Freakin’ awesome hog

Today is the day the real excitement begins......we pick up the Harley!!!!

The biggest difficulty was deciding what to take with limited luggage carrying capacity and the rest of or luggage is being transported directly to San Fransisco. Surprisingly we managed to fit everything we anticipated and then a little more.......We didn’t take bike jackets with us as we could hire them - but the hiring cost was almost as much as purchasing so we thought what the hell.....

The guy at the shop was called Jax!!!! (not as cute as the SOA)

After a bit of mucking around and a practice spin for Peter, we hit the open road on our way to Death Valley.

The scenery is magnificent (yep managed to stay awake this time) but it is very daunting driving on the opposite side of the road.  I have a small panic attack every time we turn onto a road thinking that we are on the wrong side.  Approaching the state border with California, the wind picked up and I thought we were going to get blown away but Peter did a great job keeping the bike upright.  The temperature has changed to very hot and dry and the wind took my breath away a few times.

We stopped at a little just before Death Valley at Amargoza which consisted of a run down hotel, a cafe (run by an Australian woman who we didn’t meet) and an opera house - it has an female artist in residence who writes, directs and performs in her own one woman ballets, plays and operas.  Apparently she performs every night regardless of whether there is an audience or not (sorry we missed it).

Death Valley was hot and dry - just the way I like it - and chockers with huge RVs everywhere.  Not sure if I mentioned it earlier, but I was really surprised about the lack of convertible cars in Las Vegas - probably only saw half a dozen. Most of the vehicles were stretch limos, advertising billboards and mainly just ordinary cars. Out here it’s  wall to wall RVs and Bronco trucks.  We ride up to a overlook to see the valley below - it is a salt pan and lowest point of America (fun fact).

Our accommodation tonight is at Furnace Creek which is about the half way mark of Death Valley and has the world’s lowest altitude golf course (another fun fact).

 Tomorrow we ride through the remainder of the Valley and head for a change of pace and temperature - Yosemite National Park.