Today we bid farewell to Hollywood and slowly made our way back to Las Vegas. Not sure if our re-sized rings were shipped back to mpanther’s yet, but I’m sure it’ll be there all in due time. We’re in no hurry. We stopped at a Wal-Mart to do a quick oil change on Amanda’s bike. The weather was extremely hot out in the afternoon sun. We were anxious to get back on the road and have the open wind cool us down. It was also important that we get as far away from the city limits if we were to stealth camp. After a couple of hours riding north on I-15, the land slowly changed from lush green to desert. The sun was starting to go down and we were about 60 miles west from a town called Barstow and decided to call it a day. We exited the interstate and pulled off onto a dirt road and camped on the side of a hill. We could still see the interstate from where we were camped, but far enough not to attract any attention. We had fun watching the sunset and using the monocular to look at the toy-like cars driving along the interstate.
We woke up the next morning and saw a police cruiser down by the exit of the interstate catching speeders. I’m not sure how he would take it if he saw us riding down the hill towards him; not sure if we needed a permit to ride off road or if we were trespassing so we decided to wait for the cruiser to leave. When the coast was clear we rode into Barstow to find a library so that we could catch up with family and friends and also update the ride report. We didn’t do much exploring in Barstow other than resupplying at the local Wal-Mart and grabbing a bite to eat at Taco Bell. We did however managed to find a decent place to camp a few miles east of Barstow off I-15 in the middle of nowhere.
Not sure if I mentioned this already, but we’ve simplified our breakfasts so that we don’t waste time cooking when we could be riding or exploring. We buy a tin of rolled oats for $2, put it in a zip lock bag, add a package of peanut butter chips you get from the baking section of the grocery store, and eat it as is. It’s a little dry so make sure you drink enough water to help ease it down the esophagus. We tried using chocolate chip, but peanut butter is much better in our humble opinion.
We continued along I-15 and stopped at a town called Baker. I wouldn’t call this a town really; more like an oversized rest stop to be honest. We stopped and grabbed a bite at Subway and spent a chunk of time here updating the ride report and getting out from the heat. We managed to contact Brian Bergeron Designs, the place where we got our wedding rings, and they told us we should be getting our rings within a week or so.
The wind really started to pick up so we decided to find a place to camp close by. There’s nothing but open space all around us so I’m sure we won’t have any problems finding a place to camp. Once again we pulled off onto a sandy dirt road that led to a hill. We rode around the hill and picked a spot where we couldn’t be seen from the road. It was quite challenging setting up the tent in these windy conditions; brought back old memories of when we were up on Groundhog Mountain along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Already learned my lesson the hard way; this time I made sure to use the guy lines. Thanks to MikeBike4 back in North Carolina who gave us an extra set of guy lines; I’m doubling it for extra reinforcement.
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| With our tent all set up, we climbed up the hill to see what we can see. |
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| Looking through the monocular, you can see vehicles travelling along I-15 for miles on end. If you look very carefully, our tent and bikes are barely visible at the bottom left-hand corner. |
The next morning we continued along I-15; closing in on the state line that separates California and Nevada. As soon as we crossed the state line, it didn’t take long to be bombarded by a plethora of gambling establishments and resorts right in the middle of nowhere. You’d be riding along with vast deserts and hills on either side of you and then WHAM! Primadonna Resort & Casino, Whiskey Pete’s Resort & Casino, and finally Buffalo Bill’s Resort & Casino; all within walking distance and all competing to see who can grab your money the quickest. I forgot to mention there’s an outlet mall as well. The husbands do the gambling while the wives do the shopping; only in America! We pulled in to take a look around and ended up buying a pair of flip flops at the Old Navy outlet store.
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| We rode up the road along I-15 for about a mile or so and stopped here to check out the buffet |
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| It's not 5-stars, but for $5.99...it was fantastic! We were so hungry we forgot to take pictures of what we ate. |
With our bellies full and the sun just about to go down, we drove along a dirt road across from the casino, rode on it until we felt we were out of view, and camped in a wash.
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| 426 km |
Look for a dirt road.
Off the beaten path to camp.
Best with a dual sport.
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