Tribute to Mom, six days of desert riding, day one, valley of fire

I have had my heart set on riding down into Mexico and maybe beyond for quit a while now. Do to a few circumstances beyond my control I chose a smaller ride, and maybe to find if I could find out moms love for the desert.

I am not much for planning any trip, I pretty much just find a couple things I want to see and the rest is completely ad lib.

The Adventure would start from Montana where I would leave a bitter cold with dreams of warmth in my head.



I would use Vegas as my launching point being a good central location it seemed the obvious place to take off from.

Unfortunately like any adventure there has to be challenges merely getting ready. Just unloading my truck would prove a challenge, the plastic bed liner made for a non grip surface for rubber, as I began to walk the bike down I lost control as the front tire slid, rather than risk the bike falling on my trying to save it, I let it go.



Picking it up really was not as bad as I thought, we got it up in short order and the only damage would be slightly bent handlebars.

I would prepare to leave the following morning, everything was loaded, I made sure of that before I left, or so I thought.
I would wake in the morning having dreamed my Riding Pants were hanging in my closet, a quick trip to my truck would confirm this.
After desperately searching the net I concluded I would have to suck up local prices, so began to call close dealerships to see who carried Tourmaster Pants, the answer, nobody.
I would end up finding a pair of Joe Rocket Ballistic 7.0 pants, they fit perfect and the Knee armor unlike my pants at home would actually sit exactly where they were supposed to. A zip out liner would allow me more flexibility in regards to riding comfort in varying temps so the upgrade I have been wanting to do, would prove worth while.

Wanting to do a trial run to find out how everything was situated on my bike and how it handled, I would choose to head into
into the Valley of fire for no particular reason other than it sounded cool.

IT would prove to be a pretty amazing place and the colors absolutely exploded.





A 157 mile loop is what I planned to come out at lake mead, the hoover dam and back to Vegas. After exploring every single road darkness would begin to fall on me. At this point I would also discover that my new Tourmaster Transition jacket was not the warmest jacket on the planet. I would discover the problem, with the longer jacket it simply lacked any way to cinch at the waste, thus allowing air to funnel up to my mid section where the adjuster was. I would fix this problem with my pants belt and a small bungee, but not quit yet.

I would ride into Vegas thinking I was cold as hell, the mental game certainly came into mind and I believed the temp to be in the high 30s. Upon arriving back in Vegas I would learn that it was only in the low fifties, cold in the desert certainly was different than cold in Montana.

Next up, Death Valley!