deathvalleypilgrimagep3

Death Valley pilgrimage

Back on the road towards Saline Valley. But no sight of Eduardo... This is unusual because despite his lack of dirt experience he was able to keep a good pace until now.

Something is wrong and we're back tracking, hoping that he will be fine...

Turns out he had another mishap on a last patch of snow and had even more issue with his bag, or actually, the luggage rack. You see, to hold his bag, Eduardo has been using the straps and the "holes" in the luggage rack or the ones initially meant for the broken locks of the bag. The problem is that EVERYTHING is plastic (besides the sub-frame) and so the straps were braking the remaining "holes/loops"

. I do applaud BMW efforts to produce a much lighter GS but I'm afraid they've pushed it too far and an after market luggage is definitely in order for anyone who think they might crash with their bike one day, even at the lowest speed.

'nough about luggage! We were in a wonderful place, Eduardo was a trooper despite trashing his brand new bike and the sun was shining .

Staying in remote places in DV means many miles to get gas, that's why we were all carrying an extra can of gas. Before to setup at the Springs though we still needed to go to Panamint Springs to fill up in gas and... beers

.

Here are a few pics from the 190 before to arrive to Panamint Valley.

A beautiful road too!

We even loaded the bikes with firewood

but decided that for food, we will just stick to our frozen-dry meals . Tiny and Whammo, where are you with your gourmet camping dinners?!?

On Saline Valley road, view toward the North of the Panamint Valley.

It was getting dark already so we hurried through Saline's washboard and other obstacles...

I would have closed my helmet, what da ya think?

After the South pass a quick break to admire the view. Notice Eduardo's expression: it is a stunning place, especially with the sunset light.

After that, it was more of a rush with the excuse that the washboard is more comfortable at high speed

. The BMW lost his rear fender since anything not using Loctite will get loose on this kind of stuff.

We found a spot in the lower springs, close to a couple in a tipi

. Then it was just one of those nights that I've only experienced in this place: long, relaxing soak under the stars... The stars were brighter than ever since there was absolutely no moon and no clouds the 2 nights we stayed there... Paradise! The conversations at the pool are also quite interesting since most people over there are unique caracters.

Bottom line: we stayed in the hot spring for hours, without cooking, without lightning a fire, just eating a huge Salami and drinking beers and Single Malt (thanks Eduardo

).

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