Lost my hat in Badwater

Well, not mine exactly but the wind blew someone's else hat off in the shallow water in Badwater, the lowest point in the western hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level. You're not supposed to go and fish it back, it's forbidden, verboten, so the poor guy had to leave it there, in the middle of Death Valley where you definitively need a hat, or a helmet that is...
The wind played tricks on me today. Soon after leaving Las Vegas it tried to blow me off the road several times and did not abate until we exited Death Valley on Route 190 (a very pretty one). Steve did not seem to suffer as much but I guess my very unprofessional luggage system is to blame. No serious rider would travel with a hard Samsonite case strapped with bungee cords on the back seat. But I do, and for one good reason: I never found any motorcycle luggage that was truly waterproof under hard rain conditions and had several times to wear damp clothes due to a leaking side bag or tail pack. My trusted Samsonite that I have had for the last ten years is absolutely waterproof, handy and you can walk into an hotel room with just a single suitcase instead of carrying big ugly dirty motorcycle side bags or zillions of damp plastic bags containing your soggy clothes. Of course, I get dirty looks from other riders who paid a hefty price for a very nifty hard side bags, top case luggage system of matching color and bungee cords are a thing of the past but the heck with it, I want to carry and wear dry clothes. The drawback is that it makes the motorcycle, and especially the Sprint ST, more sensitive to crosswinds (and when I say "a little more" that's an understatement to whomever would have heard me calling the wind all sorts of names this morning). The mysteries of aerodynamics....
Death Valley is always fascinating. it was my second time there and apart from the pelerinage to Zabriskie Point that every Antonioni aficionado wants, and needs, to make, we went to Badwater to experience the strange feeling of being below sea level without being underwater. I love the sign high up above the mountain that says "sea level" to which everyone is looking from below. I'll try to post two more pictures, one of the sign and the other of two crows tucked under the narrow shadow of a rock, to exhausted to fly and face the heat.
But it wasn't so hot. It never went higher than 40° centigrade (105° fahrenheit) which is quite bearable. Some tourists still looked at us with amazement while we where strolling by in full leathers. Hey, don't they know that exposing your skin to the sun is actually what makes you feel hot and that nomads in the desert always keep their skin covered (all right, may be not with 2 centimeters thick cowhide but that's because they don't own motorcycles).

We met two fellow long distance riders from Quebec that were coming down from Yellowstone and warned us it's already below 30° degrees fahrenheit (-2 centigrade) there but without snow yet. We shall see. We are not due over there before an other ten days and things can change for the best or the worst. If that's the worst, will adapt and take a more southern route.
We did not reach Yosemite today. We left Vegas a little late and spent more time than expected a Death Valley. So we're in Lone Pine the "base camp" for hiking Mount Whitney and home to an apparently up and coming film festival set in October. The view on the Horseshoe Mountains is breathtaking. Oh, and I've seen my first Joshua Trees today. They look funny and they remind me of the eponymous and best U2 album. I could listen to it for hours on end. Otherwise, we stopped for lunch at the Crowbar cafe in Shoshone. I'am surprised that this place has not made it yet into some movie. It's one of my favourite place in the U.S. and one I fondly remembered from five years ago when we had lunch there with my mother, Quentin, Geneviève and Charlie (three of my four beloved children, the fourth Henry was not yet born) and my dear Elizabeth on the way out of Death Valley. The place still looks the same and there is a Post Office right across the street. perfect for writing post cards over lunch and putting them in the mail right away. I'll try to put a picture on the blog as well.