Eric and I headed out to Nevada for the Thanksgiving week, as we've done the last 3 years or so. This time we had several friends along.
We spent Wednesday setting up camp, unloading bikes, cutting firewood and soaking in the hot springs. While cutting wood we saw some 2-track we'd never noticed before and we made plans to check it out later in the day. Turns out it led to some old abandoned mining roads that were all but forgotten now. Some of it was rather sweet! We were battling the setting sun and so I only got one shot off, and it was of my friend Steve (he's Shaggy the lurker here) on his `08 TE610...
The next day was Thanksgiving and our friends Steve and Dan took their families (2 wives, 4 daughters and 1 son, all but one of them on their own bike
) on a mellow ride to see some of the local sights, while Eric and I set out to find...what else?... new hot springs 
It was a glorious day with a ton o' sun and a high temp of 40 degrees.
Remnants of an abandoned ranch. Lots of that in Nevada...
Oh boy!
We thought there might be some geothermal activity on the edge of this dry lakebed so we plonked around looking for signs of water...and we found some!
(probably hard to see, but I have a new pipe, new-to-me Renazco seat and a new tailsection
)
Not exactly soakable, but it would do in a pinch. It was certainly hot enough, and there was a ton of it everywhere...
We headed north through the valley and then west over the ridge, in search of more water, of course...
We crested the ridge, dropped down the other side, and this is what we found...
We followed it to the source...
And bingo! We hit the jackpot!
It was hotter than the hubs of hell, and we needed to get back to camp to help prepare our Thanksgiving feast, so we couldn't wait for it to cool down, but we toughed it out and got in anyway. We sat in the sunshine and ate lunch (crackers, cheese, mango, hot coffee and peppermint Joe-Joe's) all the while marveling at our good fortune...not only on this trip but also at life in general
We lollygagged as long as we could, then had to high-tail it back to camp. We were about 90 miles away and had about an hour to get there. We were confident we could do it. And we would have, if Eric hadn't run out of gas...again. Does this scene look vaguely familiar to anyone?
We were well within the "90 miles in one hour" window when Eric went on reserve. We slowed down while scanning the roadside for a bottle, and found one within minutes. We bombed on til he ran out then we stopped to transfer fuel from my red tanker to his thirsty KTM...
While there on that lonely stretch of road I decided to pay homage to the ADV goddess Darth Peach...
We made it back in time (194 miles total with no bike shorts...kudos to Renazco!!) to get our food together and sit down at the fireside tables to a fantabulous feast of deep-fried turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, 3 kinds of stuffing, green beans with bacon, cauliflower, brussells sprouts and carrots, cranberry-orange sauce with walnuts, dinner rolls, and several bottles of wine. For dessert we had warm pecan pie with fresh cream, pumpkin pie, egg nog spice cake, a raspberry tarte and 15-year-old scotch. We soaked the night away and went to bed full of gratitude for the life we live and the good friends that make it special.
More to come...
WoodsChick
We spent Wednesday setting up camp, unloading bikes, cutting firewood and soaking in the hot springs. While cutting wood we saw some 2-track we'd never noticed before and we made plans to check it out later in the day. Turns out it led to some old abandoned mining roads that were all but forgotten now. Some of it was rather sweet! We were battling the setting sun and so I only got one shot off, and it was of my friend Steve (he's Shaggy the lurker here) on his `08 TE610...
The next day was Thanksgiving and our friends Steve and Dan took their families (2 wives, 4 daughters and 1 son, all but one of them on their own bike
) on a mellow ride to see some of the local sights, while Eric and I set out to find...what else?... new hot springs It was a glorious day with a ton o' sun and a high temp of 40 degrees.
Remnants of an abandoned ranch. Lots of that in Nevada...
Oh boy!
We thought there might be some geothermal activity on the edge of this dry lakebed so we plonked around looking for signs of water...and we found some!
(probably hard to see, but I have a new pipe, new-to-me Renazco seat and a new tailsection
)Not exactly soakable, but it would do in a pinch. It was certainly hot enough, and there was a ton of it everywhere...
We headed north through the valley and then west over the ridge, in search of more water, of course...
We crested the ridge, dropped down the other side, and this is what we found...
We followed it to the source...
And bingo! We hit the jackpot!
It was hotter than the hubs of hell, and we needed to get back to camp to help prepare our Thanksgiving feast, so we couldn't wait for it to cool down, but we toughed it out and got in anyway. We sat in the sunshine and ate lunch (crackers, cheese, mango, hot coffee and peppermint Joe-Joe's) all the while marveling at our good fortune...not only on this trip but also at life in general
We lollygagged as long as we could, then had to high-tail it back to camp. We were about 90 miles away and had about an hour to get there. We were confident we could do it. And we would have, if Eric hadn't run out of gas...again. Does this scene look vaguely familiar to anyone?
We were well within the "90 miles in one hour" window when Eric went on reserve. We slowed down while scanning the roadside for a bottle, and found one within minutes. We bombed on til he ran out then we stopped to transfer fuel from my red tanker to his thirsty KTM...
While there on that lonely stretch of road I decided to pay homage to the ADV goddess Darth Peach...
We made it back in time (194 miles total with no bike shorts...kudos to Renazco!!) to get our food together and sit down at the fireside tables to a fantabulous feast of deep-fried turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, 3 kinds of stuffing, green beans with bacon, cauliflower, brussells sprouts and carrots, cranberry-orange sauce with walnuts, dinner rolls, and several bottles of wine. For dessert we had warm pecan pie with fresh cream, pumpkin pie, egg nog spice cake, a raspberry tarte and 15-year-old scotch. We soaked the night away and went to bed full of gratitude for the life we live and the good friends that make it special.
More to come...
WoodsChick
That's cold for living in every day! We got snow here yesterday and it's been all over the news. My pots of water for the cats were frozen this morning. Stop the presses!
