Tuesday 24th and Thursday 25th September 2008: Burning hot in Death Valley and Sunrise at Zabriskie point

Out of Vegas that never really got us it is back into Death Valleys nature - pretty much more what we enjoy . Via Pahrump and Shoshone we get to one of the most stunning and extreme spots of the United States again.
Boiling hot a rocky desert, yet sooooooooooo beautiful once the sun lowers and the colours return into this dramatic scenery. It is easily understood why the early settlers trailing through this endless hot desert named it Death Valley. The Valley being 85 m below sealevel we have to close our visors for the heat getting unbearable otherwise - and it is September now. The only hotter place on this trip was Kasachstan in June - and we do not wnat to know how this here would have felt in high summer.
Nothing much you need to sleep at nite , so hot it stays . And thus it's quite easy to get up really early in the morning again the next day to catch the sunrise at Zabriskie Point.
Having our little cooker for getting us some coffee next to us and listening to Pink Floyds "Shine on you crazy Diamond" this is one of theose moments you will remember forever ....




For more details see Death Valley Nationalpark or in German see here

But this morning should still take us to another bikers' heaven .
Out of Death Valley we are heading south Highway 95, taking a right turn into a hardly visible road on the map -the 9 mile canyonroad. We surely would have missed the takeoff if we had not asked some locals where to go- and guess what we got up there.
An endless winding road with no traffic crossing east to west right below the southern part of the Sequoia Nationalpark .It 's hours of highly concentrated riding with gusty winds , a lot of riding technique to learn for Petra (and for me too), passing repeatedly sandy and rocky patches on the road - and it is some wonderful scenery with all that again - and there were definitely no more Harleys up here :-)On the western side of the pass we are slowly running out of gas while we ride down the Kern river gorge with its clear river meandering down this awsome valley - if it had been an warmer we definitely would have jumped in for a swim.
What a riding day again - and this little newbie in my rearview mirror is doing so incredibly well on the bike ! We carry on still winding and scenic on our way to the westcoast, riding into the sunset to end up in Cambria- to get back on the road tomorrow again - expecting another bikers dream : Higway 1 up the westcoast to San Francisco !

Ride it with a smile ...

Baba (still psyched by these sunrisecolours)