Bear's Story
Yuugo and I started out on Thursday night about 5-ish and headed to Bakersfield to stay that night at Kirby's house. It was the first night of our adventure and we were both very excited. We pulled into Bakersfield about 7 o'clock in the evening. We had a bite to eat and after Cindy and Grandma went to bed we had Yuugo in the pool for her first time at "skinny dippin". We had a great time (as usual) and decided that this trip we were gonna fill with "firsts". We were very excited about leaving out the next morning to start our adventure. We got a few hours sleep and were up at 5:00 a.m. even though we had decided that we needed to be on the road by then! We should have known after a late start the very first morning we were in for a typical Artemis trip!!!
We headed east on Highway 58 through the Tehachapi Mountains toward the dessert and Vegas. it wasn't long before the sun started to blister our world and the temperatures started climbing. We got hung up on the freeway going through Vegas by an accident and were delayed about an hour or so in the afternoon. The bikes were hot, we were hot, and there seemed to be no oasis soon in our horizon. But we were determined to get through the desert on that first day and instead of stopping in Vegas for the night, we kept heading east. About an hour and a half out of Vegas, we finally came up on a gas stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere and pulled in. The heat was so intense it felt as if the skin on my knuckles was just gonna peel straight off to the bone. We holed up there for about an hour to get some food and hydrate ourselves. Actually ran in to a couple of guys over on vacation from Australia. This one poor little feller was about as fried as I had ever seen someone coming off a bike. They had spent the night before havin a few brewskis and he neglected to drink some water to get himself ready for the heat and he headed out of Vegas in a tank top with a full face helmet on. they weren't even carrying any water! Apparently the dealer neglected to put the heat conditions in their travel brochure at the rent-a-harley place. LOLOL. Anyways, we gave him the best advice we could considering he was already in the shape he was for that day and went on our way. We pulled into Mesquite, Nevada around 4:00 p.m. It was 114 degrees when we rolled off the highway. We got a cheap hotel room at one of the casinos and were stripped to the skin before 4:30. Good God I have never been that hot in my life!!! Take this advice....if you are gonna ride the desert make sure you are covered from head to toe and you got plenty of water accessible as you ride down the rode. The best is to travel at night if you don't have night blindness (which I do dammit!). There really isn't a damn thing to see in all those miles anyway so you are not missing any sites along the way if it's a real dark one. If you are traveling in the day though, go to a sporting goods store and get a camel pack. Yuugo and I purchased ours the next morning before we got out on the road again. The second best thing I purchased for this trip. The first was a cruise control for the bike. The camel pack gets filled with ice in the morning and throughout the day you got ice cold water and it has a hose and mouth piece taht attches to your vest so you can get a drink along the way instead of stopping. Very cool product!!
That night we ate at the casino buffet and I had my first oyster shooter. YUCK!!!! Will not do those again. Too gritty for me. Yuugo and Kirb liked em quite a bit though and beings Yuugo had previously moved in with Deanna and quit eating meat, she needed all the variety she could get. All in all it was a great dinner and when our bellies were full we were back to the hotel room under the air conditioner for our first night out on the road and of the Amigo Chicken Run!
Our second day was started with packing the bikes, filling up water bottles (insulated ones taht Oops! had purchased for each of us special), filling up Kirb's camel pack and a lite breakfast. We found a sporting goods store that on first pulling into the parking lot looked like they hd a statute of a 10 point buck hiking his leg against the building! Lolol that was a sight. Yuugo and I got our camel packs (100 ounces capacity by the way) and we were off to Utah.
Kirby's Story
We left Bakersfield early Friday morning. I am at a loss for words right now.
Yuugo's Story
I am still thinking of something to write.
A-Bar's Story
I am still thinking too. Oh...we had a great time!
