Down in Death Valley........

literally.....down.....blown down !!!!!.......What started off as a perfectly normal day for us....pack bikes, have brekkie, back on the road, turned out to be one of the hardest riding days we've had yet. Our problem today was the wind. Initially the weather was ok, hot but not as hot as I was expecting for Death Valley and just a gentle breeze initially. However as we rode deeper into Death Valley towards the lowest point, Badwater Basin, the gentle breeze turned into major gusting, blowing the bikes to and fro across the road. After much squeaking from me and various English expletives we pulled over in a sheltered spot. A few riding tips from Chris and we continued to Badwater Basin. The tips helped but the gusts continued to batter us....even worse you can see some of the dust storms heading towards you so you prepare yourself and hang on......but don't forget to close your mouth if you've no scarf on...and yer eyes if you've no shades on or put your visor down......jeez....a mouthful of sand and dust....yuk !!!

We made it to Badwater Basin and did the usual tourist stuff....piccies....selfies etc and headed off for a place called Stovepipe Wells for an ice cream and to wash the sand away from dry mouths. Heading here is when our mini disaster struck. The gusts were at it again......I'm still riding them better after Chris's tips but riding a fully laden Sportster at an angle of what felt like 45 degrees !!!.....lol.....no it wasn't, that's a gross exaggeration, but it felt like that to me. Riding a motorcycle leaning into the wind with strong gusting cross winds is not my idea of fun......are we there yet !!!!......I was thinking as ...ping....I hear something drop off my bike....and as I nearly loose my footing on the right side, I realise the right foot peg has flipped off. I shout...literally to Chris down my microphone so he can hear me against the wind and I pull over. This is bearing in mind we are now stopped on an open road with side winds.....arghh.......naturally Chris is the gentleman that turns round to ride back and retrieve my foot peg .....whilst I'm stood there trying to keep my bike upright.

I watch him struggle back down the road and as he turns to actually collect my peg.....the gust gets him.....blowing him over on a fully laden Heritage Softail like a mere leaf from a tree. Shoo...t what to do.....much swearing from Chris's end as you can imagine.....I'm trying to hold my bike upright......I manage to flag a car down....luckily the driver is a nice young strong man....I asked him politely if he would please help Chris pick the bike up....no problem Mam....and off he went. I watched as he helped Chris get the bike upright......another car driver stopped to check I was ok and did I need help to hold my bike up whilst I was waiting for Chris.......soooo big thank you to those guys that stopped. We finally made it to Stovepipe Wells.....relieved to be in one piece.....the foot peg, thankfully would screw back on.......seriously a much deserved drink and ice cream.

There was more to come.....many people particularly motorcyclists had stopped to pause at this watering hole.....another car driver told us the wind was just as bad the way we were heading. We set off prepared to do battle against the wind once more, thankfully we didn't find it quite as dramatic as earlier and arrived at a motel in Ridgecrest ( just next door to China Lake Naval Weapons Airbase) , safe and sound......phew what a day !!!!!!!.

We later discovered this report.....High winds damage....they'd actually had problems at the time we had visited.