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SPRING 2017 ISSUE 01 / VOL. 02
Bonuccelli and said,“ Yo Domino, how about following me and my GS on a 1,000-mile loop through the last lonely country in the West?” He agreed to a paltry fee. And he brought along his best friend Ryan Grey Smith, a successful architect from Seattle who rides a BMW F 650 GS. Ah, Beemers in the Basin. It had a nice ring to it.
Cedarville, California— We ride over mile-high Cedar Pass in the Warner Mountains to Surprise Valley. Before we reach the valley floor there is a wooden sign posted along the road that reads“ Entering the Great Basin.” Trust me, the sign is unnecessary. The brilliance of light and shadow, the clarity of the air, the scale of the whole world yawning away to a stark, arid, towering mountain range splayed against a huge pale sky to the east in Nevada— you don’ t need a wooden sign to inform you that you have entered The Big Empty, and in this day and age, how joyful is that? The Sunrise Motel is our base here. It’ s an old-fashioned kind of lodging where you park your motorcycle 3 feet from the door of your room. The manager reminds me of my favorite aunt. Cedarville was a trading post, a small log cabin in 1865. By 1867 it was a bigger business that supplied early ranchers with necessary goods. Today the two-story Cressler & Bonner brick building in downtown Cedarville stands mute to all the frontier
Above: Descending the summit of Fandango Pass. Left: A pause that refreshed us.