From A Dry Lake Bed to a Canyon Road

Wednesday, April 26

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.