Ride with Norman Reedus (2016) s01e02 Episode Script

1 Reedus: Never been to Death Valley ever.
Woman: So we get together and do it together.
- Which is awesome.
- I'm down.
You know what I mean? As fast as I could down the freeway, splitting lanes.
Whoo! Whoo-hoo! These are not as comfortable on my balls.
Man: Come on! - Smell the gas.
- Light it.
(all cheer) You have dunes there that look like Mars.
Welcome to the desert, boys.
Man: Aah! (music playing) Reedus: Las Vegas.
Now, this is a place where you can really get lost.
People come here for the escape and the thrill.
("Fight For Love" playing) This place is an adrenaline rush waiting to happen.
You know, the same reason I get on a bike and ride down an open road.
Break me down to nothing, nothing Break me down to nothing I'll keep giving you more Giving you more Oh, I'm never tired of running, running Never tired of running Reedus: Like Hunter S.
Thompson said, "Buy the ticket, take the ride.
" All in all, I'm a pretty lucky guy.
I've traveled all over the world LA, New York, London, Tokyo.
I've gotten to call each one of these places home.
There's something about the bright lights and the hum of the city that's engrained in who I am.
But in all my travels, I've never made it out to the desert.
My friend Balthazar Getty has been taking his bike out to Death Valley every chance he gets.
It's one of his favorite places and he's been dying to get me there.
So when he hit me up suggesting we jump on our bikes and take a ride out, I texted him right back.
"Hell yeah.
" Starting out in Vegas, we'll head 125 miles west on US 160, through the mountains and valleys across state lines into California, deep into the heart of Death Valley.
But before we head out, we're spending 24 hours in Vegas.
We got ourselves a pair of Ducatis, and we're meeting up at one of his favorite old-school spots on the Strip.
- Yeah.
- Whoa.
- How are you, dude? - All right, buddy.
- I love you, man.
- Norm.
All right.
This place is cool.
Yeah, this is the classic Peppermill Restaurant.
This diner was in "Casino" and "Showgirls.
" Yeah, it's pretty epic.
If you notice, there's, like, a little theme going on here.
Um Both: Short skirts.
Reedus: Balthazar and I go way back, to my early days living in LA.
We met through friends and instantly hit it off.
And, yes, he's a Getty.
His great-grandfather, J.
Paul Getty, was the richest man in the world at one point, in charge of one of the greatest oil fortunes ever.
Balt is one of the hardest working guys I know.
Music producer, DJ, and an actor.
"Lost Highway," "Lord of the Flies," "Natural Born Killers.
" He's been acting solid for 25 years.
He's one of my closest friends, and I couldn't imagine doing this ride with anyone else.
I mean, I've known you for how long? Like, a long-ass time.
I think longer than we really probably wanna say.
(laughs) Probably.
Yeah.
Um, I don't even think you were acting at the time when we met.
No, I was working at a motorcycle shop, and I was just doing artwork around LA.
Well, I had a little loner bike from a Harley spot.
It was a Honda Rebel.
It was, like, a little Honda Rebel.
The Rebel.
I remember the Rebel.
Yeah, you remember that? I used to ride that thing from downtown LA all the way to Venice as fast as I could.
Like, doesn't matter if it was pouring rain.
Down the freeway, splitting lanes on that little bike, just 'cause I didn't wanna lose that job.
Oh, really? That bike weighed, like, 60 pounds.
It was the tiniest little thing.
Have you been to Death Valley? I've never been to Death Valley ever.
- I shot "Lost Highway" there - Oh, no ? with Lynch, and that's, like, where my whole love affair with Death Valley And I hear it's really cold at night.
Yeah, yeah, it is.
I've never done it out here before, so Yeah, no, no, it's really cold.
Tell me some stuff about Death Valley.
You know, Death Valley, I mean, you have rock formations that look like you're on Mars, you know? I noticed so there's something spiritually about deserts that are they're very introspective, and so, like, you find yourself, you know? And I can remember growing up, going out to Joshua Tree and and and going and expanding our minds.
(laughter) Yeah, I don't wanna do any of that.
- So tonight in Vegas - Tonight in Vegas.
and then we hit the road? So we have some friends of mine that are meeting up tomorrow.
These girls, they're great.
You'll love 'em.
- Who's that? - They're super cool.
You'll meet 'em.
I'm not even gonna tell you.
I'm just gonna, like, surprise you.
Oh, really? A little surprise? A little surprise, yeah.
They're awesome.
And then, uh, we'll hit the desert.
- Deal? - I like it.
Cheers.
Love you.
You, too, buddy.
Proud of you.
Yeah.
Reedus: When you think of Las Vegas, motorcycles probably aren't the first thing that come to mind, but the biker scene in Vegas is thriving.
You just gotta get away from the Strip.
Getty: I'm ready to ride, man.
And there's a custom metalworker on the outskirts of town whose bike designs are unlike anything else in the industry today.
So have you ever ridden a Multistrada before? No, these are fantastic.
We're riding Multistrada 1200s with an LCD dashboard, four customizable riding modes, and a Testastretta DVT engine with 160 horsepower.
This bike is as smooth as it is fast.
Balt and I are kinda sporting the same gear right now.
I'm the one in the black jacket.
I love these bikes, dude.
I gotta say.
It's actually really nice being on a bike right now, man.
And what you can see on a bike you see everything.
You know what I mean? I kinda like that, though.
- Cheetah's.
- Topless cabaret.
24 hours.
What's Cheetah's? Is that a juice place? It's an animal reserve.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Great work they're doing there.
Rehabilitating all those kitty cats.
- Amazing.
- Yeah, oh, little white chapel.
Is that it right there? They got Elvis.
Wait, should we go get married? Dude, are you proposing to me right now? We're headed over to old Las Vegas, which is super interesting.
Sketchy as What is this, dude? This boxing graffiti right here.
This is cool.
Oh, hell, yeah.
(shutter clicking) Bang.
This is Snapchat city right here.
(shutter clicking) This is so good.
Yeah.
Get over there.
I'm gonna take your picture.
These are awesome.
I love these big paintings.
Reedus: Have you ever been up on that roller coaster thing up on that tower? - Up on the needle? - Yeah.
- No.
- That looks terrifying to me.
I'll just throw up everywhere.
I know.
Suddenly I'm afraid of heights.
- Me, too.
- Like, I never was.
Dude, I went up on top of the Empire State Building, and they took a portrait of me at the tippy-top.
I thought I was gonna die.
I was hugging the wall, the wind was blowing my hair sideways, and they were like, "Oh, yeah, Tom Cruise was up here yesterday, did the same thing.
- He was hanging off the edge.
" - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was like, " that.
" TC made you look like a , dude.
Like a (laughter) Reedus: Riding Vegas streets, there's never a lack of things to do or see, but for me, number one on my list is Sosa's Metal Works.
Everyone's been telling me I gotta check it out, and I'm excited to finally get here.
Hi.
How's it going, man? - Norman.
- How you doing? Christian.
Nice to meet you, man.
Hey, guys.
Ugh.
Man, I'll show you guys around if you guys wanna check 'em out.
Yeah, please.
For 20 years, Christian Sosa has been the mastermind behind some of the most innovatively designed bikes around.
Wow, it's such pretty stuff, man.
All this looks like it should be in a museum.
His metalwork game is out of this world.
Christian's futuristic craftsmanship has made him one of the most important designers in America.
I mean, there's a yearlong wait for one of his custom jobs.
Did you make the Johnny Cash, too? A friend of mine gave that to me.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
What makes one of these bikes your bikes? I mean, you have such a unique style, you know? I never plan out as far as what we're doing.
Starting with the motor, and then everything kind of grows, you know, organic-looking, I guess.
And people, they commission you to do a bike for them, they just kind of go, "Do your thing"? Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, so, like, all this stuff is entirely handmade.
The gas tank started from a flat piece.
All this started from raw materials.
You know, a gas cap and everything.
You do kinda get, like, all these, like, natural, organic lines and movement.
It almost looks like insects.
Yeah, I guess it could.
Right? Parts of insects go together.
You know, looks, like, alien.
Just gotta sit on it, man.
- Can I? - Yeah.
- Oh, that's nice.
- Yeah.
This it feels so solid, too.
Yeah, yeah.
It's balanced pretty well.
Wow.
So you pound out each piece? Yeah, I'll show you guys.
Let me show you guys how it goes.
Most of my machinery is really old.
Like this power hammer.
Basically, all this thing does is it's like you swinging a hammer, just harder and faster.
It's real loud, too.
I'll give you guys some of these.
What? Can't hear in these.
Wow.
Yeah, it's gonna be loud.
Does this ever split off and cut a finger? It hasn't happened so far.
- Yeah, well - Until now.
Until Reedus gets his hands on it.
- Don't even say that.
- I'll run it with you.
We'll be like Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in Yeah, like, "Ghost.
" - (laughs) - Who's who? Who's who? He liked that.
He liked that one.
I'm funny.
I got jokes.
You gotta be Demi, though.
Yeah, I'm totally kidding me? When I'm working it, I always pull my thumbs in like this just a little bit.
- Your thumbs in.
- Why? So it doesn't get caught on the machine.
I just met you.
You seem like a nice guy.
Like, you're gonna chop my thumbs off.
I'm helping you out right now.
Just feel the pedal.
Don't smash on it.
Just ease into it.
- Thumbs like this? - Yeah, yeah.
You got it.
That was perfect right there.
That's what you wanna do.
Yeah, that was a good one.
Reminds me of my ex-girlfriend.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Yeah, that's pretty good.
Not bad, right? It's kinda smooth.
Doing all right.
Reedus: Christian Sosa's an old-school guy with an old-school shop.
I respect anyone who works with his hands, but Christian is one of those rare talents you meet, and you're like, "Damn.
" But here's what I admire most about him.
He doesn't build his bikes according to some mapped-out plan.
He lets the bike come to him the deeper he gets into the process.
That's what it's all about, and I'm glad I got a chance to meet him.
The mastermind behind some of the most eye-catching bikes I've ever seen anywhere.
Dude, thanks for having us, man.
You guys are super cool.
Yeah.
(engines rev) - Later.
- Take care, guys.
Peace, yo.
- Man: You like peacocks? - I don't know.
To eat? Mm.
Yeah! Come here, come here, come here.
Don't anybody (shutter clicks) Reedus: Tomorrow we head out to the desert.
Tonight, it's all about Vegas.
Sin City.
40 million people come here every year looking to get lucky.
Whoo! We're here looking for something else.
("Crux" playing) Reedus: At night, the neon wonderland of Vegas comes to life, and riding through this is like a psychedelic rush, minus the LSD.
Ooh, yeah, the worm is out to get you Ooh, yeah Wow, these colors, like, I can't even describe how pretty this is.
- (horn honks) - Ooh, yeah Screaming bloody murder Ooh, yeah, the worm became a man Getty: That's the Palazzo, and that's the Wynn.
Reedus: Dude, I'm liking this Vegas riding.
Bloody murder Reedus: Yo, zombie burlesque show.
Should we go? Let's go.
Ooh, yeah.
Reedus: Zombies in Vegas? Did you think there was any way I wasn't gonna check this out? It's right here.
(woman screams) Zombies! (cheers and applause) That was a lot of fun, man.
That was so good.
Wow.
What's going on in here? Bravo! You guys are awesome.
Awesome.
How fun was that? And you, like, crazy flexible.
That's ridiculous.
And you, you're like a wild animal.
That's right.
- Bouncing all over the place.
- It's the hair.
And they have to have abs and ass, and they have to look good, like I've seen abs and ass all night long.
Right? You know, I mean And the voice and the presence and the Yeah, it's it's super impressive.
Six nights a week.
Getty: And whose brainchild is this? Our producer, really.
He loves "The Walking Dead.
" But thank you guys so much.
But, like, what a good night.
You guys are so good.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for coming.
Honestly.
So, so good.
.
I want one, too.
- Yeah! - So good.
Reedus: It takes talent, dedication, guts, and a ton of stamina to pull off what these performers do night after night.
I know how hard it is.
- This is my baby mama.
- Hi, baby mama.
She's gonna die if she couldn't meet you.
Nice come here.
Give me a hug.
Hi, nice to meet you.
Their stage had a ridiculous energy.
Soon as I sat down, I was hooked.
Woman: Here we go.
One, two, three.
Reedus: This morning, we somehow managed to peel out of Vegas with our shirts still on our backs.
(engines rev) Getty: Let's open these babies up, man.
Yeah, let's get on the freeway.
Reedus: Today we're leaving Vegas and heading west.
It's a 60-mile desert ride to a town called Pahrump.
Balthazar knows a motorcycle legend out there who puts out a clinic in dirt bike riding.
Encompassing over 25,000 square miles, the Mojave Desert stretches from Nevada into Utah, Arizona, and all the way to California and Death Valley.
300 million years ago, all of this was underwater, part of an ancient sea.
Today, the water's long gone, but the intricate volcanic terrain remain, and it's incredible.
Getty: It's nice to get out of the city.
You know what I mean? Reedus: Yeah, so pretty out here.
Oh, yeah, look at the mountain to the right, Norm.
Still got snow up there.
Oh, yeah.
Wow, I love this desert stuff.
All this vibe.
Yeah, this is awesome right here.
- Yeah.
- It's beautiful.
If you like this, tomorrow you're gonna go nuts, man.
Really? Oh.
Oh, Normy, you're gonna flip out, man.
On the road, you're always looking around the next corner, searching for that next discovery.
But out here, you're surrounded by nothing but desert as far as you can see.
The vast emptiness, it gets into your head, and you can't help but think about the big things in life and about our relative insignificance in the whole scheme of things.
Lucky for me, I've always done my best thinking on a bike.
(engine revs) But all that thinking can cause you to build up one hell of an appetite.
Out here in the middle of nowhere, me and Balthazar found a perfect pit stop.
A real-deal throwback biker bar.
- Trippy little spot.
- Yeah, let's go check this out.
5,000 feet up in the mountains is Mountain Springs Saloon.
Although it's just 40 miles outside of Vegas, it already feels like we've entered another world.
'Sup, dude? How's it going? - How you doing, man? - Good.
Hey, I'm Norman.
Nice to meet you, Norman.
Lead Feather.
Nice to meet you.
This is Balthazar.
- Hey, Balthazar.
- Nice to meet you, man.
Good to meet you, too.
What's your name? Uh, Lead Feather.
- Lead Feather.
I like it.
- Cool name.
- I like it.
- So what is this place? - Barbecue, right? - This is a hot-box barbecue.
Are you the barbecue chef? I'm the I'm the man.
Can we try some? You're the man with the master plan.
Yeah, heck yeah, man.
I'm glad you come up.
My best barbecue is the pulled pork.
You guys like pulled pork? Done.
I'd love some.
Yeah.
Okay.
My formulas were made at Cheetah's downtown.
Cheetah's the strip club? Yeah.
I used to cook for the girls and all the employees.
That's gotta be a good sign.
I've been mastering these formulas using the girls for about five years, so Using the girls at Cheetah's for five years.
It sounds it sounds wrong.
I'm getting all my money back, man.
(laughter) I'll get on that pulled pork for you.
- Should we go in the saloon? - Yeah.
Yeah, just wait for Lead Feather.
- This is cool.
- This is awesome.
Reedus: Oh.
What? Look at this.
Are you kidding me? Getty: This is the goods right here.
Reedus: Let's play poker or whatever.
Here.
I got a dollar.
Big money, big money, big money, big money.
Big money, big money, big money.
Okay.
I'm blackjacking.
Oh, my God.
Look at this.
Oh.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Right there.
Winner again.
Dude, I've already doubled my money.
Killing it right now.
I just went I just hit, like, three blackjacks.
I'm, like, a master at this thing.
Just tripled my money already.
How do I get my money back? You guys, I'll pay for your food.
You can have my winnings.
- Cash out.
- Thank you.
You're my new favorite guy.
You know what I'm saying? My daughter wants to give you her phone number.
Oh, I see how it works.
I buy you food, and you pass on your daughter.
I see how it works over here.
Can you put my winnings on their thingy? Cool.
Thanks, guys.
Let's go eat some barbecue.
Let's go.
Come on.
- Yeah! - Ah, perfect timing, guys.
Oh, is this us right here? Yeah, have a seat anywhere you like.
Dude, this is awesome.
This is I call it my dirty pulled pork sandwich.
Wow.
This looks delicious.
And some fries.
All right.
I say it's the best bargain in all of Nevada.
Mm.
Mm.
Mm.
Dude, try this.
What's your secret recipe? There's about 24 different ingredients in the barbecue sauce.
It's not too sweet.
It's not too spicy.
And make it to where everybody can eat it.
Take that thing down, man.
Take that thing down.
I feel like a wild animal, and I just caught it and ate it myself.
This was so good.
I'm gonna sell this to somebody on the crew - for a lot of money.
- (laughs) Thank you for having us, man.
Hey, not a problem, guys.
And feeding us.
Cool spot here.
Pleasure to meet you.
Yeah, enjoy your rides.
And you with your cool name.
Lead Feather? Don't forget it.
And Norman, which is totally boring.
Dude, that sandwich, honestly, might be the best barbecue ever.
That was ridiculous.
Hey, eat this.
I'm serious.
It's delicious.
It's crazy good.
(engine starts) Reedus: The only thing better than finding killer barbecue in the middle of the Nevada desert getting back on your bike and hitting the open road.
Getty: The cool thing is that there's no rules.
This is dope.
Yeah! Yeah! Whoo! Route 160 is a barren stretch of Nevada highway.
Out here, you're surrounded by nothing but boulders and brothels.
It's easy to get lost.
(shutter clicks) Riding's supposed to be about freedom, but most of the time you're a prisoner to the road.
But not here.
Surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but sand, it's almost a disservice to stick to the pavement.
Around here, dirt biking is king.
I haven't been on a dirt bike in years, but Balt rides them all the time and knows a guy who can show us a thing or two about riding in the sand.
(groans) - How's it going? - Norman.
Norman, nice to meet you.
Jimmy.
So, what? You're gonna give us a little tutorial? Yeah, gonna show you how to ride some dirt bikes today, huh? Jimmy Lewis is a motorcycle legend.
He's won races all over the world.
Now an editor of "Dirt Rider" magazine, Jimmy runs this off-road riding school, teaching aspiring racers and weekend warriors how to bike in the desert.
Show us some stuff, man.
Let's get started.
What I got for you guys to ride today is a couple Yamaha WRs.
Ooh, hoo, hoo.
Electric start.
(revs engine) This is based off a motocross bike, and they kinda tune it so that it works better off-road, so it's just super easy to ride.
They're at the top of the performance level.
(engine starts) These are not as comfortable on my balls as that other one.
We're gonna go shut 'em off real quick.
Uh, the red button.
Yeah, the red one.
- We have a winner.
- It's not easy.
I'm already sweating.
Wanna gear up and start goofing around? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Are these brand-new? - Brand-new.
Uh-oh.
(laughs) You like peacocks? - Like what? - Peacocks.
I don't know.
To eat? No, that's our school mascot, yeah.
Wait, you have a pet peacock? It's Pecker.
It's a she.
She likes everybody but me.
- Pecker.
- Let's do it.
- Everybody's good? - Yeah.
Okay, let's go hit the trails, huh? Let's do it, man.
Whoo! Jimmy: The cool thing it's like the world's biggest flat track.
And the other cool thing is, there's no rules.
(music playing) Yeah! Ah, this is dope.
Yeah! Keep going.
Jimmy: Like a kid in the candy store, huh? Reedus: Yeah, this is crazy.
Whoo-hoo! Wheelie.
Whoo! I just wanna go wheelie.
Okay, so I'll give you a quick little demo.
You wanna stay in the stationary position.
- Uh, see.
- It's hard not to move forward.
Yeah.
Show you what I'm talking about.
No, hop on.
Hop on.
Feet on the foot pegs.
- Okay, ready? - Yeah.
Yeah.
- Doing it, right? - Yeah.
Okay, don't lean back.
Just stay with me.
- Whoo! - Hold on, Normy! Hold on, Normy! (laughs) - (shouts) - Yeah, Normy.
- (laughter) - I'm not gonna kill ya.
I don't think that's in your liability contract.
Well, hi.
How are ya? Oh, uh, I gotta separate my knee from this pad for a second.
You getting a knee-pad rubbin'? I got knee chafe.
I just gotta drop my pants for two seconds here.
Hey, look.
Your bike wheelies.
Oh, yeah.
Is that what you do out on a dry lake bed? Yeah.
Ugh.
Let some air in there.
You know what I mean? - Normy.
- Yo.
This way.
Let's go all the way to the end.
Here.
Balty, get over here.
Let's play.
I'll outrun both of you bitches right now.
Hit it.
(music playing) Reedus: Yeah! Aah! I can't take all this open road.
This is too much.
(laughs) That was rad.
Reedus: It's so pretty right here.
Getty: Oh, I know.
Look at that up there.
Reedus: I've never ridden anywhere like this.
Night falling all around you like a glove.
The pandemonium of the sun under the desert mountains.
This is the zen of motorcycle riding.
We've traded the dirt bikes for our Ducatis, and as the sun dips below the horizon, we're gonna ride off into the complete darkness that is Death Valley.
From Pahrump, it's a 60-mile trek crossing over from Nevada to California and into Death Valley National Park.
Tonight, we're staying up at the Furnace Creek Inn.
Here, we're meeting up with some biker friends from Babes Ride Out before we venture out into Death Valley when the sun comes up.
Today was epic.
I feel incredibly sore, though.
I feel very old right now.
You looked like you were 12 years old.
I felt like I was 12.
You were just like, "Whee!" Honestly, like, having that much room around you, it kind of felt like you came out of a cage.
You know what I mean? Like, you just discovered space and freedom for the first time.
- It was amazing.
- Yeah, totally.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- How goes it? - How are you, sweetheart? - Good to see you.
- I'm Anya.
- Hey.
- Sweetheart, how are you? - Hey.
- Hey.
- Hey.
Doing good? - Yeah.
Have a seat.
Yeah.
Thanks.
I first met Nina Kaplan while riding in Georgia.
She introduced me to her bike collective Babes Ride Out.
Anya Violet and Ashmore Ellis are the cofounders of Babes Ride Out, a badass, women-only group of motorcycle enthusiasts who share a love of the open road and one golden rule no 'tude, no dudes.
Tell me about the Babes Ride Out.
Like, that's kinda how I know Nina, and Ellis: All started, like was just a simple text message between Anya and I.
And we're like, "We should go ride together.
" And then it turned into, "No, let's actually really go camp together and open up to other girls," 'cause we rode, but we haven't met anyone else that did, women.
We just wanted to meet more women that rode motorcycles.
I mean, it's, like, somewhat rare.
Ellis: Once we put it on Instagram, it kinda went viral.
50 women on motorcycles from all over? - In 2013.
- Like, girls rode from Portland.
Like, girls shipped their bikes out from New York.
Those 50 girls are what brought 500 girls, and those 500 girls are what brought 1,200 girls to this last event.
This year, we're doing Babes East Coast.
We're going to New York and doing the Catskills, and then we're having our first UK event as well.
Which is awesome.
But you're also open to, like, girls who are just getting into motorcycles, too.
Absolutely.
'Cause I know girls that are, like, "Oh, my God, I wanna learn.
" But you guys are, like, open I think that's a beautiful thing that you do that.
This is about riding motorcycles, camping, and having fun with and meeting new friends, so What are we doing tomorrow? The Artist, uh Artist Drive and Dante's View.
Have you guys have you been here before? I've never been here.
It seems to attract a certain type of person, you know? - For sure.
- Yeah.
Yeah, there's your hippies, there's artists, there's people that just don't wanna be around people.
- They're the best.
- So it's like, you know Which will be me before not too long, yeah.
Ellis: This is Norman's house down the road.
Yeah, I'll be out here.
What bikes you guys on tomorrow? We look ridiculous.
We have matching bikes.
Oh, my God.
So cute.
- That's adorable.
- We're adorable.
So we look pretty lame, but those bikes We look awesome.
What are you talking about? Violet: What are you talking about? You look amazing.
You got these badass chicks in leather on, like, you know, choppers.
I like it.
And I'm down.
You know what I mean? - You wanna trade? - Cheers.
Thank you, guys, for doing this, by the way.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
- Yeah.
- Cheers.
Thank you for coming.
Kaplan: Are you serious? Yeah.
Ellis: Thanks for having us.
Violet: Welcome to the desert.
Reedus: I just popped my desert cherry.
- You're welcome.
- So good.
Getty: Oh, look, dude.
Horseshoes.
Are you kidding me? Yes.
This is the best place ever.
Okay, ready? At the same time.
One, two, three.
Oh, come on.
Come on.
Ah.
Almost.
You throw three or one? I think you just I'm not sure, actually.
- Does it go like this? - Yeah.
Interference.
- Yeah, that sucked.
- Try one more.
Ready? Gotta get the Yeah.
Oh! No.
Ah.
These games are harder than they look.
- Oh, yeah.
- All right.
Reedus: I'm beginning to realize that Death Valley gets a bad rap.
Most people assume it's this barren desert, but waking up here, it doesn't take long to realize that nothing could be further from the truth.
(whistles) - Wow, look how pretty this is.
- I know.
- Morning.
- Morning.
- How goes it? - This is crazy pretty right here.
- I know, right? - Beautiful place to ride motorcycles, right? Kind of not a bad day for it either.
How are you? Exciting.
Good morning.
How are ya? How you doing? So you gals, you both slept.
- Yeah.
- You didn't sleep.
Yep, I'm a zombie.
So we'll have to wake you up on the ride, right? Yeah, we'll wake up on the ride.
Little wind in your face.
You'll be good.
Smell the gas.
Yeah, that'll wake you up.
Remember the Artist Artist, uh - Artist's Drive.
- That's right.
Artist's Drive.
It's a good route, too, out that way.
See what you guys are riding here.
Triumphs and Harleys.
Reedus: Nina and Ashmore are hitting the desert on Harley Sportsters.
Harley introduced the line in 1957, and it's been making them ever since.
And for good reason.
The Sportster is one of the most versatile bikes on the road.
Anya's modified Triumph Bonneville T100 is a modern classic.
While boasting an 865cc fuel-injected engine, the vintage gas tank gives this bike a real badass, old-school attitude.
- All right, should we do this? - Women: Let's do it.
Let's ride.
- Getty: You guys look rad.
- You look rad.
I mean, we look okay.
You guys look rad.
Yeah, I know.
("Shine a Light" playing) I spent a long time wondering Looking good, my friend.
(motors start) They're all badass.
All these chicks are badass.
Regulators, mount up.
I'm only meant to be with you Shine a light on the only one of you Yeah, yeah Spent a long time thinking Whoo! So beautiful.
Gone a long time wishing Yeah, welcome to the desert, boys.
Reedus: Yeah! Whoo-hoo! Where are my finger warmers? Right index finger.
I was sort of kidding, but, hey, why not, right? I was only meant to be with you Announcer: Isolated from the rest of the world is Death Valley.
Its only communication with civilization is a road that has tested the stamina of man since the first pioneers drove their oxen and burros through this desert wasteland.
112 degrees in the shade.
The burning hot dust rises like a tropical storm in the oven-baked hills and valleys.
In Death Valley, only the strong survive.
(music playing) Violet: You guys are twinning so hard right now.
- I love it.
- Yeah, I can't tell you apart.
- You look the same.
- Getty: I know, can you believe it? We're adorable.
Don't hate, we're adorable.
Violet: So cute.
It's so cute.
- His and his.
- (Violet laughs) Reedus: Today we're riding out into what centuries of grizzled explorers used to call the Valley of Death.
We'll begin in Furnace Creek, which is in the record books as being the hottest place on Earth.
Heading south, we'll ride nine miles through Artist Drive, a one-way road that snakes through the desert named for its vibrant rock formations that are straight out of a van Gogh painting.
Then we'll wind 30 miles up the Black Mountains until we reach our destination, one of the most incredible places in the West, a 5,500-foot summit with a panoramic overlook of the entire valley called Dante's View.
Riding into Artists Drive is hard to miss.
Millions of years ago, volcanos ripped this landscape to shreds, creating these towering mountains and endless valleys, leaving behind the ash deposits and iron oxide that color these hills today.
Violet: All the colors on the mountainside look so crazy.
Ellis: No doubt.
It's amazing.
Reedus: What gives it that color, the borax stuff? Getty: Yeah, different minerals.
It's so weird to think that this is, like, 100 feet below sea level.
- That trips me out.
- Reedus: It trips me out, too.
Yeah, if you ever want to get lost, this is the place to come to.
Reedus: This is so Wild West out here.
Makes me really miss Manhattan, you know what I mean? (women laugh) That's why I tried to start this annual Death Valley trip.
- Maybe we're reigniting it now.
- Reedus: Yeah.
Some people don't think the desert is beautiful.
Some people think it's too barren and it's not, you know, not for everybody, but to me it's so amazing.
- I love it.
- Reedus: It's beautiful.
Pulling over? - Stopping? - Yup.
Reedus: The view is so impressive, you can't help but stop for a minute and take it all in.
- This is so pretty up here.
- This is so pretty.
Yeah, welcome to the desert.
I get it.
I totally get it.
- Do you get it now? - You get it, right? - I get it, yeah.
- Solitude.
At its finest.
This is almost some sort of like natural Mount Rushmore.
This is sort of like you can just finally take a breath.
Yeah, it's so nice to be away from everything.
Like, basically away from civilization.
I think it gives you a sense of, like, scope.
Like your size versus the rest of the world.
That's one of the coolest things, though.
When we want to escape LA or Southern California, we just can ride out to Joshua Tree or anywhere and just get away from everybody.
How often do you guys do that? Just go, "Call me.
Let's go do something.
- Let's go ride.
" Every weekend? - Pretty much every weekend.
Bad day at work, get on the bike, go in the mountains, done.
Reedus: All my life, I've been drawn to big cities.
I thrive on the chaos of the streets and the solitude of being the one person lost in the crowd of millions.
But being here, man, it's a different kind of solitude.
It's absolute and crushing.
There's no outside stimulus.
No distractions.
And it's just you and your thoughts.
Already, I know why Balt wanted to take me out here.
- Oh, my God! - Oh, wow.
Ah! (music playing) Reedus: As the day burns on in Death Valley, we're on a 5,000-foot ascent through the Black Mountains to Dante's View.
We're going into a canyon.
Whoo! It's like a roller coaster.
Reedus: With a name like Dante's View, you know the views are going to be insane.
We're going to be overlooking one of the lowest points in North America.
A salt flat basin 282 feet below sea level.
I can't wait to finally experience it myself.
Oh, my God! - Getty: Wow.
- Reedus: Oh, wow.
Violet: Oh, my God, that's so cool.
This is awesome.
Oh, my God.
I'm tripping out.
This is amazing.
- Reedus: This is awesome.
- Holy crap.
- It's all good.
- Look at it! Whoo! Reedus: Whoa, yeah, this is crazy.
Violet: It looks like a painting or something.
- Yeah.
- Oh, look at that little - it looks like - Crater thing? Yeah, like a meteor or something maybe hit.
Ellis: And it looks like there's water down in that corner.
- Do you see that? - Reedus: It does look like a sinkhole.
- Look at that.
- Getty: Is that water? We've got to get a photo of all of us with that in the background.
- Get in here, girls.
- Come here.
Come here.
- Come here.
Come here.
Come here.
- Get on the farm.
Don't anybody step backwards.
- (clicks) - Yeah.
This is probably the prettiest thing I've ever seen.
- It's crazy.
- This is definitely - the prettiest thing I've ever seen.
- The mountains are blue.
- The most beautiful desert I've ever seen.
- Yeah.
Reedus: Yeah, me too.
It's just like full-on no-man's-land.
So from zombie burlesque to top of the mountain in Death Valley.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
- Pretty wild.
I've never ridden in the desert ever.
- Really? This is your first time? - First time, yeah.
This is a good place to start.
This is one of the probably most unique places in the entire world.
Do you see why we do Babes Ride Out in the desert? Hell, yeah.
I mean, on the Instagram and stuff, I end up following a lot of people that ride in places that look like this.
Just because I'm in New York going, "That must be cool.
" - You know what I mean? - I'd rather be there today.
Yeah, than live vicariously through strangers who ride through those.
- I do that all the time.
- Yeah, this is beautiful out here.
- I get it, you know? - Yeah, I'm glad we could be your first time in the desert.
This pops my desert cherry.
- (laughs) - You're welcome.
- You're welcome.
- This is so good.
Wait, I feel like the girls are sort of taking credit for the desert thing, but really - I mean, I kind of - This was your idea.
- (laughs) - Thank you so much for doing this.
(music playing) Let's roll.
Let's go hang out by a campfire.
- I like it.
- Yeah, let's do that.
- Okay.
- Let's build a campfire.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Let's do it.
(motors start) Getty: It starts to get chilly.
Reedus: Yeah, I feel it.
Violet: Yeah, in the shade, it's a little chilly.
Getty: I think I'm gonna put my hand warmers on, honey.
Reedus: Oh, that's a good idea, sweetheart.
Oh, so jealous.
Bastards.
Should I put it on medium or high? I think I'm gonna go for a medium 'cause they really get warm.
- The hands get too warm.
- Violet: Stop! (men laugh) I feel like I'm walking on a giant powdered donut.
- (laughs) - Like a sponge or something.
- That's what I'm talking about.
- It's like a crust of snow.
- This weird Martian - Papier-mâché.
- Papier-mâché.
- It's crazy.
- Look at that.
- That is the jam right there.
- That's the jam right there.
- Who brought the shrooms? - That is exactly - Seriously.
- Light it.
- There you go.
(cheers) All right, guys, a toast.
Yes, a toast.
- Today was amazing, guys.
- Yeah, today was good.
Awesome riding.
Awesome scenery.
- Awesome company.
- Cheers to new friends.
- To Death Valley.
- Absolutely to Death Valley.
Reedus: Riding through Death Valley has been one of the most incredible trips I've ever taken.
Balthazar was right and I'm grateful he brought me and the Babes Ride Out crew out here.
Riding through the desert is not something I'm going to forget any time soon.
You might come here to escape, but you end up discovering something about yourself.
And this ride has surpassed all my expectations.
The incredible scale of this magnificent landscape makes you realize that this planet we call home really is massive and we're just travelers who are fortunate enough to be passing through.
And you know what? That's okay with me.
I'm always down for a ride.