Ahead of us are some gradual twisties descending down to Paramint Valley.  It was a nice descent until we reach a particular pass that was cut out of the mountain.  When I entered the pass, I was kicked to the center of the road.  I thought, "This is dangerous.  I hope Eugene catches this in time so he doesn't get in trouble."  As Eugene passes through this pass, he was also knocked towards the center of the road.  The bad deal is there was a on coming bus in the opposite direction.  Fortunately, Eugene was able to get back in his lane in time.  Cursed be the winds I say.  The rest of the descent was slow and very enjoyable.  The panoramic view is gorgeous.  One thing though, I did notice one of the dunes was loosing it's sand.  Again, I thought, "This can't be a good sign."  It also means there is a possibility of high winds down in Paramint Valley.  I just hope it's not too bad as we have to go through the valley and up the next mountain range.

When we got to the base of the twisties, I needed to fuel up.  I probably had enough fuel to make it Stovepipe Wells but I think  that would be pushing it.  Fortunately, the restaurant and campsite at the base of the twisties also had a gas station.  A very strange and funny Shell gas station.  There were two pumps and what looks to be an abandoned building.  However, the pumps worked.  I noticed that my gas pump was missing a key pad (e.g. the electronics was showing).  The sign on the door of the building said something to the effect, "24 hour gas by credit card."  While I was fueling, I was skeptical that I was putting in the grade of fuel it claimed it was.  In fact , I was skeptical that it was fuel at all.  At least the smell of gasoline assured me it was really fuel.  At the end of it all, the pump asked Eugene whether he wanted a car wash.  As for me, when it asked if it wanted a receipt, I said yes.  It told me the receipt was inside.  We looked at each other in bewilderment and laughed.  Off we go to the next stop, Stovepipe Wells.

Crossing Paramint Valley wasn't too big of a deal.  There were an occasional lean to the left here and there but it wasn't bad at all.  Climbing and going through the mountain pass was easy going.  We just had to watch our speed at certain sections of the road because it could get dangerous (e.g. we might get air borne).  Surely enough, Stovepipe Wells.  I pulled over to show Eugene the sign that said we're at sea level and what did Eugene ask me, "Where's the hotel?"  I proceeded to tell him that we're not staying at Stovepipe Wells.  We're staying at Furnace Creek.  I estimated that it was another 30 miles South.  To say the least, Eugene wasn't happy.  I don't blame him.  I was pretty tired myself.  Two minutes later, we're off to Furnace Creek.

Did I mention there was a lot of cross wind in this story?  We'll if you haven't picked up on that yet, here's another hint.  The ride to Furnace Creek was no cake walk, for sure.  In fact, there was a massive sand storm while we were trying to get from Stovepipe Wells to the junction to go to Scotty's Castle and Furnace Creek.  Here's where my silly idea of riding with goggles and a face shield makes sense.  The goggles prevented dust, dirt, and sand to get into my eyes while the face shield prevented me from having my face sand blasted down to the bone.  Poor Eugene had to contend with sand in his eye lashes because he didn't have goggles.  The sky was dark because of the sand in addition to the sun going down.  We can see sand being whipped around on the road going from North to South.  As an occasional car pass us by, we would see wakes of sand being pushed around by the turbulent air.  15 degrees of leaning to the left was child's play at this point.  I didn't care how much we were leaning any more.  All I cared about was compensating enough to stay on the road while all this blasted sand was flying all around us.  All I know is my world was very bias toward leaning left.  Once again, I felt like my helmet was super glued to the left side of my head.  If it was hard to breath before on the 395, it is twice as hard to breath here.  Not to mention the sound of sand bouncing off of our windshield and face shield as we tuck to avoid the insane wind.  At one point, we ended up going in the general direction of the wind, Southward.  I notice something strange.  We are going 65 and there's barely any wind.  It's as if we're riding at 5 MPH.  You know what this means, it means the wind is approximately between 55-60MPH.  Scary.  Unfortunately, we got out of the tail wind.  Once again, my helmet felt like it was permanently stuck to my left cheek.  The great news is that it was only 17 miles to Furnace Creek instead of 30.  It was a really welcome site.  Yet another eternity, I see the Furnace Creek campgrounds, the Furnace Creek Chevron gas station, and the Furnace Creek Ranch.  I was elated.  We pull into the main office and I sigh a enormous sigh of relief.  We are here!



We check in, go to our rooms, and enjoy the lushness of the beds.  We came to the conclusion that we have been on the road for 9 hours (10 for Eugene).  That's no small feat.  Not only that, we must have ridden in the insane wind for at least 5 hours straight.  If anybody tells me that's not extreme riding, I'm going to deck 'em!