Off the Beaten Path

March 19/2015  Sunny and Warm high of 80, low of 57 at night.

Dirt road into China Date Ranch

At the Rally we met lots of friendly faces and everyone talks about places to go and see.   One couple knew we were on a motorcycle and we said we loved winding, twisting highways.   Well they had just come from China Date Ranch which is south of Death Valley National Park, near the little Indian town of Shoshone.

felt like we were driving into an old mining pit

The Date Ranch appeared at the end of the road

In fact to get there you have to take the "Old Spanish Trail" Road, which is the path that the pioneers used to take in their wagon trains because it would come across springs of natural water for their horses and themselves.  Nice ride out on a off the beaten path road, wildflowers blooming in the desert. 

desert flowers

Then the road became more off the beaten path, and oh yes it turned to dirt.   Oh, Oh, Billy was not liking it, his poor Harley was getting dirty.   If you know him you know this is driving him crazy!    The road actually became 1 lane and really loose gravel and it felt like we were going down into a mining pit.   At this point we had to keep going for about a couple of miles.   Yikes.  China Date Ranch is in a desert spring/oasis.    And then we had to take the dirt road back out.   (Now Don I can hear you laughing ........ not funny.  Don has been with Billy through construction zones where the dirt was all over the bike).  

desert flowers blooming along the roadside

heading back to Pahrump the road is like a ribbon cutting across the landscape