The desert had been calling me bad Slappy. The dunes especially. Late last night, I loaded up my old toyota truck with my three wheeler, a six pack of soda, a bottle of water, a peanut butter sandwhich, and set the alarm for 3:30am. I got in a couple hours sleep, anxious to get going and when the alarm went off, I hit the road.

It was a beautiful morning with light traffic on the 15 all the way to baker. There was a huge orange sun shining down on me as I exited at baker and took kelbaker road towards death valley with not a soul in site. Mr. Redtails cousin was circling round a dry lake bed, looking for a light breakfast of fresh rabbit or maybe even quail.

On the 40 minute drive from baker to dumont, I passed all of two people coming the opposite way. It was a little spooky heading out by myself but that was also the fun of it. No one out there but me and an easterly breeze.

The dunes were magnificent. Not rolling and smooth like Mother Glamis but sharp and razorbacked with hardly a track in site. The little 110 I brought along to cruise on wanted more power but still kept me rolling along the dunes as long as I didn't run into a decent hill. Being on something so slow, you tend to notice alot more then when flying along at mach one. I ran into this beauty on a short expanse of sand, overlooking the main dunes. She let me get a nice closeup before she took off like an olympic runner, skittering across the sand on her hind feet and using her tail to balance her out. The funny thing is that she is quite a bit faster than my wheeler.

For such a little bike, the 110 got me around pretty well. I couldn't climb hills like my banshee of course but that's not what I was going for this trip. I just wanted to cruise and enjoy the dunes a little bit differently this time.

Both Glamis and Dumont have their great things and tops on the dumont list would be big dunes. These suckers are tall and steep and close to where you camp. If you have the machine, these dunes will give you a totally different ride than Glamis.

I learned the hard way that big ballon tires and only rear brakes don't stop so well in the soft stuff. I took a tumble, breaking my flag and bending the thumb throttle up into the bar. Trying to straighten it out, I broke the dang thing off. Of course I was about as far from the truck as I could have possibly been. After a long ride using the 3/4 inch nub that was left as the throttle, I made it to the truck and parked her, ready to load up and head out. It was a great trip if a bit short. I figure it wasn't over 90 degrees, about as perfect as I could have asked for. There was even a place to conveniently load up.

It was awfull nice Slap but now Mother Glamis is calling. I figure I can only go so long before I answer. I'll keep an eye out for a skinny black guy on a quad ripping a bowl, singing a tune, and yelling no one can dune like Slappy dune.

THAT WAS BEAUTIMUS FB!!!! MADE ME THINK A BIT ABOUT WHAT THOSE SAND PILES ARE TO ME.... LET ME TELL YOU, I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD BE THIS BAD, BUT THOSE SANDY RIDGES, AND SOFT BOWLS, MMMM MMMM DOENST GET ANY BETTER.

<GLAMIS
^ME

I went out for a gallon of milk and ended up in Glamis. I'll return home some day. Nice pics FB. Sanduners, you are correct. Peace

You are truly an adventurer FireballSoCal, but you crazy moofer, you need to go wit somebody, you never know what could happen out there. You definately dont want to turn into buzzard bait
Cool pics, and story though

Ben give me a heads up I am obout 2hrs from there would be happy to hit dumont with you this summer.

Doc

Very nice

Thanks for the warning guys. I am the first one to warn anyone away from riding alone, especially in the summertime. I had people that knew exactly where I was, I had plenty of water, a phone and two way radio. I felt pretty safe on my own and have to admit that was part of tha draw, relying on me and mine to get me home in one piece. Besides, I was "only cruising". Famous last words huh? It was definitely dangerous.

Jim: I planned on heading out through the little dunes to the North Pole and back but busted the thumb throttle first. It did get me out to the Northwest corner at the end of the fingers though (Where that pic was taken). Fun little bike.

Doc: You got it. I'll hit you up for a red eye most likely. I'm a little leary of a night ride up there yet, as big as those dunes are.

THE LITTLE MISS IS OFF TO HORSE CAMP HERE IN THE COUPLE OF
WEEKS. TIME TO DUST OF THE RAIL, LOAD THE TRUNK WING WITH SOME
CHEESE AND WINE,DONT FORGET THE BLANKIT . GRAB THE HOTTY WIFE AND
HEAD OUT FOR A MID SUMMER NIGHT RUN!...............................

Fireball, there ain't nothin like gettin that itch and scratchin it just like you did...Slap has made a few lat nighters to Mother G, whistlin a tune and feelin the breeze; all just to feel what we are so passionate about...Gotta love it. ...McScrappbook bound!

um...Fireball, is dat a Honda?

Hey Slap, I get enough grief from Mr. Dune huh? No need to rub it in.