The Great Basin
Since I was unable to make
this year's BMW 49er Rally in Mariposa because of snow in the
Sierra's I decided a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to make a ride
across The Great Basin through Nevada to Tonopah and then onto Lee
Vining and then over Tioga Pass into Yosemite and then on to Fresno
California to visit my sister Kathy. After checking with her that she
would be home and would welcome a visit, I picked my weekend. I
actually rode this same route last year, except I ended up at the
49er Rally in Mariposa and I rode with friends. I have ridden this
route many times and up to about five or six years ago I was till
riding the 767 miles from Salt Lake to Fresno in one day. The last
few years and indeed last year, I rode from Salt Lake to Tonopah,
spent the night there and then the rest of the way the next morning
and partial afternoon.
I left on Thursday morning
and made the somewhat boring Interstate ride on I-80 from Salt Lake
to Wendover Utah where I then turned off on highway 93A. After
gassing up in Wendover it was nice to be on a two lane road with
little traffic. I looked for wild horses on White Horse pass, but was
not lucky enough to see any this year. Just before I got to the
junction point between 93A and the main Highway93 there was a sign
about road construction. They were chip sealing the road, and also
for a distance of several miles there was a pilot car, there ended
up being two pilot cars on the ride to Tonopah on this Thursday.
After the pilot car , I picked up speed, passed the several cars
ahead of me and then proceeded for the rest of the ride to Ely, my
next gas stop. After gassing up in Ely, I turned onto Highway 6, one
of my favorite roads and the 167 mile ride to Tonopah. At this
juncture I was all ready 240 or so miles from home. I have developed
a habit of oiling the chain at every other gas stop on a trip.
Highway 6 runs roughly 20 to 30 Miles South of the Route that the
Trapper and Explorer Jedediah Smith took in the late 1820's when he
was the first White person to walk from California through the Great
Basin to Utah. Hard to imagine what I pass through in a couple of
hours taking days and days and not knowing if and where you would
find water and other sustenance.
I have always considered the
Great Basin to be my backyard and as I looked forward to playing in
my back yard and the enumerable Mountain ranges on either side of me
for as far as you can see on the horizon. There is something about
the vast emptiness of this landscape and the tenacity with which the
flora and fauna of the area cling to life that is thrilling to this
other wise secular soul. In the 167 mile ride I see about 4 cars
heading the opposite direct and pass about 3 cars. I carried a
gallon of extra gas with me, because I have been traveling about 85
to 90, but the bike makes no tell tale notion of running out of gas,
even though the computer tells me I have zero miles left. I have
ridden my S1000rr a little over two hundred miles on a single tank of
gas, but that was at a constant 80 mph for almost the whole way and
included heading down the Virgin River Gorge to Mesquite. After
filing up my bike, and checking in to the Motel for the night, I head
up back up into the center of town of Tonopah and have a quick dinner
at a Mexican Restaurant and settle in for the night.
I had planned on having the
continental breakfast at the motel the next morning, but they were
not ready or open by the time I was ready to leave and since I was
burning daylight, I opted to hit the open road for the ride to the
California State border and to pick up highway 120 at Benton and the
roller coaster road and ride to Lee Vining. Lee Vining always has the
most expensive gas on almost any ride I take and at over $4.59 a
gallon is certainly did not disappoint . I had a nice breakfast at
Nicely's cafe, where I have eaten many times and headed East the
couple of miles to the turn off for Tioga Pass and Yosemite.
Tioga this year did not open
up till after the first of July and it seemed like the end of the
season and certain services never opened up this year. The traffic
was not particularly bad, but the lower I got and the closer I got to
El Portal, the more smoky it became. I normally at Mariposa, turn to
take highway 41 to Oakhurst and then on to Fresno, but that road was
closed and I kept going to Merced and then got onto highway 99 for
the ride to Fresno and my sisters house. Highway 99 has always seemed
like an overused but unloved thoroughfare to me, it really hasn't
changed much over the last 40 some years I have been riding it in one
direction or another. I have owned 7 BMW's over the last 41 years and
I have ridden each of them to my sisters house in Fresno at some time
or another for a visit.
I had a nice visit with my
sister, met her newest granddaughter and saw all of her daughter's
but one. I left early Sunday morning, and the road from Oakhurst to
Mariposa, had opened on Saturday afternoon so I headed that way
rather than returning to Merced and then up the hill. The closer I
got to El Portal and the entrance to Yosemite, the more traffic there
was and it ended up being almost bumper to bumper traffic till I was
in the Park and made the to get back to Crane Flat and the turnoff
going the other way to Tioga. Once I got to Crane Flat there was much
less traffic and I made decent time through Tioga to the gate and
then the ride down the spectacular pass to again Lee Vining, where I
once again filled up the bike with expensive gas.
By the time I got back to
Tonopah on Sunday it was a little after 1pm and I had all ready
decided that I would at least ride to Ely, which would leave me a
mere 240 Mile ride on Monday morning to get home. After checking in
to a motel in Ely, my plan was to change out of my riding gear, and
walk to the nearest restaurant for dinner, what I ended up doing was
lying down to have a quick nap and instead I fell asleep and never
did have anything to eat. I have always preferred riding a little
hungry. I did have some juice and a sweet roll the next morning
before leaving Ely.
I left Ely the next morning
for the ride back on Highway 93 and 93A to Wendover and then the
sprint ride from there to Salt Lake City and was home by 11:00 am on
Monday the 11th. It had ended up being a ride of a little
more than 1,534 miles.
I may end up doing an
additional ride somewhere before the season formally ends, and
probably by the time I take the next ride, I will be using some of my
heated gear and will have also turned on my heated seat. Last Year in
November I rode to Long Beach and the Motorcycle show with a friend
and we met some other Long Distance Motorcycle rider's, at Pink's Hot
Dogs in Hollywood, my friend has ridden the Iron Butt several times
and this year did the Three Flag's Rally in his sidecar rig with his
wife.
