Got on the bike this AM and set sail northwest towards Tehachapi Pass
in hopes of doing a little trainwatching.
Fist paused at the Hwy 138 junction in Cajon Pass to insert the
earplugs that I'd forgotten to install at home, and took this quick
snap of the Mormon Rocks that host Sullivan's Curve: the rails are
just out of sight at the base of the rocks in this photo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553850900/sizes/o/
It's getting difficult to photograph the curve itself, as the US
Forest
Service now requires you to buy a "Wilderness Adventure Pass" if you
want to get anywhere close to the tracks. (Apparently they've decided
that *they* now own all the National Forest lands in southern
California and that we the people should be required to pay to get
in.
#%^**+#$!!.)
From Cajon Pass I headed north on 395 to Kramer Junction (Pronounced
"Hell-hole") and turned west on Hwy 58: paralleling the BNSF tracks
running between Barstow (Pronounced "Barstool". Yes, really.) and
Mojave, CA. for about 40 miles. 58 also passes directly north of the
Edwards AFB Filght Test Center, and you can eyeball the huge hangers,
the rocket testing towers on Leuhman Ridge, and the occasional odd air
or spacecraft passing over.
This stretch of freeway is underused and is rarely patrolled by the
CHP,
so you can really let the bike stretch it's legs if you keep your eyes
open.
Rode through Mojave and Tehachapi to Keene, where I exited the
Freeway and followed the (very) old highway three miles back up the
hill
to the Loop. (For non-train fans, the Tehachapi Loop is a stretch of
railroad track that rings a small hill like a necklace: crossing over
itself
some 77' higher than it was the first time it passed that point.)
Such gymnastics are uncommon in the case of railroads, so the Loop
is something of a tourist attraction.
The old road itself is your classic two-laned twistie, and would be a
lot
of fun were it not for the many completely blind corners which would
make fast cornering a really bad idea.
About five minutes after I showed up an empty BNSF hopper train
came charging up the hill and I got this sequence:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553839276/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553835766/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553831042/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553828946/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553187639/sizes/o/
Heading home I took a back road shortcut over the Tehachapi mountains
towards the Antelope Valley, planning on following the UP tracks down
through Soledad Canyon to LA, but as I crested the hill and the
Antelope Vally opened before me I almost ran off of the road: the
entire twenty miles between Lancaster/Palmdale and Gorman were
covered
with literally mile upon mile of bright orange California Poppies on
the fields and hillsides.
They don't call it the California Poppy Reserve for nothing, and I've
seen the desert bloom before, but never anything like this. So I
headed due south until I was on a dirt road surrounded by several
thousand acres of blooming flowers, and took these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553183353/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/4553799196/sizes/l/
Ran into no more good photo ops, so I came directly home via
Soledad Canyon and downtown LA.
347 miles, 6 1/2 hours, 49.9 MPG, 80 degree temperatures,
light traffic, and a good time was had by all.
~Pete
> 347 miles, 6 1/2 hours, 49.9 MPG, 80 degree temperatures,
> light traffic, and a good time was had by all.
What? You took your gerbil with you?
> > 347 miles, 6 1/2 hours, 49.9 MPG, 80 degree temperatures,
> > light traffic, and a good time was had by all.
> What? You took your gerbil with you?
Are you still trying to discourage the flow of motorcycle content to
this group? Is there no racists.motorcycles group to suit your
interests better?
> > > 347 miles, 6 1/2 hours, 49.9 MPG, 80 degree temperatures,
> > > light traffic, and a good time was had by all.
> > What? You took your gerbil with you?
> Are you still trying to discourage the flow of motorcycle content to
> this group? Is there no racists.motorcycles group to suit your
> interests better?
He's jealous of people who actually ride, and therefore feels
compelled to put them down as best he can.
Of course that "as best he can" is only the best that Krusty can do:
I.E. incompetent; so it only serves to make him look even worse than
usual.
And to think that he actually types this stuff -presumably reading it
as he goes along- and *still* blames all his failures on others....
Amazing.
> He's jealous of people who actually ride, and therefore feels
> compelled to put them down as best he can.
Bulltwaddle.
You're evading the whole point. You claimed that "a good time was had
by all,"
but *you rode by yourself."
*That's* why I asked if you took your gerbil with you...
Why don't you have any motorcycle riding buddies that are also
railroad fans to go on these Seymour Rhodes tours with you?
Is it because you're so goldurned *mean* nobody wanted to ride with
you?
And, I've ridden all over those hills from the Cajon Pass, Moron
Rocks, up 395 through Kramers Corners, Barstow, Tehachapi, Willow
Springs Road, Soledad Canyon, etc., so you haven't done anything that
impressed me.
I have pictures of me sprawled out in California poppies at the
Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve that will compete with anything you have
for *grandeur en orange*...
I used to *live* in the Antelope Valley, so I've hunted, dirt biked,
rockhounded, bar crawled and screwed motorcycle mamas all over that
area.
So you ain't telling me nuthin' new there, Twaddle.
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> light traffic, and a good time was had by all.