(updated Feb 3, 2008)
Furnace Creek Campground - Death Valley

February brings the Death Valley Days meeting and campout. I had a lot of requests from members over the past six months to head back to Death Valley again this year so we are set up with four campsites at the Furnace Creek campground. We have sites #80, 82, 83 and 84 reserved for the nights of the 15th, 16th and 17th. That is Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights leaving Monday - Predsident’s Day (18th) for you return trip home. The general member’s meeting will be held at 5:00 p.m. Saturday evening at one of the campsites we have reserved.

Sarah and I will be riding the brand-x sidecar rig down again this year so we can explore the off road canyons and dirt riding that the area has to offer. This means that I will not be leading an organized tour to the campground like in other months. David Halliwell has volunteered to lead a tour from Bakersfield if you would like to travel in a group.

David will be riding down to Bakersfield on Friday night and spending the night near Buck Owen's Crystal Palace located at 2800 Buck Owens Blvd. There are many hotels in that area. The Best Western Crystal Palace Inn and Suites located at 2620 Buck Owens Blvd is within walking distance. David will be leaving from Sunnyvale Friday night after work. If anyone wants to ride from the bay area to Bakersfield with David they should contact him at 510-304-2507.

Saturday Morning David will be leaving from the International House of Pancakes located at 3253 Riverside Drive, at 9:00am. The route will take the tour past Lake Isabella, Ridegcrest, Trona and out through the Panamint Valley, then across 190 to Death Valley and down to Furnace Creek. The tour will be about 235 miles and according to Google maps should take about 5 hours. The tour will probably get to Furnace Creek around 4:00pm.

If anyone would like to join the slow moving sidecar tour down to Furnace Creek please contact me at the below e-mail address. We plan on leaving from San Jose on Thursday morning to get some extra time in Death Valley.

As always, new riders and non-club members are very welcome to join us on our tours and at our meetings. You can e-mail me at tourcaptain@bmwnorcal.org with any questions.

Warren Barnes, Tour Captain