Lovell Canyon Road, where I am boondocking, is a somewhat narrow and long canyon with a mostly paved road providing access to many dispersed camping sites.
At the top of the road, about two miles from its summit, is Lovell Summit. I saw a sign for it and of course had to go see what was there.
It's a dirt road, with lots of rocks and not great condition but Ural-able so long as I stayed in first gear and maintained momentum. No issues making it to the summit and this is what I saw:
Not exactly the awesome views from the summit of Colorado's passes but not bad. After all, the peak is under 12,000 feet!
You can apparently ski on this mountain, in the right time of year of course. You can actually drive much closer to the peak but not quite to the top like you can with say Pikes Peak or Mount Evans in Colorado. The Charleston Peak Scenic Byway only reaches 8500 ft at its highest point.
I drove Scarlett back to the campsite. The rest of the day I saw more and more cars and campers showing up as the weekenders sought a spot to camp or enjoy the hiking trails.
Yesterday was spent mostly helping Chris Z. finish mounting the last few bolts required for their new rooftop tire carrier. They had to have some welding mods done on Monday and now it's all put together and operational.
The front motorcycle rack is gone now, so Stewie had a "cleaner" mad max kind of look. I like it.
Wednesday, April 26
I removed some Gorilla Tape that had failed from the VRRV's awning and put down some leftover Eternabond Tape in its place. Hopefully, it will last longer.
Around Noon, the Z's decided to go ahead and move further westward while I await the repair estimate for Yagi, my 2006 Yamaha TW200. I believe they want to check out the "Racetrack" in the northern portion of Death Valley, CA.
I would spend the rest of the day, enjoying the solitude of the dry lake bed. The only people around were so far off that you had to use binoculars to even see them clearly. It was lovely. Not much riding on Scarlett, though I did ride to a nearby sign post that Lori Z. had spotted on the way north to see what it was. It turned out to be an information kiosk for Boulder City's Conservation Easement.
Thursday, April 27
I got a call with the estimate for repairs on Yagi, my TW200. Pricey but within projections and budget so I told them to go ahead. Here's what they found and wrote up:
Removed head. Found valve broken, valve guide broken off head and debris damaged piston. Head unusable, rocker arm assembly damaged. Recommend Replacement of cylinder head assembly, piston and cylinder kit.
It'll take six days and hopefully I'll be able to pick up Yagi on Wednesday of next week.
Since I now had the wait window, I decided to displace to a less dusty and windy location. I drove, per recommendation from Lori Z, to give Lovell Canyon Road's dispersed campsites another shot. I'd been there before but had failed to find a spot to camp easily.
Turns out, it's quite the popular area, even on a weekday! Lots of campers, car campers and such using up all the spots closer to the highway. I had to drive quite a few miles, though not quite all the way to some campground further north. Finally found a campsite suitable for the VRRV and trailer.
Assuming no issues, I'll be here till its time to go back to Henderson, NV to retrieve Yagi this coming Wednesday.
A do nothing day, it got pretty warm as well so I spent lots of time in the shade of the VRRV's awning or in the afternoon, in the shade of the VRRV.
Monday, April 24
I displaced to Meadview by noon to pick up some packages for the Zs.
Once done, I drove to Henderson, NV and dropped off Yagi at Mastertech Automotive Repair, which is also a motorcycle shop, to help them diagnose what's going wrong with Yagi's engine.
Then I went southeast for about 7 to 8 miles and met up with Z's at the dry lake bed dispersed camping area south of Henderson.
I'll be boondocking with them for the next couple of days until I find out what fate awaits Yagi.
Thursday, April 20: I had displaced with Uma, the VRRV, Thursday afternoon after helping Chris Z. do some work on installing a tire carrier over Stewie's cab.
I returned to the same camping spot I used when last at Pearce Ferry. Besides one guy camping with a car only, I had the place to myself. Ah, solitary bliss!
Friday, April 21
Sunny and hot by mid-morning. I went riding to the Pearce Ferry Air Strip to take another look around.
Can you see Uma?
The green areas was where the water of Lake Mead
used to reach....yikes.
After the air strip, I decided to ride over to South Cove and see what was going on there. I stopped at the picnic area this time and discovered you could get usable cellular internet signal from the middle picnic stand.
Nothing new in terms of views since the last time so no pics.
As I was heading out of the South Cove area, Yagi's engine suddenly died and I coasted with the clutch lever pulled in onto a pullout. Dammit. Tried cranking but some rather loud clunking noises happened. Sigh.
I managed to get enough signal to send a request for rescue to the Z's in nearby Meadview. Thinking the message hadn't gotten out as I was now seeing no connection on the phone, I turned Yagi around and coasted all the way down back to the picnic area.
Soon, Chris and Lori showed up in a van. The plan was to use a rappeling rope Chris had, wrap it lightly on Yagi's left foot peg and slowly pull me back to the campsite.
After a couple of tests, we were off. No issues with being pulled by the van, once Chris was told by Lori to swing wide on the right turns. I think next time, using the right peg would be best.
The van with Lori and Chris got me to the top of the junction with Pearce Ferry Road. From there I coasted the 5 miles or so back to the vicinity of the campsite. At that point, Chris once again handed me the rope and I was pulled up the steep hill all the way to the VRRV.
Safely back at camp, we took a rest for a bit and then the Z's had to return to Meadview as Chris was due to cook dinner tonight.
Here's some videos shot by Lori Z.
Saturdays, April 22
I checked the valves and it wasn't them. Something is causing a klunking noise when I turn the crankshaft by hand. Something a bit more seriously wrong with Yagi's engine. I'm going to try and find a shop for her to be fixed.
I flew from Las Vegas to SFO Wednesday of last week to visit my parents and siblings.
It had been way too long since the last visit so it was overdue, way overdue.
My brother, Carlos, picked me up at SFO airport and we drove to Palo Alto where he lives with his lovely wife Ling, and their two sons Evan and Nathan.
I would spend several hours each day visiting with my folks. Then I would return to my brother's home to spend time with him and his family.
My mother, as always, went all out for our first lunch:
Interspersed with all the visiting, a lucky coincidence had one of my uncles arriving on Saturday to stay with the uncle I have here in the Bay area.... They invited the folks and I to dinner that evening.
#2 uncle on left and #4 uncle on right
Sunday, Ling and Carlos hosted a barbecue at their place, and my sister Ana, along with others.
My sister Ana Rosa
More visiting, a perusal of old photo albums at my parent's place resulted in the copying of some of them:
My siblings and I, me being the oldest
when we lived in Honduras
Me, in mid-70s Miami, FL
First car bought with own money
'77 CJ-7
My ride while in Germany with US Army
'87 Cherokee, proved underpowered,
Replaced soon by Black version with six cylinders instead.
My parents and I
Farewell Lunch
I fly back to Las Vegas today....not sure where I'll be camping next. Stay tuned.
Much resting and laying about listening to audio books. I did take off the intake valve cover off of Yagi's engine to confirm the lock nut remained in place:
I determined there's only one spot where the new omnidirectional antenna gets a cell signal "reliably". At least, for this particular campsite. Not bad considering the nearest cell tower I've determined to be 12+ miles away in Meadview!
Some photos during the golden hours
Monday, April 10
Last full day of boondocking. It was Scarlett's turn for a ride after I swapped out her suspect battery for a new one I received from Amazon.
Hottest day of the year so far for me...91F outside/97F inside!
Down by the Colorado river
A view of Scarlett from one of the other campsites near mine. See the area with green vegetation behind the rig? Lori Z. confirmed it used to be under water, in fact water used to reach all the way to the campsites!
More "Golden Hour" pics:
Tuesday, I head into Meadview. I'll be parking my VRRV and trailer with associated motorcycles at Lori Z's mom's place for a bit over a week.
I'm going to be visiting my folks in the San Francisco Bay area. I'll be staying with my brother and his family in Palo Alto, CA. There will be more siblings and a couple of Uncles meeting up on Sunday as well. More to follow.
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