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Did some fun traveling and Ryker rides last couple months.

J

JeffAZ

New member
At the end of March I hauled my Ryker to a place I have wanted to camp at for awhile: The Alabama Hills in California. I know that sounds weird. This area is on the east slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, just outside of Lone Pine, CA and near Mt Whitney. Apparently the area was first prospected for minerals by former Confederate soldiers after the Civil War, many of whom were from Alabama, and the name stuck. It is on BLM land and has been used by Hollywood to shoot a couple hundred movies, mostly westerns and science fiction. This was the first time for my Ryker in California, and also the most I have ridden it on unpaved roads. Here are some photos of my campsite and the area.
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While camping in the Alabama Hills, I also took a Ryker side trip to Death Valley, about 110 miles round-trip. I had never been there before. I drove down into the valley to Panamint Springs, it was a fun ride.IMG_1389 2.jpgIMG_1393 2.jpg
 
After a few days, I loaded up the Ryker and drove down to Palm Springs, camped in the back lot of a casino and attended a session of the professional tennis tournament in Indian Wells. I also went on a fun Ryker ride on the hiway that goes to San Diego. It takes you on a cool trip up over the large mountains that are south of Palm Springs. I even found some snow for the Ryker to play in. This was about a 90 mile trip and there were lots of motorcycles on that fun road. :thumbup: The photo of my Ryker in the grass is the parking area at the tennis venue. You can see how dirty the Ryker had become (but totally worth it!), and I couldn't wait to get home to give it a good wash.

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Finally, the first part of April my wife and I attended AZ Bike Week in Scottsdale for the first time. I hauled the Rykers to the venue (Westworld), where we camped for the weekend. Attended concerts, went on a group ride and visited all the vendors. On the last day I also took a Ryker ride up northeast of Scottsdale to Bartlett Lake and the Cave Creek area. I saw only 4 other Rykers out of the thousands of bikers that attend this event, but fun was had by all :ohyea:

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Now that’s what the ryker is for! If I had roads like that close by I’d buy one in a heart beat. Looks like fun and off the trail but still onroad
 
Certainly looks like you had some noteworthy adventures. Some pretty but rugged country. That rock painting cracked me up. Thanks for the share.
 
Thanks Greg. I believe that rock is called "Nightmare Rock". It is actually on land notoriously owned by the Los Angeles Water District. This area is in the Owens Valley, where the district bought up all the water rights in the early 1900s, drained and piped it all to LA, as portrayed in the movie "Chinatown".
 
Looks like you had an awesome time. I gotta say, these are the types of post that have me kinda wishing that we had purchased a ryker for the wife (and me as well) to ride.
 
Thanks for sharing your trip. I had a 2013 RT-S for 6 years and currently ride a 2020 RTL because I enjoy long distance trips. Once I age out of the long trips I may buy a Ryker to run around on and try a new perspective on riding.
 
I was fortunate and was able to secure a campsite on the Pacific coast at the Harbor campground of San Luis Obispo, CA. This facility is usually fully booked whenever I check their website reservation system. I would guess maybe the recent spike in fuel prices has caused a few RVers to cancel long-standing reservations. So on May 15 I hauled my Ryker there. I was really looking forward to rideIMG_1647.jpg on the Pacific Coast Highway for the first time :2thumbs:

On my first day I rode south to the Pismo Beach area, just about a 1/2 day ride. The next day I rode north on Highway 1 up along Big Sur for an all day 260 mile trip, which is the longest I have ridden in one day. The road and scenery was amazing for this flatlander from rural Nebraska! There were many other motorcycles on this highway, but I never saw another Ryker. That last photo is a small cafe/gas station in the remote Big Sur. It had a sign stating "40 miles to the next fuel", so I had to partake of their $9/gallon price, but it beats walking!
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Here's a couple more photos from that ride. The first one is from the entrance to the Wm Randolph Hearst State Park. If you look closely you can see the Hearst Castle on the mountaintop. I figure it would be a good visit if my wife can come next time. The last couple photos show the Morro Rock at Morro Bay.
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The day before I left AZ for Cali, we had our first triple digit temperature of the year. :yikes: The weather on the coast was perfect, so I rode the Ryker all 3 full days I was camped on the coast. On my way back to AZ I made a quick side trip to a Cali spot I had recently learned of called the Trona Pinnacles, which is an ancient seabed. I drove the motorhome on 5 miles of rough road to the visitor lot, then decided to unload the Ryker to search the area for a suitable campsite. I rode the Ryker .8 miles farther and found a good spot, then returned to the motorhome and loaded it back up again. The road was really rough and very rocky, so I wasn't keen on exposing my low-clearance Ryker to any more potential damage. So I decided to just hike while here, and kept the Ryker garaged for the rest of my visit.
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