So far the accommodation has been great. Very nice rooms, all the amenities and last night was no different. We have chosen to go with the Best Western chain as they are very biker friendly and give discounts to HOG members. They usually come with breakfast included which really saves time and money when you are looking for an early start. Hitting the road early is the trick this time of year and riding around trying to find a restaurant or diner for breakfast all takes up valuable time.
Breakfast over we were on the road shortly after 8am - destination Ely Nevada. There is nothing special about Ely as our destination for the night but it just happens to be on the Loneliest Highway, one of the iconic bucket list rides. We rolled out of Lake Tahoe after a bit of a tour around the lake. Tahoe is certainly a beautiful place and it must be particularly magical in the winter.
The road out of Tahoe took us straight on to Highway 50 and about 40 minutes later we were in the Capital of Nevada, Carson City. We headed for Walmarts for essential supplies. On learning we were Kiwis one of the staff button holed Larry and I and began talking about how amazing the All Blacks were. Then on to the local Harley dealer for some not so essential supplies. It coincided with a Veterans Ride to commemorate those killed in action and they invited us to join them. These guys really honour their veterans and a lot of them have gravitated to Harleys as an expression of their individualism but also to maintain that tight comradeship they developed in the armed services and is very much part of the Harley riding family.
Needless to say we could not join them but both Larry and I got talking to the motorbike cops doing the ride and quizzed them about the speeding tolerances in the State. We had noticed that when we were doing the maximum legal speed we would often find ourselves being passed by other motorists going significantly faster than us. Turns out that it will vary depending on the individual cop but it can be anything up to 18mph above the limit in Nevada. This can turn the 70mph (about 110kphpen road speeds into something a little bit more exciting. We pushed that little button later in the day.
Out of Carson City and on to Highway 50. The day had already started heating up so we were down to sleeveless shirts and plenty of sunblock. This looks like hard country. You can see it by the rundown properties and booze shacks on the city limits to the dry barren land past them. And of course lets not forget the brothels. You can even pick up live bait at these places in case you want to do some fishing after doing the deed.
Highway 50 was the first intercontinental highway connecting the US East Coast to the West Coast. Called the Lincoln Highway it preceded Route 66 as the road to get more people to California. Dubbed the Loneliest Highway in 1968 by Life Magazine it is quite historic in its own right but the real thrill is opening up the Harleys on those tremendously long straights, dialling up cruise control and taking it all in to whatever soundtrack works for you. In Larry's case he had always wanted to start with Time for a Cool Change by the Little River Band. I could hear it as we hit the first real straight. Then again a number of times as we hit even better straights. For me it wasn't a soundtrack I was after but the recreation of a poster I saw when I was a teenager with two bikers laying in the middle of the road in the middle of nowhere. This was where the poster had been shot. Another tick on the bucket list - lying on the hottest bit of tarmac this side of Death Valley waiting for a big rig to come up over the horizon - LTGTR!
We gassed up at Fallon, a prosperous little town at the end of one of the straights, and took on some more water. Without it you can end up with serious dehydration so every chance you get you buy a litre of water, drink half and pour the rest over your head. Try sitting in the open sun in 100+ temperatures for an hour and you will start to realise what this is like. We are loving it. How is the weather back home everyone? We rode though the Sand Mountain Recreation Area and then up and over the De Satoya Mountains. Again we were hitting elevations of nearly 9000ft.
We were basically following the old Pony express Route made famous by Kit Carson. How these guys did it on horseback I will never know. Some of the old staging depots are still operating and are good places to stop to get out of the heat, like this one at Cold Springs. They are in the middle of nowhere but offer a cool drink and air conditioned heaven. However the Big Guy found a suitable rock and commenced doing what he does best. We got talking to the cook who had come out onto the verandah for a smoke. She talked about her limited travels and wanting her son to see more of the world. She said she had not been in Ely for over 10 years and seldom got any further Fallon these days. She said the furthest she had ever been was around 100 miles either way. Our trip was more than she could fathom but I could sense something deep within her as we talked about oceans and mountains and places she had only seen pictures of. It wasn't envy...if anything maybe some sadness - as if we had triggered some part of her soul that she had long forgotten.
Back on Highway 50 we opened up the taps and gave the Harleys a real workout. With no one within a hundred miles of us and not another corner for 200 miles we pushed past the ton on several occasions. Glenys kept telling Larry she wanted more. We pushed on to the little mining town of Austin after going through the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest. Here we gassed up again and yes - more water and sunscreen. One thing we have noticed is that we are getting bigger mileages out of these Harleys than we do back home. I think that this is probably due to the lack of gear changing and subsequent higher revs rather than anything in regard to the bikes themselves. At Austin we finally found a sign to stand under to prove we were there.
From Austin we were on the last leg. Still on Highway 50 we stopped at another little mining town called Eureka we took on more water and then rode East to Ely. Ely took us by surprise. A dusty empty main street. I almost thought we were in for the first night of rough accommodation. It seemed deserted.
Looking West nothing. Looking East nothing.
And then there is the Hotel Nevada. Built in 1929 it was once the tallest building in the entire State. For $44 we get a better than average room and a for an additional $6 a steak and egg breakfast. How good is that. But what a great place - a fully functioning Casino it is packed with great memorabilia and relics of its heyday. They were particularly welcoming to bikers and that showed by the number of Harley's parked out the front.
Straight to the bar we went - dusty and thirsty. I felt a little like a cowboy coming in off the range. We met some bikers from Texas and found out that we had been crossing paths all day. Good people keen to hear our story as much as we were keen to hear theirs. We did well over 300 miles today and were in the saddle for just over five hours. It has been another awesome ride and the Loneliest Highway exceeded our expectations. It gave us another perspective on just how big this country is and we haven't even left Nevada yet. Tomorrow we continue on Highway 50 East bound and go through Salt Lake Flats and Salt Lake City finishing up in Logan Utah for the night. Then we start heading for Yellowstone. LTGTR.
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