Death Valley Airhead Beemers Rally - Furnace Creek - Days 3-4-5

Our riding time today was quite short....only 120 miles or so. Leaving Tecopa Hot Springs, we all went our separate ways. A couple of our friends had never been through the "Badwater" entrance into Death Valley so they went that route. We wanted to get to the camping area and get set up early so we took the shorter route in.

I always look forward to the "drop" into Death Valley from the Junction. Temperatures typically rise significantly on the way in.

We had a few clouds but temperatures were in the 80's.

The "Inn at Furnace Creek" boasts rooms for hundreds of dollars if you can get one....I've never tried. Even the tiny "cheap" rooms at Furnace Creek run over $200.00 per night.....crazy.

Approaching Furnace Creek.

Arriving fairly early allowed us a choice camping spot with a table. Soon other aquantances began showing up and it was like "old home" week with friends all around. The hard sided cooler from the trailer was nice to have.

"Check In" also had t-shirts and other "Airhead" goods for sale.

Someone trailered in a "rat" built BMW hard tail just for fun.
I have access to a few frames so maybe I'll slap together a "beater" one of these days. I have a spare engine, transmissions, final drives, etc.....on second thought...probably not....

This guy got tangled up with something on the road and tore off his cross over pipe and front turn signal. Lucky as it could have been much worse. He thought it was a piece of pipe or "something". His story was a bit sketchy...?...I am thinking maybe he hit a reflector along the road shoulder, but details weren't offered.

A nice old conversion "trailer queen" with a later model drive train. Hauled in via pickup / trailer. Very tastefully done, but apparantly not ridden much, unless he cleans it constantly.

A couple old vintage singles about too. Both were very nice correct restorations.

Another "conversion" bike.....

The typical morning "chair pile" which happens every year at Agua Caliente during New Years....the same "gremlins" must be about?

Pool side at the showers. Great view of the snow capped mountains in the distance. Temperature at the pool was well into the upper 80's. Had to take a quick swim.

We spent 3 nights at the Furnace Creek camp ground. Planned on traveling with some other folks over to the Panamint Valley but Darian (my Wife) had a medical issue (kidney stones) while we were there. She had a couple of very rough days and more extended camping wasn't sounding very inviting. She's a tough cookie and "soldiered through" the episode.

Death Valley - Tecopa - Day 2

Our first night out was a pleasant one with warm temperatures and zero wind. Camp "pack up" is about an hour task, so by the time we were ready to go the temps were in the 60's. We wandered into 29 Palms Ca. for a fuel fill and a quick McDonald's breakfast. Darian needed to stop at a pharmacy but after 20 - 30 minutes of searching we never could find anything resembling one. So...off we went towards Amboy.

[Click on images to enlarge]

We knew a few other rider friends were in the same area.....as we went over "Sheep Hole Pass" I looked to the right and saw a large rock formation and parking area....I told Darian, "I bet that is where our buddies camped last night", as they are "stealth" campers quite a bit of the time.

Approaching Amboy, the highway crosses through a mining area. I went to some satellite images to see the full extent of the mining in the area.

Wide open desert and part of the "29 Palms Marine Combat Training Area".

"Roys" at Amboy....Amboy is mainly a railroad town with a few sparse residences.  Gas is sometimes available....sometimes not.....

Our route took us East...then North up Kelbaker Rd. towards "Kelso"...another old railroad junction. We crossed under Interstate 40 and headed into Kelso.

A quick stop right before we crossed under I-40.The "wide open" country offers some fantastic views.

 

"Kelso" was quite a populated area during WW2. Now....not so much. The Historic Railroad

Depot had a functioning store and cafe last Winter...now closed. We took a break and visited 

with some other riders from Las Vegas.

 

We hit Baker Ca. about 2:00 pm and ran into our biker friends at a gas station... and sure enough...they had camped the night before right where I thought they had....then off to Tecopa Hot Springs....

    
The Hot Springs water table has suffered from the droughts.....one set of pools at a higher elevation was closed, but others were still in operation. Tecopa is a pretty desolate place but the view from our campsite was excellent.

Our Tecopa "no frills" campsite:

The view was worth a thousand bucks...as was the camaraderie with our friends.....
Our new large tent is great. Only 4 poles for the main tent and 2 for the rain fly. Assembly of the tent only takes a few minutes. We never did use the rain fly over the week's use. The tent has a large gear storage loft overhead which was capable of holding coats, towels, clothes or whatever. Also has wall mounted storage pockets and water bottle holders. It has two different collapsable "shelving" units which hang in the corners...one with three shelves and a fabric "mirror". My Wife loves the tent. Also room for chairs if wanted.
The tent was not exposed to any high winds over the course of our use so far. The tent has a very high profile so high winds would be an issue. The rainfly has a "kite" appearance and could be a problem if not securely tied down. I read some reviews of the tent in high winds and it faired well.....as long as it was tied down properly / securely.
The tent is quite large when stowed and likely too big to haul on the bike without the trailer. It is pretty heavy as the material used is quite thick. The poles are a very large diameter fiberglass...and long.

We were treated to a long air show with a couple of A-10 "Wart Hogs" in training going round and round over our heads for an hour or so......

Awesome aircraft....

The Hot Springs were great and we enjoyed our overnight stay...."Thanks Dave". (Buddy Dave picked up the tab for the night)