Death Valley to Palm Springs.......
The long way round.....of course.....crikey, so much to catch up on. Having slept since our disastrous visit to Death Valley we awoke to the sound of the American National Anthem being played at China Lake Naval Base, beautiful sunshine and not a 'chuff' of wind.....excellent. From here we rode over part of the Sequoia National Park to a campsite in Visalia, think the roads were the 178 and poss the 155...can't quite remember. The campsite was ok but too noisy for me but it served a purpose as we went on a days ride out into the Sequoias, checking out The General Sherman and Moro Rock. The tree was pretty impressive...the rock was cool but after climbing Angels Landing in Zion we didn't even break into a nervous sweat....lol.
From here we rode to Yosemite.....what can I say......what a fabulous place. We didn't camp in the park, it was too busy, so we stayed at another KOA Campsite just outside Mariposa. This was a good site, pool, internet (bit slow but working) and peaceful with wild turkeys and woodpeckers going about their business. We stayed here for a few days as we needed 'recovery time' due to walking Yosemite Falls. Mental walk again....the park reckons 6 - 8 hours round trip...it took us 9.....6hrs up and 3hrs down. Well worth the hike. We also went up to Glacier Point....from here you have another great view of the park and we could see the infamous 'Half Dome'. This is an even more mental hike.....one we wanted to do but discovered you had to get permits by entering a lottery system and camp out overnight.....we were disappointed that it just wasn't going to be feasible to do it on this trip......a reason to go back.....deffo !!!
From here we rode North again towards Fortuna where we stayed in a cheap motel before heading out the next day to start riding to San Francisco. Along the way we rode 'The Avenue of Giants'......more Sequoias......well we like trees.....we then ended up at another campsite, Cloverdale KOA I think. Liked this campsite.....set back in the hills behind some of California's wineries....it was nice and quiet again, though there were quite a lot of people there and deer roamed freely, practically coming right up to your tent.
Next stop....San Francisco......bust the budget kinda place. Loved it. Rode over 'The Golden Gate Bridge' with a massive smile on my face.....I'd only ever seen this on the tv. We stayed in a Super 8 on Lombard Street...you know the street you see in movies with the hills.....well we slept on it, walked it and then we even rode it !!! I have yet to put some footage together for that. We walked up and down those hills and visited 'Pier 39' with it's fabulous free living sea lions, watched an aircraft carrier sail under the bridge, pelicans flying about, Alcatraz and finally we had to do it.....well you're in San Francisco....you have to.....catch a tram. Great experience....not as easy to stand up on them as you think as Chris found out. We caught one from the bottom up to Union Square and then back to Lombard street.
After a fab time in San Francisco we set off South, heading for Palm springs but of course we rode out of San Francisco through the hilly roads and guess what, got on the interstate and eek......no clutch.....burnt out. So we pulled into a garage where we thought if we let it cool down a bit it might be ok......not really.....the nearest Harley Dealer was about 7 miles away so we opted to ride quietly to it. Dudley Perkins, one of the oldest Harley Dealers there is. That ended up being our day....sitting in the sun outside the shop whilst they put a new clutch in and repaired a couple of things on my exhaust. By the time we got away the light was starting to go but a short blat down the interstate soon threw up some motels.....unfortunately they were expensive....foo bah....that really is the budget busted. There's not a lot you can do about it, sometimes you just have to suck it up and take what the road throws at you.......bread and water for a week then !!!
So tomorrow came....a new day....a new clutch......and ...another Harley Dealer.......the position of my gear lever had been altered....only slightly.....I'd thought something felt odd when we pulled away yesterday, just thought it was me.....however riding having to take your foot right off the gears to then move your foot to reach them to move them became a chore. Chris tried to alter them .....we thought it would be easy but yet again Harley foxed us and we couldn't shift....one bloomin nut. Thankfully the dealer we called in on righted it for free.....'good job' guys. Another cheap motel and then another campsite brought us closer to Palm Springs. The campsite at Acton was ok but there was a train track at the back of it and the drivers insisted on 'tooting' even in the middle of the night.....seriously.....yep!!! The amusing thing we found at this site is that we awoke to the sound of lions or big cats roaring.....I kid you not, I thought I'd heard them when we pulled in the night before. The wonderful thing though was that it turned out to be a Wildlife Sanctuary run by The Roar Foundation and Tippi Hedren....you have to book to gain any kind of entry. All the big cats there were rescued from what I call 'stupid people' trying to keep wild animals as pets.
Next stop....Psalm Springs....a cracking new campsite just down the road from The Joshua Tree National Park. We ended up staying here for about four or five days enjoying the sun and pool time. We went out from there as well....to Palm Springs Arial Tramway, the Worlds largest rotating tram car. Great view, bit pricey for what it was though but a day out. We'd already decide we were going to ride through The Joshua trees when we leave the campsite.
If you haven't already seen them there are photos already available for viewing in Gallery Six and Gallery Seven. Also don't forget to check the Routes page if you like maps.
More to come......I'll post this lot and give my fingers a rest....hmmn I'm hungry as well.....lunch break it is then.....see you in a bit xx
