Day 2

We got up early and rode thru the rest of Death Valley - it was amazingly beautiful to me and I am very anxious to go back there again. Felt spiritual and magical for some reason, just beautiful.Kinda creepy looking too, but I loved it there. We met up with Laura and Amy and some others at a store/gas stop. We had breakfast and quickly rode on towards Mammoth and Yosemite National Park I think..... I need to get my route directions to aid in memory. That's all for now.

Day One

We are running late. Can you believe it? I felt especially bad because Tim and Joan were going to be meeting us there to see us off. Truth is, neither of slept well at all (like everyone else probably). anyway, we got there and the ceremony was already in progress. We met up with Tim and Joan but didn't have time to spend with them. We got to see the singing and drumming, and thankfully - we got on our bikes and rushed over towards the back of the line where I saw the guy with the burning smudge stick who was smudging and blessing all the bikes as they headed into the line for takeoff. We both got smudged, we almost missed it and I was so very glad we didn't. We didn't even have time to stop really, we just rode out thru the crowd of onlookers and off on our way. WOW. Here we go....

And there we went. It was pretty crazy - we took all the lanes, no single or staggered formation here, it was a free for all. The energy was incredible. We followed everyone for a while, a big pack of bikes, until at one point - some bikes went straight and others turned right. Uh-oh. We better stop... we needed gas anyway.
We went right, and to be honest we were very unsure if we were on the right path. We saw lots of bikes going back the other way, as if they learned it was wrong and were correcting themselves. But no, we were right. It was beautiful too - gorgeous roads in Arizona. I don't have my directions with me - so I can't say where we were but all of a sudden, up in the mountains - cruising beautifully around the curves with lots of other challengers, a bike went down. We didn't see it happen, but saw it right after it happened. Damn it I thought. In the middle of the first day, a wreck already. No excuse for it whatsoever. Many bikes were pulling over including Jim Red Cloud so we just kept going, as hard as it was. It was in a curve, and stopping would have added to the danger. Too many already stopped. So now I had this on my mind non stop. Who was it? were they OK? what happened? It was an ontermediate curve at best. Were they speeding? But mostly, I hope he's ok... This stayed with us for days, until we finally heard he was OK, and in the hospital in Phoenix. By this point, we hearing about other wrecks and wildlife accidents. We were heading to Las Vegas baby - to the HD shop. We got there at around 9 or 10pm I think. Still hot. They had water, drinks, and healthy snacks for us. They also had a widescreen showing the US Fleet tracking website and where everyone was. Already - we were behind many. We rested, we rode from 5am until 10pm and still had to go on, we had to go to Death Valley. But we had to ga the Hoka Hey way, which meant 8.5 miles of Friday Night Las Vegas Strip. Packed, thighs burning from the hotter than hell engines, crazies crossing the street - stop and go stop and go - and damn taxicabs!  Within miles of the strip, I was freezing. Yes, out in the middle of the desert it got very cold and very very dark. We seemed to be alone. I stopped and put on a kacket, Louann toughed it out. Not long later, we were entering Death Valley National Park - I think it was midnght or 1AM. We were up at 3:30AM - so we are looking at 20+ hours on the bikes at this point. WOw, I was in heaven being there and wished it wasn't so dark. I worried about wildlife running in front of us but LuLu said "what could live here?" and I rested assured probably nothing could.. It was a good 115 degrees again. I had ling lost the jacket. We had to sleep. But where? We came upon a gas station, it was lit up really bright with florescent lights - in the middle of nowhere. We rode in but it was closed. Any insect that could move, was there basking in the lights. We rode on. Saw a couple more guys stop or go by...
We came to another station all lit up but closed. Louann said "what do you think?" I said what do you mean?
She said, sleep here? I said you're kidding! Do you see the hundreds of bats flying 10 feet above us??? Of course they were eating the moths and insects like crazy. There was no grass, just hard white dusty rock and gray sand. And probably scorpions! I said no, we can't sleep here! Jus then, as LuLu was squatting to pee, I saw a headlight up in the hill above the gas station, it looked like it was heading down a hill towards us, out of the black sky. I told LuLu to hurry up becuase someone was coming. As she struggles to hurry, a motorbike pulls in, a little dirtbike like thing. A young guy is on it (it's like 1:30AM now) the guys has long hair in a ponytail, sandals, and a cat on his lap. Yes, the cat rode on the motorcycle with him. The cat jumped down and ran over to LuLu's puddle (funny) The guy asked if we needed gas - we said no. But I was enthralled with the cat. I asked his name. "oh, that's Bob" Bob I said, he had no tail. he was a bobber. I loved Bob and touched him a but and took a picture. We told the guy we need a place to sleep. He said there was a campground right smack across the street from us - I mean like 25 yards away. Crazy - it was just crazy. Long story short, we roleed ourselves up in  mosquito nets and laid down on a tarp. It was still very hot.
We heard bikes going by us, and actually did sleep a bit. We even got chilly. Next morning we had showers and flush toilets and hot water if we wanted it. How cool was that. AND we got to see Bob again as he walked around checking out the campers!

It's 2012 and I am still trying to write about 2011...

The next day was a free day for us to hang out at the starting point, Chester's. We slept pretty well and then went over there. It was HOT. People were milling about - and even more were lining up. We met Bubba and Blackie - the two guys from Texas I had friended online. Bubba was great, he was so helpful having done the 2010 Hoka Hey, he even sent us his packing list. We got to hug them and chum around a bit. They were both being interviewed by the camera crew. We were going to be interviewed but got side-tracked to the tracking device repair area because friends told us only I was showing up, not LuLu. We spent hours over there. The guy got hers working, we rode off - then noticed her CB radio quit working. We went back, and that's where all the time spent came in. It was hot and there was nothing but water there. I mean, they had a snack machine and a coke machine - but no food really. All day, in the heat. Full of excitement though. We were leaving at 5AM the next morning and HAD to have stuff in working order! We met several people on this day, including Joan Krenning Clarkson from Riderswraps and Laura and Amy from Washington DC, and Carla from North Carolina. This is the night they had the dinner and the cermony inside the metal building with no AC - it was an oven in there and we were all sweating. I loved the Native American rituals, drumming and dancing they did. They also had birds of prey, including an American Bald Eagle that flew across the crowd, right over our heads. Several big wigs from Harley Davidson were there, all sweatry and dirty like the rest of us. I mean, the President of HD and the CEO of HD were there. This is when we saw all the challengers together for the first time. I was amazed at how few of us there were, and how old some of us were. It was a special breed, no doubt about it. We ate and drank water - had to sleep fast and long. Big morning ahead! I mean THE DAY was finally almost here.