Starting To Think About The Next Ride West

It all begins by looking back at previous trips and letting my mind wander.The plan forms and then I see a way forward. Well now it’s October of 2014 and I had somehow managed to get on track with my work and am able to fly out to Las Vegas, rent a car, head south to Kingman Arizona, and begin a two week trip with Celia all over this part of the word. We wanted to check out Kingman to see if we could live here but it really didn’t suit us so after two days looking around we headed out across the Mojave Desert to Joshua Tree National Park. It was a long day of driving across the desert but really interesting. I stopped often to take pictures and the rental car had good AC so it wasn’t bad at all even though it was around 100 degrees F outside.At the end of the day we were here at the entrance of Joshua Tree Nat. Park Where we would spend the next two days exploring.

After a good nights sleep we headed into the park to explore. What a great place this is. As we hiked around we found all sorts of cool places. Incredible rock formations, beautiful plants, long distance views, a spring where we saw some birds, it was really nice. Took so many photos it’s hard for me to decide which ones to put in here. It’s 2025 and as I look at all these photos I’m transported back into 2014. It’s motivating me to get busy and start prepping for a trip back out here. Been talking about going with my friend Ron in a truck with our motorcycles in tow behind us next year in the Fall of 2026. Ah, planning another adventure. I’ll be 77 fucking years old then ! Hey, may as well go for it if I’m still in this world. It helps that I’ve been out here before. On the 2014 trip it was mid October and still hot as hell so it will be a bit later in the year for the next trip out so riding will be enjoyable. You know, the plan now is to use a truck and camp here and there for days at a time while exploring the area on motorcycles. A bit more civilized than the way I used to go on the bike lugging all my shit behind me on the seat and luggage rack.That was fun when I was younger but too damn hard now. So, here are some photos of this wonderful national park.

So it looks like this winter I'll be working on a bike to use for this trip.I think it will be my 1971 Yamaha R5 350cc 2 stroke twin.As I get old it's easier to ride than the Moto Guzzi and definately easier to tow being a couple hundred lbs lighter.