A loop up M-1 over Hull Mtn to Covelo and Alder Springs ...

A loop down to Bartlett Springs, Stonyford, M-10 and Lake Pillsbury

We’ll see … lots of work to do on both our KLRs before we can look forward to camping …

It’s a 2009 Ninja 250, SFMC blue of course, so it matches her new leathers … Cary got it for a good price, which is one way of saying it needs a lot of work … ha. You’d have thought we’d have learned our lesson with the VTR … Double ha. Of course, we love the bikes we have to wrestle to the ground to get running … once they are running well … Grrr.

Today, we spent all day in the garage, getting the carbs off the bike (always painful with a production bike), so that we could clean them … The bike starts up and sounds strong, but won’t idle and stalls when you give it gas … Classic symptoms of clogged carbs (modern gas evaporates worse than gas used to, leaving a gummy residue that blocks all the little jets in the carbs).

Oh well, never a dull moment! See you in the pits, Cary & John

Some of the food, the club house and the gang watching the Dakar on the big screen …

My ADV friends Ben and Rob (Benjava and Larryboy) … There were a bunch of friends who were in and out over the evening … The coverage of the 15 day race went from 7 to midnight!

Thanks to Cary and everyone who attended the Dakar Social!

Cary’s making pulled pork for our “Big Screen” social at the club tonight, where we’ll be showing the TV coverage of the 2012 Dakar Rally with the SFMC’s LCD projector …

Should be fun, everyone’s welcome … 18th & Folsom … 7pm …

Where’s Waldo?

Baby Charley … Bath fresh …

Aunt Lilly, working on her screenplay …

Nephew Simon, super-big help with the kiddies …

Grand Mom Liz and her beautiful home … Big Charley will be home from Houston tonight, and Rita Anne should be home next week … Love to all, Aunt Cary & Uncle John

Cary with her SFMC Racer Medal and the 2011 SFMC Race Team Trophy …

Phil Bowman, Cary and 2012 President Kalle at the Awards Banquet …

Cary and Fred at Buca de Beppo …

At the banquet …

Cafe society … Cafe de Soleil …

Nordstrom’s … We went to see the new Mission Impossible IMAX movie … Retail therapy before the show … ha.

Hope to see you all soon, love, Cary and John

Kalle made all the trophies this year, and they were a big hit … He will also be the SFMC President in 2012.

Cary also got second place among the women members for 2011 riding season points (we award trophies at the end of the season based on attendance at club rides and events over the course of the year). No trophy or medal for this, but a nice photo opportunity with outgoing President Brian Holm …

Cary and new member Caroline with Brian Holm.

Kalle accepting one of his nice trophies for his Perfect Score in 2011.

Tucker, Lesee and the gang at Buco de Beppo.

Benny, Ari, Chuck, me and Merrilee enjoying the banquet.

We all had a super time and are all looking forward to our season this year!

Antonio was the only guy to clean the steps; Phil and Dave P. both stalled, and the rest of us dropped our bikes at least once … Although Dave O. did ride his DRZ back down and cleaned it on his second try … my hero!

That’s me, Dave O., Phil, Lee, Wylie, Dave P., and Bob …

Thanks for the photo, Bob!

Thanks for the pics, Dave!

There was low test at the gas station in Panamint, for $5.50 per gallon … the guy said there has been no gas at Trona for months, and as a consequence they run out of gas at Panamint and Stovepipe more often lately …

I got to Furnace Creek right around dark and met the guys …

They hate motorcycle guys at national parks in general and at Death Valley in particular … We had a strange encounter with a baby-faced, gun-toting ranger who wanted to assert his authority and let us know we were being watched …

His lame excuse for hassling us was to demand to know if we’d had the temerity to build the fire-ring our campfire was in … the only place to build a fire in our campsite …

Dave P. sweet talked him into going away, and we complained to his supervisor the next day … The super had the grace to apologize about his callow young ranger …

Deal with the camp host if you can, he is a nice old motorcycle guy, who says he is the boss and that the rangers anwer to him in the campground …

The next morning, our “easy day”‘ according to Mr. Peckham, it was a cold ride on pavement to top-off at Panamint before tackling the Nadeau Wash, Escape Route, Goler Wash, Mengle Pass and Westside Road.

Phil, looking cold, Dave P. and Antonio, and group shots on Nadeau Road after running up Nadeau Wash … We had agreed to run the loop counter-clockwise so the Georgia Boys, who got a late start working on Marin Dave’s DRZ, could meet us halfway …

We rolled down the Escape Route and saw a bobcat at the Newman Cabin after the step in Goler Wash … The link above leads to a website with some cool photos from the 1930s of the cabin …

Resting up on Mengel Pass … I was done here, and suffered the rest of the way home … We ran into Marin Dave and Lee, Wiley and Bob below the Geologist’s Cabin …

They kept on towards Mengel where they turned around, not getting home until well after dark … it was very cold after dark, and they were happy to be back at camp to warm up with the salmon dinner Bob cooked …

Antonio and his KTM camp … Our illegal fire-ring, and breakfast …

The next day we rode up Echo Canyon and down Titus Canyon … Another beautiful day … The steps on Echo kicked my ass and the fannies of the rest of the novice riders …

At the bottom of Echo and the gang in Beatty … We had lunch in the old Saloon and recharged our phones … A good place for a rest with windows to watch the bikes and football on the TV.

A couple of views of Titus Canyon … A beautiful payoff after a deep sand wash before lunch (that I’d baled out of with Marin Dave so that I wouldn’t have to ride alone … Thanks Dave! My clutch was wonky … that’s my excuse for not braving the wash with fellow novice riders Wylie and Bob! I think the deep sand in the wash about killed them both.)

We had Phil’s chicken and pasta for dinner and I got packed up to ride with the guys back through Saline Valley and on home the next day, while they would run up Steele Pass …

Descending down to South Pass, and Marin Dave, Wylie and Lee …

Getting ready to split up … Phil and Dave P. would jet up Steele Pass so Phil could meet his folks who were coming from Colorado to visit Death Valley, and the Georgia Boys would follow at a more sedate pace, while I headed north to North Pass and home …

I was cold and tired by the time I got out of the Saline Valley, and so I decided to turn right and plunge down into Eureka Valley’s warmth to camp comfortably … It would be 22 degrees in Lee Vining, so I Did Well to stay low … Ha.

My campsite in the north Eureka Valley … A full moon, nice fire and cell phone reception, incredibly, because there were no man-made lights as far as I could see, which was very far indeed … Cary and I had a nice chat on the phone … sweet.

The next day I rode 400 miles and got home well after dark, at about 9pm, after a mysterious electrical glitch and dead bike slowed me down for a half hour before, just as mysteriously, disappearing again … Gotta love electrical issues! Double ha.

The eastern Sierras and sustenance at Nicely’s Cafe, the best place to warm up in Lee Vining when the Mobile Restaurant is closed for the season (Nicely’s is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays!).

I headed back over Tioga Pass and through Tuolumne Meadows …

There was lots of cold and lots of what little snow there has been this season to melt and leave hard-to-see patches of ice, all of which I managed to avoid …

I’m looking forward to getting back soon, with Cary … Lots of maintenance on the tired KLR first …

Thanks to Phil and Dave P., and to the Georgia Boys, for a wonderful ride (and lots of good food!).

See you around the campfire …