, and we took a different road out which was much smoother, but every bit as interesting. I'm glad we did it.
As we left Randsburg I noticed my bike was handling kinda sloppy with the roaring sound of a low rear tire. But Dan saved my tail with a can of Fix-A-Flat which got me the 40 miles back into Mojave while Valerie accepted a ride in the Suburban. At the gas station we plugged my tire and aired up as the sun was setting. Me and Valerie spent the night at the Days Inn there in Mojave and headed down 58 through Tehachapi the next day. When we arrived back at my dads place he took us all out to eat lunch. That's where I parted company and headed home for the coast. I gased up at the Buttonwillow truck stop, checked my tire one more time, and continued west on hwy 58, through the California Valley/Curizo Plain/San Andreas Fault, to Santa Margarita where hwy 58 ends at the 101. The another 30 minuts to home.
The last time I took hwy 58 across the California Valley was nearly 10 years ago. The road was pretty rough back then. But to my surprise and pleasure, the road has all been redone and it turned out to be quite an enjoyable ride. This road is pretty trecherous on the eastern side with many, many 5mph hairpin turns. Gotta stay cool! The new pavement really made a difference!
I gotta tell ya, I have never before in my life seen the California Valley so green! It's hard to imagine that in another month or so that place will be dry, brown, and well over a hundred degrees.
Nearing Santa Margarita:
