Back roads to Barstow and Route 66
Weather reports said Monday was going to be windy, but when I met up with Wayne at Blakes BBQ on Mira Loma near Kraemer it seemed very pleasant but cold. We bundled up and I put on the winter gloves, but no liner inserts and no overpants and away we went, heading for Jimmy's home in Upland where we would meet up with Jimmy and his friend Harold on a Harley Dynaglide. Harold did not seem real well prepared for the cold weather but off we went. On the 210 heading east we turned onto the 15 Fwy going north to meet up with the 15/215 interchange in Devore.
First thing, Harold had to drop back and pull off to the side of the freeway due to his shield and visor coming loose as we tore into some pretty fierce wind on the 15. It took us a bit by surprise as the wind was howling and we really slowed down and tried not to get too close to the big rigs in case one blew over. Harold caught up and off we went but then he had to pull off again, same problem. Jimmy on his BMW sport-tourer headed for the turnoff to Devore and after Harold caught up we headed off the freeway and onto calmer surface roads through Devore to the old Rte. 66 historic road that parallels the 15 for a short stretch. When we reached Highway 138 we pulled over into a McDonald's for a short breather after those serious winds.
The road is the yellow line and it was fairly twisty for a few miles. Taken from Google Earth.
Once we got onto Hiway 138 it turns into a fairly twisting road for a few miles. I never made it past the first big turn over a year ago and so I was very relieved to see that I was able to keep up fairly well with Jimmy on this road. We headed up toward Silverwood Lake and eventually came up to the lake through a back road that leads up to the dam.
We stopped here and then went back to the highway leading to Hesperia. Here are the ONLY pictures taken on this trip for some reason, the road was more fun and intense than stopping for pictures.
4 Motorcycles and 3 riders, Jimmy Wayne and Harold with the lake behind the dam where it's supposed to be.
That's me back there.
In Hesperia, we were supposed to head east to Central road, but guess what, we missed the turn and actually and literally ran out of road. The road not only turned to wash board dirt but actually just disappeared. I was nervous about this Road Star and everyone elses motorcycle being on a dirt road but we headed back a couple miles found central and headed on up to Rte 18 and on to Lucerne Valley and then north on a long stretch of cold highway where we got up to about 4,100 foot level in the pass and it was cold but very little wind at all.
Yep, we ran out of road right in here somewhere, it looks like there is still road, but we all can verify it disappears.
In Barstow we headed for the train station and just plopped into a Church's Chicken and had lunch and head back to Jimmy's over the old Route 66 to Victorville, then back on the 15 south and home. Total trip about 260 miles, and we all did good, even back through the wind tunnel at the 15/215 interchange in Devore, it was still howling but nobody got blown off the road.
Labels: Trip to Barstow