Airheads BMW Overnighter...Bashfords Mineral Spa

We attended the annual "Airhead Beemers Club Salton Sea Overnighter" last weekend.
Yuma had a good dose of rain on Thursday over night, and rain was forecast for Friday too. We loaded up the bike on Thursday and were ready to go for Friday AM. Looking at the Doplar Radar Friday morning, the storms were spotty and didn't appear to have any "big rain" so we headed out. We like to go over for two nights rather than one. The ride over was nice with cloud cover and mid 60's temperatures....great riding weather. Very minimal wind too.

         We always make a stop at "Glamis" for a break. 
         (left "click" on photos to enlarge)

 Always end up with curious folks looking at the sidecar setup. The short break turned into a 1/2 hour stop as usual. BS'd with one guy from Scotland for a bit...

 We always make a stop in Calipatria Ca. at a Mexican donut shop. They sell authentic food also. We both had a large lunch and bought 4 small loaves of bread (Bolillo's) for $12.00 total.

Niland Ca. (home of "Slab City") was the next stop for fuel & ice. Nothing much in Niland.

One nice thing about turning the "overnighter" into 2 nights is a better choice of tent spots...although none of them are very good. "Camping in the rocks". Our tent (not pictured) is a huge 6 person tent. Probably not a good choice for high wind situations but it has weathered through some pretty good wind storms.

Wonderful sunset on Sat. night.

 Nice turnout for the campout. Probably had a couple dozen folks there. Nice to catch up on everyones Summer riding adventures and BS about bikes, adventures and life in general. Many of us are gaining some years so health has also seemed to be an occasional  topic now...lol. One buddy from Phoenix was supposed to come to Yuma on Thursday, stay at our place and ride out with us. The rain scared him off and he didn't come over. Too bad as he wouldn't have got wet.

We are planning on traveling to Death Valley Ca. for the annual "Death Valley Airheads Rendezvous" in a couple of weeks. My rear pusher tire is getting a bit thin but I thought maybe it would make it to Death Valley and back. After arriving home last night, I saw noticeable further wear from the 130 mile trip home. Funny how tire tread seems to "disappear" so quickly when they are approaching the end of their life. I have a used conventional 18" tire I could mount, but decided to go ahead and order another Metzler "K-Block" tire. I ordered it last night so should have it in plenty of time to mount for Death Valley. I contemplated running the existing tire to the end, and then changing the tire during the trip. Not sure if I really want to perform a tire swap "on the road"....I think I could get a couple hundred more miles out of the currant tire...we'll see. 


                   Our "Donut Shop Stop"...had to stop in on the way home too....

                    Took a minor detour to a Glamis Overlook...lot's of sand.

                           Picacho Peak in the distance:

Another nice little get away and no bike issues. Bike belched out a bunch of smoke when I started in Sunday to leave. The engine does that every now and then when starting. Very little oil usage so I'm not worried about that.