I was raring to go in the morning, so I got a luggage cart and hauled my boxes, dry bags and everything else down to the parking garage where my bike was parked.  I would have camped on the first night, but the days are so short during this time of year, that by the time I got to Las Vegas it was already dark and I had no idea where to go to camp.  

Once I got the bike loaded up and all my bags strapped down, I headed out of town towards Pahrump, Nevada.  In hindsight I made a serious mistake in my route.  I could have ridden immediately out of town on Nevada State Highway 159, but for some reason I decided to work my way over to Nevada State Highway 160 through the city.  Not only did this cost me extra time, but it cost me extra riding through the city and in traffic, which was unnecessary.  

Eventually I found my way to Highway 160 and started out of the city towards Pahrump.  At first there were a lot of stop lights and four lanes of some pretty significant traffic.  But after I passed the last stop light the traffic really started to thin out.  Then I passed the turnoff for Highway 159 and realized my mistake.  By now I was done beating myself up about the route decision as I started to climb up towards Mountain Springs Pass.  I saw warning signs in this area for elk and desert bighorn sheep, but the Department Of Wildlife had erected wildlife fencing on both sides of the highway, and I never saw any animals on the roadway or any evidence of animals being hit by motorists.

After going over the summit I started down into the valley and towards Pahrump.  The road went back to four lanes, but the traffic wasn't bad.  It was pretty much a straight shot for the rest of the way into Pahrump.  A little over 40 miles at this point I believe.  

Once I got into Pahrump I turned of on Nevada State Highway 372 to start out towards Shoshone, California.  It was about time to eat, and I saw a place called Johnny's Taco Shop and pulled off.  I went in there thinking I was going to get a hamburger.  I ended up ordering Mexican food, and that was the right decision!  

After eating my delicious lunch I loaded up and headed towards Shoshone.  In about 15 minutes I had crossed into California and proceeded into a wash between two mountains.  The ride really started to get pretty in this area and it stayed that way the rest of the day.  I had bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-60's.  Coming from Idaho, I was in Heaven!

Shoshone, California was a pretty little town in the desert with a few palm trees and fewer buildings.  I actually didn't ride into town.  The intersection of California Highways 178 and 127 is about 1/4 mile south of town, so I just looked at it from the intersection.  I should have gone and explored a little bit.  I headed south on California 127 towards Baker, CA.  This route was beautiful with wide open expanses of desert in front of me and no traffic.  I saw two really impressive sand dunes along this route as well.  

Once I made it to the San Bernardino County line I started diving down towards Interstate 15 and the town of Baker.  The ride remained very pretty with relatively no traffic.  In Baker I stopped at a convenience store to fuel up, buy a cold beer for later that night and have an iced tea.  I visited with another rider who had come from Laguna Beach, California.  He was heading towards Pahrump to take a firearms training course.  

After my stop in Baker I headed south, right under Interstate 15, on Kelbaker Road.  A few minutes later I entered the Mojave National Preserve.  This was my camping destination for the night, only I did not quite know where to camp in the area.  Just a few minutes after entering the preserve I saw several vehicles with trailers that were dry camping off the of the road a ways.  But, I wasn't ready to stop for the night yet, so I kept riding.  Pretty soon I came to really impressive lava flow.  You can see how it was flowing down the mountain and then just stopped, leaving a wall of hardened lava at the end.  I started to get into some Joshua Trees, and then I crested a summit and started down into a huge, desert valley.

In the bottom of the valley I could make out a tower of some kind, and I assumed it was a water tower.  About 30 minutes later I made it to the bottom and found the town of Kelso.  Because of Covid the visitor center was closed.  There was a railroad track coming through town that I initially thought was abandoned.  To my surprise I saw people there waiting on the train.  There are no amenities in Kelso, and it appeared that the only residents were the National Parks Service employees who took care of the preserve area.  I could see a building that was their headquarters, and I saw what appeared to be housing for government employees as well.  

I rode through Kelso and headed towards the ghost town of Cima.  I had read a bit about it, so I decided to go check it out.  I was now on Kelso/Cima Road, and it turned out that this is acutally a shortcut for people coming from the Palm Springs area to get to Las Vegas.  There were very few cars out there as this is really in the middle of nowhere, but I did get passed by one car that was going very fast.  It was just a moment after that, that I saw a white SUV pull out from behind a burm and take off after that car.  About ten minutes later I passed that fast car as the driver was being issued a ticket by a National Park Ranger.  So, this area is patrolled.  

I made my way to Cima and looked around at bit, but there really wasn't much to see in terms of a ghost town.  So, I turned around and headed back towards Kelso.  However, when I reached Cedar Canyon Road I headed over the railroad tracks and up the hill.  I found a nice flat spot with an incredible view off of the side of the road.  It was apparent that other people had camped there in the past from the presence of their fire rings.  So, I shut down the bike for the night, put up my tent and cracked that beer that I had bought in Baker.  

It got dark really early that night.  I was treated to an incredible sunset and a lot of singing by coyotes.  Later, well after dark I heard a train coming through in the bottom of the valley.  I couldn't believe it when I looked down, but the train had four passenger cars, with all the windows lit up in the night.  About three trains just like this came through during the night, and I realized that even thought we were miles and miles from anywhere, people were using the station in Kelso to catch the train.  I couldn't believe it.  

To my northeast I could see the glow of Las Vegas, and to my west I could see the glow of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire of Southern California.  I watched a steady flow of aircraft come over and head towards LAX until their blinking indicator light disappeared on the western horizon.  The stars were great, and the glow of the distant cities did not impact my ability to see them.  But, a very bright, waxing moon did, so I did not get the full effect of a moonless night in the desert.  

There were huge Joshua Trees all around me, and when the trains were gone there was absolute silence.  The temperature dipped into the low 30's pretty soon after dark, so it didn't take me long to find myself in my sleeping bag and out for the night!