US MotoGP Day 13-14

110 Degrees in the Nevada desert

We had hoped to take a more northern route home so it would be cooler than in the south. Looking at the temps yesterday I guess it was a bit cooler than the Phoenix area, which recorded 115, but I don’t think 110 is all that much better if you ask me.

Wednesday morning we left northeast California for the corner of Oregon. It was only about 60 miles out of the way and we could add it to our list of “states visited on motorcycle”. Even the southeast corner of Oregon is pretty in a dry sort of way. I just love that state. Goofy deal with gas, their law requires an attendant to pump the gas. We would not let them do that and in that remote area of Oregon the attendants were OK with us filling our bikes.

Our route out of Oregon called for several long legs with questionable gas availability. 100 miles down the road our first stop was the one store town of Adel, Oregon. The store didn’t look like much from the outside, but the inside was just totally cool. Wild animal mounts hung all over the walls, branding irons from the ceiling, old farm and ranching tools on the counters, old spurs, all kinds of cowboy and western stuff. An old timer was setting at a table, eating peanuts and drinking root beer. Adam and I chatted with him a bit, he raised cattle and quarter horses in the area. He looked to be about 85 years old and still ranched in the area. There was a giant mountain lion mount over our head and he said they still had big problems with mountain lions and the recently introduced wolves. He lost five quarter horse colts last year to mountain lions. Needless to say, the ranchers are not too fond of them.

From Adel it was 70 miles to the next “town” of Denio. Nobody was sure if there was gas available a Denio. Some cowboy we talked to said gas was available at Fields Oregon, but I couldn’t find it on the map and he wasn’t very clear as to where it was located. We didn’t want to backtrack 150 miles to take another route, so we forged ahead.

No Gas in Denio

A ride isn’t an adventure without a bit of drama. It is just a regular old ride. We arrived in Denio, Nevada and found everything shuttered. A sign instructed us as to the options for gas – none of them all that good. Two options were about 80 miles away, which were absolute max (untested) range for our bikes, even using reserve. The other option was for Fields, Oregon – 22 miles in the wrong direction. However, Fields was not listed on any map or my GPS so it was a crapshoot if it even existing. All we had to go on was the comments of a cowboy that said Fields had gas, and a handwritten sign claiming gas available in Fields. On top of that, this was a very desolate area, nothing but tumbleweeds, rock and sand around. The road to Fields didn’t look too well traveled so if we made that choice, and there was not fuel available, we were going to be a in a big time pickle, with not enough fuel to get anywhere else and very little traffic – plus temps at 100+. Nothing like a bit of adventure to make things interesting.

So off to Fields we went. As we approached the 20 mile mark there was nothing in site and both Adam and I were thinking “this looks bad”. Luckily, we rounded a corner (not many of those in that part of the country) and alas, there was a tree-lined oasis of Fields. Again a one store “town” of maybe 15 houses, but they did have fuel, a small restaurant and convenience store.

Topping the tanks, we turned around and drove 22 miles back to Denio, then the 100 miles on to Winnemucca, Nevada. Being on I-80 it was a decent sized town with gas and even a Subway. Long, hot, boring ride with 30 mile straights and maybe 3 curves in 100 miles. On top of that a couple of construction crews were working on the roads, we got to stop in the heat and wait on the pilot cars, then drive the oily, rock chip filled roads. A nice coating of tar and rock chips adorned the bikes.

Winnemucca was blistering hot, right smack in the middle of the Nevada desert, with only man-made shade anywhere around. After gas and resting at the Subway we pushed on, this time along I-80 so we could find fuel. We much prefer to ride back roads rather than Interstate, but with the heat and the problem finding gas, we decided to just make time on the boring hot ride across Nevada. Hooking up with a guy on a VFR returning from the races, we made good time on the Interstate, cruising around 90 mph. It sure ate up our rear tires with the heat and high speeds. I am seriously wondering if we are going to make it home on these rear tires.

Bonneville

After spending the night the Morman casino mecca of Wendover, Nevada, we jumped on the bikes early on Thursday with plans of making Colorado today. This is my first time driving across the salt flats. We could see Bonneville racetrack to our right, just flat sand marked with paint. Pulling off for pictures, Adam tried riding out across the sand flats but quickly figured out that it was not the time of year for that yet. The mud was soft and once you broke through the salt it was pretty ugly.

We finally made it to Salt Lake City around noon. After attempting to ride backroads to Park City, we were forced to backtrack 40 miles and follow I-80 again to Park City. Good old Starbucks provided the opportunity to update our blog once again.

Hopefully we will be riding twisties to Colorado today.