Day 13 - Death Valley to Benton Hot Springs

after spending a couple more hours in Death Valley I decided to start my journey back home and so took of from Death Valley.

At this point I had no Idea yet were to spend the night, except it's going to be a campground somewhere on the 395. After a couple of hours I reached the mamouth lakes in Mono county and was shocked to hear that the temperature drops below freezing at night time.

so I told a young ranger, lets call her Miss Ranger, about my journey and she told meshe knows the perfect spot for me. So I was informed about the Benton Hot Spring, which were only an hour away from my current location and so I decided to go there.

65 miles later, I arrived to be greated by this sight

and off I was to the registration and getting my private hot tub, camp site and other stuff sorted out. Which turned out to be a blessing and a course.

There were also a couple of old tractors

After soaking in this tub for 90 minutes, I was just to lazy to cook anything and decided to eat the canned tuna, I was transporting with me since 13 days. Bad idea...

But the hot tubs were wonderful warm and relaxing and put me right to sleep. Now I just have to go there again with my shorter half as soon as I get a bigger bike.

Map:


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Day 12 - Death valley

after the drive from vegas I was finally on my nearly last destination for the trip. Death Valley California/Nevada and it took me only 6 years to get there. Even after everybody told me don't do it. Do it with a couple of friends. Take a jeep or so and not a motorcycle.

Anyway here I am and I love this place. Sure it's a touch warm. Just a bit over 43 Ceslisus/109 Fahrenheit and not much cooler at night time.

So I spend close to 2 days here and enjoyed every minute. Not so much scotties castle

but the sand dunes were truly stunning and fun to walk throw.

maybe a touch warm in my leather outfit. But than protection first and at least I didn't get sunburned, except for a tiny spot between the jacket and gloves... Anyway.

The next step was than to go toward the famous 'bad water' part, which is the lowest point in the united states at a bit over 300F below sea level.
And it is obvious why it's called bad water. Such a high salt concentration and mostly dried out.

and so we left this area, after playing catch with a couple of goldwings and harleys. Well it was not truly a challenge, but the roads in this park are amazing. So curvy and just recently redone. Short I'm glad I had a motorcycle and not a jeep.Besides the part that I could not go to the most parts of the parks. I tried togo down a couple of unpaved roads, but changed my mind rather quickly...



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over all I had to refill 3 times in death valley. Which accounts to roughly 300 miles of driving in the park.

Now the plan for today was actually to go to the joshya tree park in southern california. But I changed and searching for a nice campground near a creek and read the next 2 days and relax, before I meetup with Ashley in Twain Harte to enjoy a nice weekend there.

Day 11 - St. George to Zion to Grand Canyon North Rim to Valley of Fire

well I start to put some serious miles together and after a great breakfast this morning I left St George and drove to Zion, which was not that impressive compared to bryce.

So I moved on towards the grand canyon - north rim. I was last year at the south rim, so I thought it would be great to see the north side. Well after arriving and asking them about the temperature at night (30-25 fahrenheit) I decided this is way to cold for me and instead decided to add another 300 miles to my trip and move to warmer areas.

I have to say the south rim is much more stunning, but the north rim is so much greener. There were trees everywhere.

so after the grand canyon visit I moved toward nevada, more specific the valley of fire. Which was rather hot, well I was incredible hot after riding on the I-15. Maybe death valley is not such a good idea after all? I met a canadian last night who said it was over 115F already and he just drove threw, because it was to hot. We shall see.

At least I was not cold in the valley of fire. Which was the first time in this camping trip.

but sadly I got no real cell phone reception and climbing on this 50 feet boulder, did not help that much and was rather stupid...

so currently I'm writing this from a small denies in Las Vegas, were a waitress is asking me all 20 seconds if I need something else. Slightly annoying.

Map of yesterday




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Day 10 - 4wheeling in St George

today I decided to take a rest from riding and winn and his family were so nice to let me tryout one of there 4Wheeler/Quad, which turned out to be a lot of fun, very intimidating and kinda hard.
.

the rest of the day is going to be a bbq and tomorrow it's off to zion and maybe the grand canon north rim.

We also ended up burning some woods in the evening, which is quite a spectacular sight

day 9 - Bryce canyon to St. George Utah and meeting some new friends.

after another cold night in the tent I drove the last 2 miles to the park entrance, paid my 80$ fee for a national pass and parked the bike at sunrise point. Were I promptly encountered a person who managed to packed more stuff than me on a bike.

jasmine looks rather tiny next to the packed up 2008 KTM Dakkar. And the proud owner happily announced that he traveled from new jersey over 10k miles so far. I shall do the same, once I get a bike with a 5-6 gallon gas tank.

Anyway some picture from sunrise point, it was not that impressive.

but quite a view. Afterward I moved on too sunset point and went for a small 2 mile hike there and got some truly stunning pictures.

I even managed to run into some new friends at the sunset points and we took off to a ride together and they showed me some parts of utah I would not had seen otherwise.


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partly the roads were in pretty bad condition and so not that safe to begin with. But we managed all right and I was invited to spend the weekend with one and his family, which turns out to be a great weekend.

It also turned out that he has 14 different bikes... And his garage was quite a sight.

they even adjusted my new chain quick, since it got a bit loose after being just installed.

day 8 -> salt lake city to capital reef national park to bryce canon

the 8th day of my trip started with me packing up the bike and getting on the 15 Southbound till hitting the 5o East. This was rather boring, except for me battle against 50mph winds from time to time. Short quite exhaustive. But Utah is truly a beautiful state and so much nicer than Nevada or dare I say it? California

When I finally got onto the 70 it got so much worse that I took the 71 to the 24 to the capital reef national park Which was just plain stunning.

after spending several hours at this national park I continued on the route 12, one amazing street to take the motorcycle on and me having way to much fun on the curvy roads and crossing summits of up to 10000 feet. Short I was truly happy, till I arrived at 9.30pm at the Bryce canyon national park and made camp there.

For dinner we had canned chicken and macaronis cooked in chicken broth. Nutritious, but not that tasty at all...



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day 6/7 - salt lake city



these two days I spend running around at the conference, talking to people, refreshing connections and presenting my poster. Which had the worst people possible and scared a lot of people of. Once I made clear what it was about, they like it quite well and showed interest. Shows how much a wrong title impacts your work.
Another really interesting thing was how many people asked me, if our software is IPad compatible. I was really not prepared for this question and so could only answer that it should, but needs to be tested..

Do you want to test our new software? Here it is




about the motorcycle issue,

happily I found a local ducati dealer, which told me he can help me with a new chain, if I also upgrade the sprockets. Ok close to 400$ later and 4h of work I got now a new chain and sproket and the bike is like new, except I hear this ticking noise...

so tomorrow we move on to bryce canon. It should be fun.

day 3/4/5 sacramento -> lahontan nv -> salt lake city utah

since my first attempt did not work out that well I tried to ride the 80 till I can pass it and than camp somwere in Nevada.

Well the first part was rather cold and I keep asking my self for the reason of spending close to 1000$ on summer leathers, when I cover my self the whole time in my rain jacket and pants to block the wind. Slightly frustrating.

After I passed tahoe and enjoyed some beautiful sights up there

I managed to find a small spot in Nevada where I can spend the night. And it was rather beautiful lake in the middle of the desert. Were a couple invited me to stay on there site so I don't have to pay any fees for camping. All I had todo was to offer them some nutella!

on the next day I packed my stuff in the morning after being awoken by gulls and the wind to proceed to utah.
Originally I intended to camp at fort churchill, but since I was not able to pass sonora pass 3 days ago, well my plans got slightly mixed up and I needed to make some time. So I drove down americas loniest highway, the 50 and boy it is lonely. Hours on hours nothing but snow capped mountains and once in a while a semi or other car, My tires are actually flat in a part now instead of round. Its not a bad thing, just frustrating since It means I need to replace them sooner.

the gas stations also turned out to be far and in between and not up to my usual standards. Like selling only diesel and low rated gasoline, which forced me to turn around once to find another way. The gas tank is just to small on the R6 and it might not be the best touring bike after all. Also an airforce station were I stopped refused to help me out with some fuels and made quite clear that I should move on.

Once I crossed into utah, I managed to stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Famous for there speed testing
purpose and used in many movies like 'The last Indian'.

 I resisted and did not test the max speed of the R6, but it was tempting as several people around me did in there cars.

afterward I moved on to the hotel and checked in and calling it a night.

Oh before I stopped for the night, my bike started to make a weird noise from the back wheel and I dropped it off at the mechanic today to see what it is. The diagnose was that I need a new chain and that mine has a tight spot and is worn down to it limits. So I told them to replace it and an hour later they came back and appologized that they have non in stock, but can get one till monday. Which didn't work for me. So they lubricated it the best they could and send me my way and assured me that it should last another 2000 miles without breaking.

Well makes me kinda nervous, since the consequences of a broken chain can be from annoying and stranded on the road, to a shredded engine casing or worse locking the rear wheel and causing a crash. Maybe I can find a chain at a motorcycle tomorrow and get it installed by the dealer. But I kinda doubt it. Sadly I don't have a choice at this point and now need to decide if I go back to davis directly or continue with my trip.

the trip of the last 3 days:


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day two: twain harte -> mason valley

dy two started with me leaving from twain harte, taking the 108 east towards sonora pass, passing pine crest (6000 Feet elevation and surrounded by snow), driving throw a Hail Storm and a Snow Shower... Just to find out that the last 24 miles into nevada, well the highway was closed off there. And my research did not discover these prior. I always read 'might be closed', but this sign:

so it was time for a de tour. Happy Pathfinder I am I already had a backup lined up and happiliy proceeded towards this, throw the hail and snow again just to find out, that the highway 4 pass is closed too.

At this point I turned around and drove back to sacramento.

Fazit:

miles driven: 501
miles progress: 11

but having a wonderful weekend makes more than up for it.

day one - twain harte

the first day started out rather nicely with the check engine light coming on and telling me not enough oil. A quick stop at the mechanic fixed this and we did not put enough in at the oil change.

10 Minutes later it started to rain till my arrival in sacramento and from there it was sunshine and windy while I was driving down the 99. After the wind decided to push me over 2 lanes, I decided to reroute and use the backroads, like the 104 and 125 to the 49. Which turned out to be beautiful. I was passing a nuclear power plant, which looked magnificent surrounded by orchards.
And past he Preston Castle in Ione. The last time I was at this castle I was helping out with a photo shoot and these pictures can be seen here. So it was nice to drive by again and look at it.

At a random point in time I was totally lost and managed to find a REI store and buy some quick stuff, like a lantern, knife sharpener, batteries and first aid kit. First 100$ of the trip are already gone.

Once I passed San Andreas I had to pull over, since it started a bit to rain, but my riding skills defiantly got much better on the 49 and it was the first time I did not drift out on a certain curve.

Around 8.45pm I arrived at the 128 and it turned very dark, started to hail and my one headlight blew out ( I have too) . So tomorrow I need to find a place which sells me a new head light. At 9.00pm I arrived in twain harte and was struggling with the dark and the hail, trying to find the main entrance, when a truck pulled me over and it turned out to be ashley who arrived at the same time and so I followed her to the cabin and got off the bike.

Now how to get the gloves try till sunday evening, this is going to be a good question.

Also while sleeping at the cabin I realized that my sleeping bag is not warm enough and even with a liner and fleece pants it turned out to be to cold.

It also turned out that I forgot my sweater/jacket and now need to find a REI store tomorrow around the way to get a sweater to keep me warm at night.

ok the trip is final and I'm leaving in 120 minute for twainharte...


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and hope to return there at the 6th of June 2010 in one piece...

23.05.2010	Sunday	Mason Valley
24.05.2010	Monday	Hickison Petroglyth Recreation Site
25.05.2010	Tuesday	Bonneville Salt Flats Statepark
26.05.2010	Wednesday	Salt Lake City
27.05.2010	Thursday	Salt Lake City
28.05.2010	Friday	Bryce Canyon
29.05.2010	Saturday	Bryce Canyon
30.05.2010	Sunday	Bryce Canyon
31.05.2010	Monday	Zion
01.06.2010	Tuesday	Zion
02.06.2010	Wednesday	Valley of Fire
03.06.2010	Thursday	Death Valley
04.06.2010	Friday	Death Valley
05.06.2010	Saturday	Twain Harte
06.06.2010	Sunday	Twain Harte

trip preparations,

time to plan what I have to pack so I don't forget half of it like always.

sleep:

• sleeping pad - x
• sleeping bag  - x - need to buy one which is warmer for the next trip...
• tent - x
• sleeping bag liner - x

cooking:

• stove - x
• knife - x
• spoon/fork - x
• 2 x gas - x
• water filter - x
• 2 x 750ml bottles - x 

clothing

• fleece pants - x
• fleece shirt  - x
• under armor shirt - x
• under armor pants - x 
• under armor socks - x
• ultra light zip off pants - x
• small hat - x
• light jacket or sweater

general

• 10 feet of rope - x
• hand warmers - x
• some bags
• head light - x
• camera -x
• memory card - x
• backup battery
• matches - x
• spare keys -x
• sun glases - x
• ear plugs - x
• latern - x
• knife sharpener - x
• backup knife - x

hygiene

• sun creme - x
• toilet paper - x
• towel - x
• tooth brush - x
• spare contact lenses - x
• contact solution
• allergy pills - x
• band aid - x

entertainment

• books
• ipod - x
• iphone - x
• headphones - x
• iPod charger - x

motorcycle

• backup gloves - x
• rain gear - x
• brush - x
• oil for chain - x

did I forget anything?

the preparations for my utah trip are slowly coming to an end and the wallet is close to be exhausted. Well I spend about 400$ more on the preparation than I wanted too, but better safe than 'skin surgery'.

Also thanks to a friend it looks like ashley is finally enjoying her on the back of the R6 and survived a bit over 60 miles last weekend none stop. Now I just need to find a way to feel comfortable my self with having her on the back at higher speeds. Just to worried that I loose her.

Guess we will add this to the stable next january if everything works out.

right now I'm trying to discover a new hobby, short making a chess set from firewood and learning to work with pine and alder wood.

Wedding time,

well yet another pair of friends decides to tie the knot and so It was a great possibility for me to grab my photo equipment and shoot this event. Running around, switching lenses forth and back. Trying to not interfere and avoiding the whole 'pose here' or 'smile there' disaster.

but I truly hope I never meet a groom with a white reflective tuxedo again...

Oh yeah I also had the chance to provide my delicious smoked tri tip. Which is rather simple to make:

ingredients:

• 3-4lbs tri tip
• salt/pepper/cardamon
• 5lbs charcoal
• 4 pieces of wood, hickory

preparation:

mix a handfull of pepper and salt with 2-3 teaspoons of cardamon. Rub it all over the meat and let rest for 2-4 hours, depending on desired taste.

prepare smoker and heat up to 220F and let the meat smoke for 30 minutes a pound. Remove around 160F internal temperature.

let rest over night and serve the next morning. TADA

-

And another jacket...

Well after 2 month my latest (third!) motorcycle jacket broke now to during basic riding I gave up on the Tourmaster brand and returned it to the store. So I was looking around for a new jacket to replace it.

To say it short, they had to happen a Dainese perforated leather jacket in my size for sale. Can't mention the price, it was just to good to be true. But it was a lot less than Dainese normally sells for.

Now I have a bright jacket and finally not the 'Geek' look anymore as I had with bright yellow one.
Another nice side effect is that the jacket is a lot tighter and closer to the body so the wind pulls less on me.

(Sorry sunshine)

Now I still need to get a pair of pants to go with it.

Aventinus

last night I went shopping at my favorite grocery store to get all the ingredients for my by now famous cheese fondue. While I was desperately searching for a lager, which is required my eyes stumbled over a violet/purple bottle of beer, called Aventinus. Understandable I was incredible excited. Since I discovered this beer at a tiny bar in germany 2 years ago and managed to go there with Ashley last christmas and rediscover this beer. Which translated in her steeling my beer...

To avoid this happening again I bought the complete stock of this beer at the store. A whopping 4 bottles. I think someone is going to be very happy wednesday night.

The Streets of San Francisco


The weather is finally getting nicer here in california and so I started to extend my rides from the Davis/Sacramento/Auburn area to the Bay Area.

First stop was my favorite american city, San Francisco and I have to say it's quite different to drive there by motorcycle and not by car.

First of all, you need about 45-50 minutes from Davis to SF, instead of two hours. If you take the bay bridge. Basically traffic jams don't exist anymore, thanks to the california law of splitting lanes. Now if you take the Golden Gate Bridge, you can't split lines anymore. The roads are to narrow and so the way back was more like 2.5 hours and my left hand was killing me after being for 1 hour stuck on the bridge in the traffic jam. Pull clutch in, Pull clutch out, Pull clutch in, Pull clutch out...

Reason of being there?

Now why did I actually go to SF? There is this great store, called Johnson Leathers, which provides custom made armor protection for you and your bike. Obviously I'm not rich enough to spend 1500$ on a custom made outfit. But I did get some underpants, so I can ride in jeans/cargo pants and have impact protection, but sadly barley any abrasion.

They did offer me to make a pair of perforated Leather Pants till the next weekend for 500$ to go with the underpants, but I had to decline. Maybe at the end of the year when my wallet recovered from the trip preparations.

For now I hope to be able to find some mesh pants or leather pants at a motorcycle outlet store for 50-100$ to help with the abrasion.

It is funny, you spend all this money on stuff you never hope to use.

Let's see

200$ 3 Season Jacket, which ripped again. So I have to return them. Maybe tomorrow...
100$ Summer Jacket ( which I already wear, whenever I ride in davis. 80F are already to hot)
230$ Back/Chest protector
180$ Winter/Fall pants
120$ Leather Gloves
400$ Helmet
200$ Protective underpants

Sadly my favorite 'motorcycle' headphones broke last week and I don't really want to spend another 200$ on them to buy them again. I mean they only lasted 8 Month, which does not speak of the quality. But they did have great noise isolation.

Maybe I give a Scala G4 or Blueant F4 a shot next? I just don't like to be forced to connect my IPhone/IPod over Bluetooth. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer good old wires for music transfer. I tried to use my old Sennheiser CX300 today, but they don't isolate the wind noise and so are useless. Guess I have to give up on music and use foam ear plugs again to filter these frequencies.

Another reason for going to San Francisco is because I really love to ride the motorcycle and to explore parts of california I would never see by car. Why would you ever take back roads in a car?

On a funny note, I had no problems starting the bike at all at the steep hills in San Francisco. Sure it was a bit noisy and whiny, but I did not stall it and it had more than enough power to keep going. Now If I could avoid to get my legs roasted by the engine heat in stop and go traffic . This would be a plus...

The scotch tasting experience.

For some reason a lot of people around me like scotch, mostly single malts and so I thought I need to test this sometimes to see what this all is about. Also after my last vodka experience I just can't go near to vodka anymore :(

So after reading up a bit, I found out that there are basically 6 types of whiskey

• bourbon
• canadian
• irish
• scotch
• single malt
• blended
• blended malt

this seems to be all quite pricey and so I decided to stick to scotch for now...

Since I always try to keep an open mind my first approach was 45 days ago trying to get a collection of some cheap too medium priced whiskeys to cover each of the regions with 2 bottes. Why 2? So that I have a comparison and give each region a fair chance. The statistical correct way would be 7 different bottles, but neither my liver nor wallet permits this.

The Regions

Lowland:

nothing in the collection so far, need to find one of these: Auchentoshan, Bladnoch, and Glenkinchie

Highland:

Glenmorangie Original

Islay:

Bowmore 12
Laguvilan 16, I only tried a glas of it at a party, but it was incredible smooth and tasty. Defiantly my preferred whiskey right now. Now I just need to find a bottle somewhere for under 80$.

Campeltown:

nothing in the collection so far, need to find one of these Glen Scotia, Glengyle and Springbank,

Speyside:

The Maccallan 12

The Glenlivet 12

The Islands:

nothing in the collections yet, but people highly recommend Highland Park.
I did try a tallisker 12 from the Island of Skye and was not a fan of it at all, way to sprity for my taste.

The other whiskeys?

Just for the sake of comparison, I added

blends:

chivas regal 12 - I really don't like it, but it's great for BBQ sauces. I need to get a bottle Johnie Walker Green sometime.

ireland:

Jamison 12

Drinking it?

Since I know from past experiences I neither like whisky in mix drinks (except manhattans, but this is canadian whiskey) or neat or on the rocks. Which means I have to water it down. After a bit of testing It turned out to be the most tasteful with 10-15% water from norway on a glas of scotch. Yes I actually did test water from different countries in different combinations.

Enjoying it?

It is really impressive how much the flavors varies between a highland and an Islay scotch for example. I tried Glenmorangie now several times and I just dont like it for some reasons, except with 40-50% of water and after standing for 10-15 minutes. Than it's quite enjoyable, but not nearly as enjoyable as an Islay.
I can't really say this about all Highland Whiskeys, since I did not try enough to make a statement on this. But most defiantly I like to continue the exploration to Speyside and Islay.

..sometimes I think I just need the right motivation to write...

since it's the end of the month and I'm running out of cash, after all the expenses of this month, I decided to put some more miles on the little honda. Since it shouldn't just sit in the garage and collect dust. Also the tank is full and the tank on the R6 is empty.

It runs great and is fun to ride, even if it's way to small for me. I think I should officially rename it from 'daisy' to clown bike/

I also did the slight mistake and took it on the freeway to see how it performs at 65-75 mph. After all it's supposed to hit 85mph. Well to say short I was scared for my live and happy to get of the freeway at the next exit. The bike is just powerful enough (don't attempt to pass anything) , but just to light at 158kg/350 lbs to withstand the wind from passing cars and trucks. Also the skinny front tire is not helping much either and gets stuck in every potluck pothole.
Short It will not see the freeway again and stay in town and in parking spots for ashley to practice.

On the bright side, Rebels in this price range are selling currently for 2800$, so I should be able to sell it for what I bought it for + registration once the time comes.

I also think it shrunk in the rain...

last night I encountered the first snatch with my upcoming road trip.

I was not able to pack all my stuff on the bike and don't even have enough space to take the camera with me with more than a single lens. This is just unfair.

The I ordered two bungee nets to see If i can use them to tie down my tent/sleeping pad/sleeping bag on top of the tail-bag. It's somehow the only chance to move it.

On the bright side my seat upgrade arrived and after getting used to it, it works quite well. It insulates me a bit more from the engine heat and dampens quite nice, while even raising me about half an inch - an inch. (1.3 - 2.6 cm) higher. Which relaxes the riding position a bit and decreases my knee angle. Actually while writing this I notice that my legs are not totally cramped up right now, which is normally the case.

The disappointing part is that it removes a bit of feedbag from the bike and you feel like you 'float' on the bike. I know it's the purpose of the pad, just strange. After 200 miles I was still being happy on the bike and was able to take the curves a bit more aggressively, to see how it behaves there. And it works quite well. I do need to push the bike a bit more to counter the floating on the pad to the right or the left, but overall I easily double the distance I can ride and will see how much I can push the bike tomorrow. I really need to get some pants next. At 80F+ my current pants just cling to me and are incredible uncomfortable. I hope to get this fixed at the first of the may weekend, once I got money again, now if I just could raise the handle bars an inch and move the controls an inch back I would be in heaven. But I think they call this a yamaha FJR and it would make more sense to trade the bike instead of investing money in it.

I also managed to submit my abstract for the conference in amsterdam and paid for the registration. Short I will be there soonish, but now my credit card is maxed out with the tire purchase, hotel costs and registration fee for 2 conferences, well I should be reimbursed in june-july.

One another note, I'm riding the R6 now since 5000 miles + without any major technical issues. I even managed yesterday to replace the brake fluid, which only took an hour for all 3 brakes, after my practice run on the Rebel. (This did take about 3 hours for one brake and spilled fluid all over the floor)

Last, but not least. I managed to sign the lease for a townhouse in north davis for the next year. It's a bit early, but I hope all works out with the visa. In the worst case I have to sublease it to someone.

My vacation is now roughly one month away and the whole setup for the 'Expedition' falls into place, more or less, but got more expensive than expected.

Got

• new tires
• tire patch kit
• saddle bags
• tail bag
• tank bag
• tent
• sleeping bag
• camping kitchen (mini stove)
• ultra light gear for different temperatures
• Airhawk seat for the bike
• touring windscreen
• gps mount
• digital camera - D80
• digital video camera
• 16GB + 8GB SD Card
• wired charging system for GPS and Phone into the bike
• tripod
• water filter
• sun lotion
• my standard hiking hat
• bungee cords

Needed:

• a pair of motorcycle pant's, since my over pants are getting way to hot and won't keep the protectors in place
• small can of chain wax to carry with me
• 1 gallon fuel tank for worst case scenarios
• camel back for water

ah it happened again, I missed the death valley 'flower show' again. It only happens for a week or two a year

I'm slowly making progress with my vacation plans and it all starts to come together. My main goal is to keep it between 2-4h of riding each day and camp as much as possible while doing it. So this is the current route.

Now I just have to find a way to strap a gallon of gas and a gallon of water to the bike. Next to the tent, laptop, conference outfit, hiking outfit and liners.


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the perfect crepe recipe

I think since close to 5 years I try now to create the perfect crepe recipe and I think today I succeded!

Current recipe for sweet crepes

ingredients

3 large eggs
2 table spoons melted butter
2 cups of flour
3 cups of 1% milk
1/2 table spoon vanilla extract
2 table spoon white cane sugar
1 zest of an orange

directions

put the flour into a bowl
add the butter
add the milk
add the orange zest
mix this all together till it’s smooth
add the eggs
mix it all together
add the vanilla extract
add the sugar
mix it all together

slightly grease a pan with some butter over medium heat and start making the crepes.

They will be thin and delicious. Perfect to be served with some vanilla ice cream and apple sauce.

upcoming project for April, checking the valve clearance before my bike trip:

http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/r6-how-guides/14272-how-valve-clearance-check-adjustment.html

and no it's not a joke, but I'm not going to pay 1200-1500$ for the adjustment. I also need new brake pads.

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Mein april projekt wird das messen und justieren des Ventil Spielraums an der R6 sein. Ja ich koennte zum Mechaniker meines Vertrauens gehen, aber der will dann gleich wieder 1200-1500$ fuer das justieren.

Ich glaube das koennte ich noch hinkriegen. Ich muss sowiso einen Oelwechsel machen. Und die meisten Werkzeuge habe ich eh herumzuliegen.

Achso ich brauche auch mal wieder neue bremsbelaege.