I can not say enough good about Pat Clark Motorsports. They are the  Las Vegas Vespa dealer and many more bikes including Triumph and Docati  and others. They all went out of their way to make me feel at home and/or to get me back on the road as quickly as possible. When we had trouble getting the right parts in, they took what was needed off a floor Vespa.  Mike worked through his lunch hour even though I was only going 18 miles today. So, Troy, Bill, Mike, Fabian, Eric, Jack, Gustavo and all, THANK YOU! If you need a bike call them.  I will deliver it. Pat Clark Motorsports

I went to do laundry while they working on Scoot and saw this sign in the parking lot.  I liked it. Interestingly, there was a 1-800 you got a lawyer billboard above it.

In Pat Clark's workshop they had a Desmosede.  This is a $72,000 motorcycle made in Italy and only 1,500 were made.  The factory flew Mike to Italy for a one-week course just so he could work on it. The owner had had it up to 186 mph. It was in their shop because the owner had backed into it with his Ferrari.  Some people just have all the bad luck. Scoot was trying to talk trash to it, but it only speaks Italian.

We finished up around 2:30, and those who know me, know that I whine at any bill.  You will be glad to know that I was glad to pay this bill because it was worth every damn penny of it.  Any time I get service like this from genuinely caring and nice people, I am glad to pay.

I rode the 18 miles to Boulder City with the blowing winds again.  Everyone say Boulder City is a great place, not all corporate like Vegas and they were right.  The Boulder Dam Hotel is a historic old hotel that has been restored.  Sandy, the red headed receptionist, is a pistol and was really great to spar with.  It took some convincing to get her to pose with Scoot and she demanded review rights of the picture.

 I asked about a place to get a good salad and she pulled out Milo's Wine bar menu of things that I had not seen since I left home.  Not a burger or grilled cheese anywhere.
I was not disappointed as the first thing they told me when I got there was it is P.I.G.night. PIG= 'Professional, Intellectual, Gentlemen". All P.I.G.s receive half off on all drinks and that included all wines. I ordered two and a Chianti Platter of meat, cheeses, olives, tomatoes, etc.  Even I could not finish it. Bob, the manager came and sat with me for awhile.  Nice guy.  He and Milo had been partners in a small Casino operation in Vegas and sold out 3 years ago.  Perfect timing.  He gave me a tour of the place including the B&B that they run upstairs.
It was a successful day and were ready to get back on the road.

We were up at the crack of dawn. Scoot had spent the night visiting with his cousins, but was ready to go. Leaving town around 5:30 for a short distance there was heavy traffic.  The military must go to work early here.

We cruised along until we came to an intersection.  I stopped and got out the map to study it a minute.  I had not seen another car for 40 minutes and all of sudden here comes a truck. What are the chances? He stopped to see if I was ok and I asked him about the two routes to death valley.  He did not recommend the other way as the last time he did he said "I lost".  So we saddled up and followed him up to CA-190.

We entered the park and then did a refueling.  Behind us was the mountain we crossed last time but avoided this time by coming via CA-178.  The grades on the western slope are 9% and we would have slow going at that.  Ahead of was the Towne Pass at 5,000 feet that we had to cross again.

Scoot had been acting a little strange and was losing power up the hill, so we pulled over and cleaned the air filter again.  This seemed to help some.

In Stovepipe Wells we fueled and while we did, we met and talked with several people.  One was a tribal elder and she said there were only about 20 members of her tribe here in the valley. One was a Park Service employee and he had been in Death Valley for 22 years. There wer also several European visitors, some on Harley's, and by the time I thought of the camera they were all gone but this nice couple from Holland.

We headed on down the highway until we ran into Emily and Melody. Emily works with troubled youth at a 24 hour a day boarding school.  She thought holding the STOP sign was a great change for a while, but she was eventually going back to the boarding school.

Off we rolled and came to Furnace Wells.  The sign says -190 feet.  This place has been here forever and the Hollywood people used to come here with their girlfriends.  It even has a golf course here in the desert.
It is home of the "20 mule team Borax" commercial. The 20 mules pulled 24 tons of borax at 2 miles an hour for 10 days to the rail head. Only the older readers will probably remember these commercials.










We climbed up the mountain and down the other side to Death Valley Junction were there is a stop sign. As we pulled away from the stop sign, Scoot started to shake. I stopped and tried it again with the same results, so we limped the 100 yards or so to the Amargosa Hotel/Cafe/Opera House in Death Valley Junction. I did a little examination and decided it was something to do with the internal belt system that drives the rear wheel. So.....limp into Vegas at 127 miles; work on it here in 100 degree heat; or call the tow truck. I opted for the tow truck.

I went inside the hotel and met the 83 year old owner that had been here, in the middle of nowhere, for over 40 years. She had come here on vacation from New York City, where she was an artist and dancer, and decided this was the place to be. I was allowed to sit at the "staff table" in the cafe with Lynette, Ruthie, and Theresa.  There was a lot of laughter and good times in this small town. Like every place, these people are genuinely nice. If you pass this way, don't miss it, which you can easily do.

                                                                not much chance of 25mph
Progressive Insurance said it might be 4 hours to get out here in the boonies but Rick was there from Pahrump within the hour.  We loaded up and headed for Vegas. So, what is a $10 tow insurance policy worth here in the desert.......$800!  I think I got my money's worth.

It took Rick and I about 1.5 hours to get to Pat Clark Motorsports.  They immediately jumped on Scoot to find the problem. Good thing I did not decide to work on it in the desert as I did not have the parts.  The little rollers had had a melt down and chewed up the housing. It was too late in the day to get parts from Vespa, so we called a dealer I had done business with in San Diego and they are overnighting the parts.  These guys at Pat Clark Motorsports, Bill, Troy, Irish Mike and Fabian are great.  They even offered to take parts off a new Vespa to get me back on the road.  That was nice, but I was not going anywhere today anyway.

you rode what from where?!

They recommended the Boulder Station Casino which is way off the strip and not far from Pat Clark Motorsports.  It is a nice place but one of those places that can stick it to you.  The room is quoted at $48, but after the add-ons, is $68.  This is the norm here.

View Larger Map
x

This morning the fog lifted and the sun came out. I decided, what the heck, lets make a run for it and head for Florida. So, I loaded Scoot, chased off the cat, and headed east.

We were going to have to retrace our route to Vegas, but we could pick a few different roads to get there.

We started on CA-41 and it was a nice ride with not much traffic. Then turned right to get back on CA-58 and the connecting road took us through wine country.

CA-58 we did in the rain and cold coming out. Today it was sunny and great. We rode down the road.

Climbed a hill.

Rode down the road and the hills were covered with wildflowers.

Stopped to talk to Chuck. He is with USGS and they are measuring the fault shift with the GPS tracking. He comes out here once a year, and several other locations, sets up his machine and sits for 6 hours.

Then we rode down the road.

Then we climbed up another pass and descended down the other side into the California farming country.

We passed some cows and after finishing this part we passed the sign that said "no services for the next 70 miles."

The main crop in the farming area seems to power lines.

After stopping to eat at Gonzalo's food stand we drove through Bakersfield. Bakersfield is no better looking in the sun than it was in the rain and cold.

I was little concerned about climbing up the twisty 2 lane road along the Kern River gorge. But Scoot did a great job and the traffic was light. (pictures riding the gorge did not turn out except this one)

We rode down the road and then climbed the Walker Pass again. This time we took a picture of the plaque that you cannot read at the top. And then we rode off the back side again.

We rolled into China Lake in time for happy hour. Thought there would be a cheap hotel, but the excessive military spending here keeps them all full and the prices up.


View Larger Map