Home to Glass Creek Campground (⛺️ ) Mammoth Lakes.
It was a ‘driving day’, but before we get into that…
With the bike prepped and ready to go, I dropped my 690 Enduro before ever leaving the house! I actually watched it blow over in the wind as I sat at my office desk looking out the window.
No real harm done I guess, right? I wanted a tail tidy of sorts for the bike anyway, just hadn’t gotten to it yet. That said, there was a few items I hadn’t gotten to before this trip. Remember all bike mods are at https://aufroad.com/category/bikes/ktm-690/
I knew the rear shock was forked but there was not enough time to get that done. I would have liked to have done the Exhaust (Wings), the intake (Rottweiler) and a set of new pegs (pivotPegz) but all of those are more do to lack of funds than time.
Tomm wanted to get an early start. He pulled up to my house at 8:30 am and we quickly loaded the bikes and gear. Probably close to 9:00 am we were on the road.
Our route for the day was to head east up and over Hwy 120 / Tioga Pass (through Yosemite). It’s the same way we did it five years earlier for the last trip.
The drive was scenic but uneventful. No bikes fell off the trailer, no flat tires, no accidents. The incredible, Priest Grade Rd. was closed for repairs so all cars, trucks and bikes had to use the trucking route instead.
Yosemite was strangely empty of visitors. We always seem to stop for a rest along side Tenaya Lake in Yosemite. The sun was out and it’s shorts and tshirt weather. Behind us on the far shore was a couple of people in bathing suits (at the end of October!)
Up and over Tioga Pass, into Lee Vining where we stopped at the gas on the corner for something called Blue Def. Apparently this is something the Mercedes diesel motor needs to run and his tank was running low.
Did you see that mention of Urea? That sounded a lot like piss to me, right? Apparently it is. My neighbor said it’s manufactured out of outhouse pumpings. I’ll call B.S. on that, but I guess that, and other rumors are out there. Also, any good rumor should always involve cats.
The downside to the bikes being on the trailer behind a diesel is the soot. While the amount put out by these clean burning machines is so much better these days, there’s still soot. So much so that while at one of our rest stops, some graffiti artist left his mark on Tomms fender.
Once back on the road it was just a few miles South on Hwy 395, past June Lake to Glass Creek Campground where we met up with Ernie and Michele. They were in their Jeep on the way to some event in or near the Grand Canyon.
Glass Creek Campground is just below Obsidian Dome. It’s got plenty of spaces and wide open spaces – lot’s of room for an RV. We saw a few here and there.
Michele and Ernie set up there tent, pumped up the air mattress, and were ready for the night. One problem with this area is that it get’s wicked cold at night. As soon as the sun went behind the Sierras man did the temp drop!
They had equipment that might have covered them down to maybe the 30’s or 40’s which they were expecting in the Grand Canyon but not down to the 18 degrees it was in the morning. We made the decision to have them bunk in the RV with us for the night. In the morning they were off to warmer places and we had plenty of room.
Our plan in the morning was to have a little breakfast, ride the bikes exploring all the trails around this area, and then pack everything up for the following day.
Tomorrow, we start the fun!
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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