Today was the day, the day I had been planning for months to do. I knew how to get east, just follow the interstate. But going back west was a bit more complicated. 50 wasn't just 50, it wound its way either through small towns or around them, merging and separating with other roads. I needed to stay on track. I had four days to do it. I could do it.
Of course, to be silly and bring balance to the ride, I had to collect some sand and water from the Atlantic.
Then back to the hotel for some sleep. Midnight comes quickly.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet up with @
Sirref while I was in town. I really need to head back out here.
Tuesday June 24 2014: Westbound Day 1
Mileage 859 miles
Time: 24:18 (7:21pm-7:39pm PDT)
Moving: 17:28
Stopped: 6:49
Moving Average: 49 mph
I actually woke up much sooner than intended and wound up going to the nearby Wal-Mart for a few snacks and supplies. Got to the Shell station in Ocean Beach just about 15 minutes before they shut down for the night. But my witness arrived on time. I spent a bit talking with him and of course getting a picture.
I got tired of waiting until my scheduled start, so put my card in the machine and tried pumping some gas. Only then did I discover they must have turned off the pumps too! Luckily, 0.014 gallons dribbled into the tank, so with a whooping 5 cents, I was officially on the clock. Off I go! Highway 50 was quite and peaceful under the setting sun, but at 12:30 in the morning, it was pitch black. I was straining to see beyond the illusion of movement to catch real movement and spotted a few herds of deer along the edge of the road eating the grass. All was good as I crossed the Chesapeake Bridge and dropped into DC again.
Oh, note to BP, across the country BLACK mean gas, GREEN means diesel. WTH are you thinking reversing those?! Disaster averted....
Traffic was non-existent all the way through DC and Virginia, the whole point of taking off as early as I did. The sun came up as I was reaching the mountains of West Virginia. Which was a good thing, as 50 turned into a narrow, winding, twisty road that was incredibly slow! Pretty much from Winchester to Grafton the road took delight in finding whatever curves it could. Mixed into that small towns just waking up and heading off to work and I had an enjoyable ride watching the world start moving. Even found an old gas station that still held onto the idea of full service, though the attendant looked a little put off when I was already filling my tank before she made out it front. Feared for a moment I was in another state like Oregon or New Jersey. But all was good, even if she just stood there with my feeble attempts at small talk.
I left West Virginia and entered Ohio and found out my electronics has given up the ghost, something caused my accessory plugs to fail and nothing was charging. Had a backup means of letting @
csmith12 know I was running late and would be in Cincinnati as soon as I could. Highway 50 out here isn't a major road, but it is a well traveled one. I passed through so many towns I lost count of them. And I was deeply reminded of the movie Cars. Here was the old road, with the old towns, and the interstate was just a few miles away. A couple places had banners out with the names of all the businesses in town "Ready to serve you!" I actually started crying at one point, thinking about how these places were just passed by. And yes, I am aware that is exactly what I was doing, so hush.
Finally made it to Cincinnati only to misread my GPS and spend close to an hour riding back and forth all over the place trying to figure out where I told Chris to meet me. UGH! I need a break, badly. Finally found him, yay for meeting in person, and a friend of his came over to chat. We then headed off to see a few of his hang out places and stop at a really yummy restaurant. I was happy for the chance to sit down and stop for awhile just talking. That turned into a good thing as one of the 15 minute monsoons dumped while we were eating.
Everyone knows bowties are cool, right?
Time flew by and soon it was time for me to scoot along. Said farewell and hopped on the bike to continue westward. Got dumped on a few more times before Ohio let me leave. Indiana welcomed me with patchy clouds but no threat of rain. I had hoped to ride with another friend through Indiana, unfortunately the weather conspired against me and it was even worse where he was starting from. Safety overrode the desire to meet up and I passed through the state alone. I do need to come back! It was getting late as I passed through more small towns, but the lack of mountains made for a really long twilight. I reached North Vernon before I noticed that the oil temp sensor was blinking away. Pulling over I checked the level and everything seemed fine. The water temp was reading normal too. Topped off the oil, and the Scottoiler too since I had things open, and continued on. About a half hour later, the temp fell into its normal range and resumed acting normal. Weird.
Made it to Washington before I called it a night. Rather pleasant hotel right off the highway and cheaper than I expected. Not quite as far as planned, but still on pace. This day has been good!
Wednesday June 25 2014: Westbound Day 2
Mileage 991 miles
Time: 20:33 (2:59am-11:33pm PDT)
Moving: 16:43
Stopped: 3:49
Moving Average: 59 mph
Wakey wakey, time to ride. Got the bike packed back up and headed on down the road. I rode by towns that had history stretching back to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. The few places where 50 still wound through the middle of town rather than bypassed it showed off Main Streets with buildings hundreds of years old. I waved farewell to Indiana and greeted Illinois.
There's a town named Olney that I was wondering if I could stop in and still have time. They have a whole population of albino squirrels. That would have been neat to see, except around that time my brain decided it hadn't quite gotten enough sleep and it would like some more... NOW! Found a little pull off which had a historical marker near a nice parking area. I'm getting fairly good at napping on the bike; park, backpack off and onto handlebar, feet propped up on the right bar, helmet on and resting on the tail bag. Surprisingly comfortable. A ten minute nap allowed my brain to get itself sorted out and I was back on the road. Highway 50 pretty much heads straight west, varying little to the north or south. The temps were warm to hot but my cooling gear was doing its job. Needed to pull over once to resoak the sleeves and had a nice chat with a "simple minded redneck" (her words) about using technology to navigate long distances.
St Louis was the next big city I crossed and as I spent part of the time looking for the arch, it suddenly dawned on me that I was in St. Louis! Home of Anita Blake, the heroine of one of my favorite book series. I realized my brain had been unconsciously substituting "St Louis" with "New Orleans" and "Missouri" with "Louisiana". It was rather shocking to suddenly have the location of my favorite story shifted north by quite a bit. Then I saw the arch and I was back in reality.
I mostly remember trees in Missouri. Lots of a trees, and a small two lane road winding between them. Highway 50 gave me that timeless sense, where nothing moved, nothing changed, and life just continued on. Before I knew it I was approaching Kansas City. I had this wild notion that I would enter Kansas and see nothing but flat farm land with fields of grain glowing in the setting sun. I didn't anticipate my bike sputtering to a stop AGAIN just outside Emporia. I did all my usual tricks, even cursed at it for a good long while, before deciding that wasting time wasn't something I could afford, so immediately called my LD friend. "Reserve?" "Don't have one." "What do you have?" "Prime." "Use it." It's a temporary fix but it was one that got me home.
I scooted across Kansas looking out over low rolling hills and more grass than I have ever seen. Seriously, I've never seen the DOT *mowing* the shoulders of a highway before. My dad asked if I saw the massive grain elevators, but they didn't register for me. I was too busy looking at the land... and the cloud... the massive monster cloud that seemed intent on swallowing the entire western horizon. Then I arrived in Kinsley KS. This was a stop I had to make. For one simple reason...
By the time I left, the cloud had grown and was eating the sun. Still dim enough to see by but now I was watching the sides of the road looking for deer or anything else that may decided to test their luck against my tires. I was aiming for Lakin, KS and as I left Dodge City (in the dark), I got a call. "Have you heard they issued a tornado warning?" Err, nope, I'll be pulling over now. Waiting out the storm in Lakin gave me a great chance to watch the lightning tear across the sky. It was beautiful. Except then I started hearing.. things.. hitting the ground. Almost sounded like rain, but no droplets were hitting me. I looked closer and saw a bunch of medium sized bugs falling to the ground all over the parking lot. Um... ew? Got the all clear and I left town heading towards my goal of La Junta, CO.
By this time it was late, and dark, and cold, and storming, and my brain was having none of it, so took another nap near Holly. My argument to myself was I had no desire to spend any time napping outside while my brain was cheating by randomly shutting things down. I spent quite some time in the rest area having the discussion with myself to go find a motel and get some proper sleep. My brain relented and I woke up refreshed enough for the short ride to La Junta. Remember I said I would have more on my LD friend? Well here it is. He called, after having noticed my SPOT tracker was stuck in a rest area. I explained what was going on, and he said to give him a moment. Once back on the road, he called again and said he had found an inexpensive place in La Junta, looked decent, good reviews, and had called ahead to let the owner know I was on my way. He said he'd stay on the line, just having a conversation, to make sure I made it safely.
GREG IS AWESOME! Made it safely to the motel, the fellow behind the counter had everything ready for me, I paid and snuggled into the most comfortable bed in the world. My brain agreed.
Link to original page on YouTube.
Thursday June 26 2014: Westbound Day 3
Mileage 1049 miles
Time: 22:26 (4:36am-3:03am PDT)
Moving: 17:42
Stopped: 4:44
Moving Average: 59 mph
Good morning world! Time to get rolling again. Packed things up, got all my recharged electronic gizmos in place, and I was off to Pueblo. I had made up my mind I was going to have a right proper breakfast and treat myself to some real honest food before I would move another mile forward. Course, with my luck, this meant getting lost in Pueblo as I randomly drove around looking for the Cracker Barrel. Found it! FOOD! Took my time, ate a good and hearty breakfast, and left feeling human again. Time to get back on track.
After Pueblo, the Rocky Mountains started to make an appearance and I could feel the bike beginning to climb. At this stage in its life, the Arkansas River is a third of the size it would eventually grow to as it winds its way towards the Mississippi. Still, the canyon road that ran along the bank of the river was windy and twisty and always framed by that rushing river below. I passed through Canon City, and Salida, even Poncha Springs which I had passed through last year while on the Heaven to Hell ride. Then, it was a straight climb up the mountain, higher and higher, starting from 7,400 feet and topping out at the Continental Divide, 11,312 feet after only 18 miles. Yeah, my bike had issues with the elevation and lost all passing power about two thirds of the way up. I stuck in the slow lane and just held on.
On the way down, I encountered construction zones followed by three massive semi's fully loaded down and barely able to maintain a slow 30 mph speed. Everyone crawled to a painful march forward and there was no where to safely pass. Most of the way down I kept an eye on the road ahead and more importantly the bumper of the car behind - who was getting uncomfortably close. Eventually, we came to an uphill passing zone that Colorado mercifully gave the downhill folks access too if the lane was clear (thank you Oregon for teaching me that handy trick, Nevada listen up!) I saw the dotted line, saw the coast was clear, made sure no one else was going to jump out, and took the lead. It felt so good to be going the speed limit again.
After a short stretch and cool down in Gunnison, I continued on along the river before turning north towards Grand Junction. Highway 50 runs alongside I-70 though it seems Colorado forgot to sign it after they indicated the turn. I simply followed Hwy 6 until there was no more highway and got back onto the interstate. From here it was a short ride into Utah and back into familiar territory.
I had ridden this route on my way to Idaho Springs last year and knew it, though not going west. It was unique looking at the world in the opposite direction, though the mesas still look as amazing as ever! Once I reached Salina for some gas, I was waved at cheerily by a KTM rider. Putting the nozzle away, he wandered over and introduced himself ("Scott from Susanville!") and commented that I had a "very pretty bike." Awww, thanks! A gentle rain had started, nothing like it was in Ohio, and I motored on, knowing the Nevada border was not far from me.
"Welcome to Nevada" I love that sign! I know this land, I know this state, I know her towns and her roads, her mountains and her valleys. I know my home. I also knew that it was getting freaking COLD! I donned all my gear and cranked the heat up to high, tucking in as I pushed on towards Ely. Home was my goal tonight, home and my own bed for the final night on the road. But it was getting colder and night had fallen. Another phone call came in, "Where are you?" "Um, about 30 miles from Ely." "I'm heading to Austin, meet you there." Did I mention Greg was cool? Greg is awesome! I got some hot cocoa in Ely simply to warm up and made my way to Austin where I was greeted with a huge hug and a massive smile. Greg rode with me all the way to Fallon, letting me set the pace and chatting every time I stopped to stretch. After this many days on the bike, I was beginning to feel the stiffness of the stock seat and my muscles were protesting.
Course, every time I stopped after Ely, I kept smelling BBQ. Rabbit stew anyone? 
Score, made it to my own bed and only a few hours remain until I am successfully in Sacramento. One more day.
Friday June 27 2014: Westbound Day 4
Mileage 197 miles
Time: 4:10 (7:53am-12:04pm PDT)
Moving: 3:33
Stopped: 00:37
Moving Average: 56 mph
I woke up early, Greg was still zonked out on my couch so I just surfed the net a bit and emptied out my email inbox. Amazing how fast that fills up. 7o'clock rolled around and it was time to get back on the road. Filled up at the nearby station then we were off, a straight shot over the Sierras to Sacramento.
We made it into Carson City and I had thought that 50 continued through downtown as it has for eons. But with the new bypass around town, NDOT has signed the interstate as Hwy 50 so I was able to avoid going through the middle of Carson City. We exited town and started the climb over Spooner Summit. Tahoe looked amazing this early in the morning, with the sun lighting up the mountains and the blue sky crystal clear. There was a bit of a traffic snarl as we climbed over Echo Summit but it cleared up enough that we were able to motor smoothly on down towards Placerville.
Soon, Sacramento is just down the hill. Passing through the pine trees, looking out over California, the sun had climbed straight up in the sky and was beating down on everyone and everything. But I didn't care. I was here, one more exit away from finishing this amazing ride. Traffic built up, everyone out and about this Friday at noon. Found my exit, pulled off, and got the receipt that clinched in. Less than four days, I had just ridden the entire length of US Route 50.
And to finish it all off, sand and water from the Sacramento River. LOL
Link to original page on YouTube.