2026 ADV n00bs Rally …

[CrazyCooter]

South pass during our attempt last month..... Dead car heading out to Lippensnot

 

[Cabrito]

I can see it now…. John soaking at Saline in nothing but his birthday suit and his wicked cool hat

 

[two wheel tramp]

@SFMCjohn Tell Joel I said HIIIIIIIIIII!

 

[budman]

Glad to tag along on the first leg. SFMC camping in Toumey was super fun.

@SFMCjohn snoozing..
View attachment 591530

Many BARF wins over the years for me. Most are getting to know cool people. Mr. SFMCjohn is a special one. I have seen more sunrises with him than any other... and I have yet to actually really see one. All the riding life shares are so wonderful.

That pic is most magical.

 

[SFMCjohn]

^^

“ride to nap, nap to ride …”
—SFMCjohn​

for Mr @Eric B , here’s a pic of today’s gas prices in Lone Pine—cash price is twenty cents higher for everything. I paid eight bucks for 1.2 gallons at $6.69 per:

 

[CrazyCooter]

I can see it now…. John soaking at Saline in nothing but his birthday suit and his wicked cool hat

View attachment 591651

Wood ya have a look at that hippie!

 

[SFMCjohn]

no love for me or my hat from the naked hippie-chicks this year. oh well.

here’s a pic of the “sunset pool,” I guess … view to the west, anyway. pool closest to the lower springs fire pit and lawn:



couple naked hippies photo-bombed my pic …

 

[CrazyCooter]

Meanwhile in Essex at the Goffs Rd Chevron.......cash price for regular is fuel is $8.29. I bet diesel is banging on $10! We have bought fuel for the bikes and Jeep out there many times. Just thankful someone is still open with the rest of the place a ghost town now.

 

[SFMCjohn]

here’s the requested pic of today’s gas prices at Panamint Springs Resort for Mr @Eric B :



and while I’m doing signs, the obligatory Death Valley sign pic:



bike on location in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, 03/24/2026, 5:23 pm.

 

[SFMCjohn]

couple more from Saline Valley Warm Springs … my favorite tub, the “Sunrise Pool”:



and the road out, Tuesday morning … I got up at 5am to try to pack the bike and get on the road before the 7am sunrise, and almost made it.



7:13 am …

 

[SFMCjohn]

I had a wonderful day yesterday … thrilled to escape the Saline Valley without too much drama … the washboard on North Pass did snap my other strap, but my belt-and-suspenders set up of TWO cheap cargo nets saved the day:

the carnage:



and the fix, recalling the recalcitrant strap to its duty (the other strap has a similar fix, from when I threw myself up the road while camping with Mr @bananachunks this past December):



a square knot is at the ragged edge of my motorcycle guy roadside fix-it abilities.

anyway, was soon on my way, and back to the relative safety of pavement, enjoying the view of the spectacular eastern Sierras:

 

[CDONA]

Solar damaged nylon strapping, I'm truly amazed with how many of those failures, I have seen living in Az.

 

[Eric B]

Good stuff John!
Those gas prices are similar to here at home. I expected a lot higher.

 

[SFMCjohn]

Solar damaged nylon strapping, I'm truly amazed with how many of those failures, I have seen living in Az.

I’m sure solar damage helped the process along, together with throwing myself down the road, regularly.

been using these straps for years, so they don’t owe me anything at this point, probably.

met a super-nice 27 year old at the Mobile station in Big Pine, who was a motorcycle guy and chair-lift mechanic at Mammoth—he let me sit on his ‘24 Transalp so I could see how I liked it, and regaled me with stories about his KTM 525 and his ‘82 VW Vanagon into which he’s shoehorned a Subaru engine and his grandfather’s ‘60s era BSA flat-trackers, which he now owns.

he told me about a mine to go explore, which I never did find, but instead found the Mt Whitney Fish Hatchery, built in 1918:



place was just too cool for words …

I took a twenty-five cent chance on this decrepit looking device and was rewarded with a fistful of fish food …



the pond in front was loaded with 10-pound trout, and it turned out they were hungry … missed the pic of them fighting for the food, but it was fun.

then it was on to the Movie Flat Road through the Alabama Hills above Lone Pine:



and on to Panamint Springs Resort to begin hanging out with 200 of my closest internet motorcycle buddies.

obligatory sunrise pic at Father Crowley Point from this morning:



I’ll do the sunrise thing tomorrow and Friday, and make my way back to San Francisco and home on Saturday. that’s the plan, anyway. we’ll see what is really in store.

 

[augustiron]

I finally got the registration tags for my new to me DR beater project.
Time to shake it down and hit the road in hopes of doing 1/100 of sfmcjohn's shenanigans

 

[SFMCjohn]

I finally got the registration tags for my new to me DR beater project.
Time to shake it down and hit the road in hopes of doing 1/100 of sfmcjohn's shenanigans

ha … totally forgot you scored that DR. suspect you’ll love it, and it’s a whole lot easier to set up for moto-camping than a KTM.

 

[CrazyCooter]

no love for me or my hat from the naked hippie-chicks this year. oh well.

here’s a pic of the “sunset pool,” I guess … view to the west, anyway. pool closest to the lower springs fire pit and lawn:

View attachment 591668

couple naked hippies photo-bombed my pic …

Is that the "crystal pool"?

The shade cloth is much more classy than the old cammo net that used to be over it!

 

[SFMCjohn]

yes, the Crystal Pool, maybe. the shade thing looked new …

 

[SFMCjohn]

and today’s sunrise at Father Crowley Point:



03/26/2026, 6:32 am … that’s Telescope Peak above the front fender.

 

[SFMCjohn]

some scenes from the rally:



hanging out with Mr @nsfw … it was generally too hot this week for campfires.

our tent slum at Panamint Springs Resort … nothing but motorcycle people cuz the rally rents the entire place:



the cosmic joke is my tent is the only one you can see in the pic, cuz we’re all rich baby-boomer grey beards now, and show up with our toy haulers and dirt bikes. they make a fuss over me and the few other guys who are still “ride-ins” …

feeding the multitude Friday night:



pulled pork and Mac & Cheese, yum.

and view of Mt Whitney and the Alabama Hills from Hwys 136 & 395 in Lone Pine, this morning: