On some days it is easy to get on the road and on others it just takes a little longer. This morning was one of the latter. We were up early enough but walked across the road to the 4 Corners restaurant to have breakfast. Packing was quite simple this morning and we had the bikes loaded and ready to go by 9:30. During that time I spent some time talking to a retired engineer who thinks the Republicans are really trying to destroy the middle class. He went back to Ronald Reagan, whom he did not like at all, and his attempts to allow the Savings & Loans to be deregulated with the loss of trillions of dollars for the taxpayers.
We rolled out of Wells before 10:00 a.m. on the way to Elko, NV. The land here is quite flat near the Interstate with mountains in the distance on both sides of the highway which follows valley bottoms until it runs out of valley and has to go over the top of the ridge that separates it from the next one. There is a great deal of dead grass along with sagebrush, mesquite, and a short bush that seems to be blooming with small yellow blossoms. The Nevada Highways Department, or whatever it is called had a guy mowing these plants beside the Interstate yesterday and the plants gave of a pungent spicy smell that was not unpleasant.
Typical scene in Nevada
Another roadside scene
Today was a day of more road kill. For some strange reason there are quite a few dead coyotes on the road. We have seen them throughout our trip from time to time but in the past two days we must have seen eight or ten of them along with the usual deer and small animals.
We stopped in Elko for gas at the Chevron station and paid the highest price that we have all trip - $4.19/US gallon. Cheap by Canadian standards but at least forty cents more than the usual price we have been paying.
Later as we gassed up at Battle Mountain we met a mining engineer and his two adult children from California. While I had been riding around the Flaming Gorge they had been rafting on the river. He had some suggestions including taking a ride to Mount Lassen, the semi-dormant volcano in northern California that still has fumaroles and last erupted in 1917.
At a rest stop west of Elko I talked to some firefighters from Alaska. They had been fighting wildfires in Nevada for the past four days and were now being moved to California in three light green school buses. Things are tight here when firefighters are being brought in from Alaska. Several of the guys came by saying, "Nice ride, man." while fist bumping me. I thought that was pretty cool. I can't say I envy them riding in school buses that weren't air conditioned and didn't have washrooms. They had to stop at rest areas and we saw them again just as we were leaving the stop at Winnemucca, NV. Finally, they were going through Reno just as we were turning off the find a place to stay.
Alaskan firefighters on the way to California. Who picked the colour for the bus???
The day was hot so we took our jackets off and put them away by 11:00 a.m. I suspect the temperature was over 100 F. today. We have taken to bringing litre bottles of Powerade with us to keep hydrated and to replenish the electrolytes we are losing as we sweat. We finally got smart and instead of paying up to two dollars a bottle, we stopped at trusty old Walmart and bought several bottles for $.88 each. Garry has been having trouble with sunburn, despite the fact that he applies sunscreen liberally several times a day. With the time we were in the sun both of us have some sunburn on our upper arms where the wind had been blowing our shirtsleeves up.
View from the Walmart parking lot in Winnemucca, NV
We made good time while on the road, but with the constant stops for drinks our speed is not as quick as it seems. We stopped at MacDonald's for an iced coffee (the unholy duo, Walmart & MacDonald's in one afternoon!) and then left for Fernley, 55 miles down the road only to discover that neither of us would be able to make it without gassing up so we had to turn around and ride the six miles back to Lovelock to get gas. It would have been a bad thing to run out of gas here because there were no services for 55 miles.
About sixteen miles north of Fernley we saw a sign that said, 'Strong Crosswinds are Possible'. Almost immediately, literally within seconds we experienced strong crosswinds. And these were strong winds at least thirty to forty miles per hour. We slowed from 75 mph to 60 mph but it was a white knuckle ride. At Fernley we pulled in to put on our jackets and decide whether to go on. We decided to fight the winds & head to Reno. The crosswinds continued to be a problem until we began to drop down towards Reno. Once we dropped down below the height of land the winds eased off.
After exiting the Interstate we pulled into a motel parking lot so I could check accommodations on my GPS. The area we were in looked pretty rough so we were glad to move on down the road to the centre of town. The Circus Circus looked OK so we stopped there. Garry went in to see about a room and came out with one for $67 for the two of us! This is one of the cheapest rooms of the whole trip.
Views from our 12th storey room at the Circus Circus Hotel in Reno, NV.
The weather looks uncertain so we have decided to stay for two nights. If everything is OK, we plan on riding to Carson City, and then to Lake Tahoe which is supposed to be well worth the ride. I seen to have a minor oil leak in my fork but can't really figure out where it's coming from so I'm going to go to the dealer tomorrow to see if they can figure it out.
We did 598 km today and considering the heat, it was a good day. Tomorrow is going to be a sort of day off from heavy duty riding and then we'll resume by starting to head north on the way home. It has been a great trip but it will be good to see Campbell River again.
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