Death_Valley_Page

. However, most of them would not accelerate, instead they maintained their cruising speed. The result was they took a lot longer to pass. Sometimes there would be two or three trucks passing and the whole process took minutes. What impressed me was the amount of lane discipline evident in this Interstate. Most vehicles stayed right and when they saw me coming up behind them, they would immediately go to the right lane. They generally did the same to other faster moving vehicles. Why don�t people do this where I live?

I managed to tolerate the cold until I hit Barstow, where I pulled off I15 to top up my fuel tanks and eat an early lunch at a McDonald�s. The McDonald�s restaurant was very warm. I stayed in there and ate a full meal. I didn�t feel sick anymore thank goodness. The warmth inside the place was also doing wonders for my body. By the time I finished and hopped back on my bike, I was fully warmed up once again. Back on I15, I ran into a serious headwind. I struggled to hold on to the bike as the wind whipped around me trying to pull me off. At least now I stopped noticing the cold. I passed by an airfield with its windsock firmly blown up and in place, confirming the direction of the wind relative to mine. I could see the low lying shrubs getting blown and bent down. Damn! If it isn�t the cold it�s the wind I cursed inside my helmet. Keeping up my cruising speed of 100 mph was quite difficult since I had to hold on as if it was 140 mph. It was taking its toll on my energy. Thank goodness the Hayabusa maintained its direction and didn�t require for me to feed in too much counter steer. These are the times when a big, heavy bike counts. Under these conditions, having a lightweight super sport bike would have been a handful.

I passed Victorville again without stopping. Soon I was going up the El Cajon pass again and up there, the wind blew even fiercer. I had to tuck all the way down into a fetal position to get the Busa�s fairings to protect me. There was also a thick cloud cover over the pass that looked like it would rain or snow. Luckily, there were neither and I was glad to have made it up and over without much drama. Passed El Cajon and back into the Coastal Plains, the winds died down and I could now ride sitting up. In addition, the temperatures had risen to around 50�s. 50�s! It might as well been the 70�s in a cool summer day in the Florida Keys. I can handle 50�s easily now after enduring endless hours in 30 and 40 degree weather! My energy jumped and I was cruising on a beeline for home. There was no stopping me now. At one point near Riverside, I passed a CHP Officer on a BMW R1100 bike in the opposite direction. I was tucked slightly down and was going about 100 mph. The cop just turned his head in my direction. I think he knew I was guilty but there wasn�t anything he could do about it. I laughed and yelled, �See ya!�

I made it to Lake Elsinore, back in Ortega Highway. The twisties never felt so good and fun to ride on. Even though there were dark clouds above, it could have rained on me and the smile on my face would not have gone. I was warm. I had a blast. I had the rest of the week off! Whoohoo! I rode Ortega Highway like I was celebrating life.

Back near my home, the rain did start falling. First it was drizzle, and then it turned to a light shower. On one final turn towards my house, I looked down and saw a piece of broken glass. I tried to avoid it and almost ran wide and onto the curb. Shit! I just finished riding 750 miles and how ironic would it be if I wiped out 100 feet from my home! Luckily I didn�t and I pulled up to my driveway wet but warm and with a smile.

Conclusion:
I really had a lot of fun riding out to Death Valley. Even though it was mostly straights, I knew that going in so there was no disappointment. Death Valley was definitely an interesting and beautiful place to visit. It has a lot of history behind it. And the vistas were something straight out of National Geographic or some Hollywood Western movie. Sadly, I wasn�t able to see everything the park had to offer due to time constraints. In addition, I wasn�t expecting it to be so cold. Next time, I would ride out to Death Valley sometime in the spring, when it�s not so cold and not so hot. If I was to do this ride in the winter again, I would NOT even consider going without an electric liner for my jacket and pants at the very least. I got sick due to exposure to all that low temperatures. In addition, I would stay at least TWO nights since that�s really the minimum to see most of this beautiful monument to the great American West.

The Hayabusa performed flawlessly. It was smooth, stable, and reliable throughout the trip. I would have liked to have had a more upright riding position and a bigger windshield to protect against the strong headwinds I encountered. I did like the excess power the bike had. On trips such as this, when running along the Interstates and desert roads at high speeds for long periods, anemic 600�s and smaller engined bikes will easily struggle to keep up with cars and trucks. It�s hard to believe that behemoths such as the Ford Expedition or Chevy Suburban can easily cruise at triple digit speeds, but they can! The US Interstate systems are big, wide, and fast, and they favor fast moving vehicles. Despite the myth that Americans drive 55 mph, a short trip down a US Interstate highway will quickly dispense with that. If you�re small, you�d better be able to at least keep up, or better yet, runaway from big American cars, SUV�s, and tractor-trailer trucks or they will run you off the road! Cruising at 55 mph here will get you killed. Trucks will be passing and buffeting a small motorcycle badly when these giants come in ahead of you. They move at 70 mph or faster, while cars and SUV�s move at close to 100 mph. Thus, anyone contemplating on riding in the desert need to have a bike that can easily handles speeds like that.

I will definitely go back to Death Valley again to see the rest of its treasures.