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Soon the road topped out above Meadow Valley and
the road become more hard-packed with only the occasional sand
pocket. The sun |
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Sunset on the Carp/ Elgin
Road |
quickly dipped below the mountains on the horizon,
and soon I was in darkness.
I came upon a
cattle grate and a sign that said I was now on National Forest land.
The road quickly improved to graded gravel gravel, although the
washboards were enough to shake you off the road in a heartbeat, so
I was on the pegs quite frequently.
Out of nowhere I can upon a large drilling rig
just off the roadway. They were drilling for natural gas I
assume. The drillers stared at me in amazement, as I expect
seeing a GS carrying golf clubs in the dark is probably the last
thing they expected to see.
My speed inhibition due to sand quickly faded as I
had had my fill of riding dirt and sand with Tourance tires, and was
ready for asphalt.
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The moonless night forced me to concentrate on the
area within my headlight's range as silhouettes of Joshua trees
passed in my peripheral vision.
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Eventually it was literally pitch black.
The road seemed to climb over a small pass and then began
dropping. I had a feeling I was approaching the base of
the Mormon |
 |
|
Carp/ Elgin Road at last
light |
Mountains and should be nearing I-15. To my
surprise, I saw headlights in the distance. They appeared and
disappeared as the road dipped through several washes and gullies.
It turned out to be a pickup truck hauling supplies to the drill rig
I had passed earlier.
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