We started out our 2015 tour with a quick trip to Manzanar National Historical Site just a little north of Lone Pine, California on US 395. We opted to take the scenic route through Death Valley and as usual, the ride and scenery did not disappoint. We had never been in the park as far east as Stovepipe Wells before. With a brief stop at the Visitor’s Center (long enough to drop the bike in the parking lot on a slow speed turn…) we had great weather all the way to Manzanar.
Manzanar NHS is the site for one of the 10 Japanese internment camps in the west built at the beginning of WWII to house Japanese-Americans for most of the war with Japan. Though not much remains of the camp, the history behind the decision to intern Japanese-Americans, build the camp and how the folks made it their home for many years is a fascinating story. There is a first class visitor’s center complete with a museum, gift shop and a truly great film outlining the events surrounding Manzanar. Easy to get to, it is well worth a visit to understand a bit of US history not widely known. After our visit, we drove back down US 395 for an overnight stay in Lone Pine. Not much was happening in Lone Pine and we made it an early night. The whole round trip was 486 miles and was a great opener for our 2015 quest.
With some fine winter riding in Nevada in between, fast forward to February 6. This day we left on another trip to bag an additional site in CA with our first trip to San Diego. Cabillo National Monument is a monument to Juan Rodriguez Cabillo who was the first European to set foot on what is now the western United States in 1542. Positioned high on the mountain peninsula separating the Pacific Ocean from the San Diego Bay, the views were pretty nice, albeit chilly! We had great weather for our visit and hiked around the visitor’s center for a while, taking in all the sights and ambiance of the place. There are lots of trails to explore and worth a visit is to see the tidal pools, the Point Loma Light House and stop by the Kelp Forest and Whale Overlook. We stayed north of the city to avoid the downtown traffic and did not get into San Diego at all. We will probably re-visit San Diego when we are on a different kind of quest. This round trip was 685 miles and it is an easy one day-one way trip.
Our next outing was a local run on February 9 with a quick visit to Hoover Dam (can you believe it we didn’t get here last year even though it is only about 30 miles away?!). We parked on the Arizona side and walked back across the dam to get a few pictures. I couldn’t believe how expensive the dam tours were! I thought by now the dam had been paid for! Not long visiting there, we headed south on US 95 into Kingman, AZ to ride the Oatman Highway, also known as part of US 66. This is my favorite part of US 66 in that it has plenty of flat straight road but the stretch up through the mountains towards Oatman (from the east) will challenge your corning skills. Though the road surface isn’t the greatest, it will still take you back in time. Watch out for those loose donkeys in Oatman! We were able to get a picture of the sign designating the US 66 National Backcountry Byway to satisfy another point in out tour. Back home it was a short 250 or so mile round trip for the day.
So far we’ve rode 4,207 (since January 1) and clocked 3 states and 4 parks in our National Parks Tour. Stay tuned, much more to come! Greg & Cynthia