The Ride Home from Infocomm - Las Vegas to Carson City, NV - Old friends like Alan Mackelprang and more!

One of the next best things about going on a motorcycle trip (after the actual ride itself), is that you tend to talk to a lot more people when you're on a bike.

IE:  In our car; we would have never spoken to this jolly guy standing in the hot sun just north of Bridgeport, CA all day.

We learned a lot about him in the 15 minutes that we stood and waited for the road to open up again.

There is also a special kind of bond that exists between those riding two wheels motorized vehicles; no matter what they are riding, when you meet up on the road at a gas station, rest stop, or anywhere else, you immediately have something to share and talk about.  Often you share the road conditions each direction and favorite stops and sites.

You might say that riders are the brothers and sisters of the road...cause it truly feels like that.

One of my dearest and oldest friends is a guy named Alan Mackelprang.  We grew up across the street from one another in Lakewood, Colorado.  We lived far from town, and in those days, you could have a 50cc and under motorcycle license at age 14.  We each owned bikes at that age, and spent many hours riding around the back roads and off road trails surrounding our homes in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Alan lives in Las Vegas now.  He's a pilot with United Airlines. If I were to pick the man I wanted to be flying my plane, it would always be Alan. He's always on top of making sure the trip will be safe and fun and there is no one I'd trust more with my life in his hands miles up in the air.

He's also a super avid bike rider as well and owns two bikes now.  He has the Honda Rune and also a Honda Goldwing.  As we approached Las Vegas on the way down, and once again as we left Las Vegas, we had a constant text chat going as Alan advised us of weather and other conditions on the road ahead of us.

Thanks Alan. It was great to have dinner with you and catch up while in Vegas.

Another thing I have to admit is that on a long ride it becomes easier and easier to be happy about a chance to 'stand up' for a moment...if you know what I mean.

We decided we had finally learned our lesson about riding in the Nevada summer by arriving in the early morning.  From that experience, we decided we wanted to leave Las Vegas in the early morning also; and especially on a Thursday morning vs. a Friday or Saturday morning.  Las Vegas city traffic is as bad as I've been in, and I never want to take it on when it's a full tilt again.  So...easy to get up early and leave town.

We were totally packed by 10:00 PM and hit the sack early.  We got up around 5:30 AM and each grabbed as much of our gear as possible and headed out to get the bikes from the garage in back of Treasure Island Hotel where we had been staying the last three nights.  We knew it would take two trips as you have a lot of gear when you travel 2750 miles roundtrip that may include every type of weather known to man.

We had the bikes ready with the first load for each and started them up!  It was great to hear them running again.  We hadn't so much as started them during the 3 1/2 days we were in town.  We rode around to the valet parking area in front and parked.  The Parking guys are quite aggressive there and do their best to keep the driveway clear so traffic can flow.  So, we knew we needed to be efficient and move quickly to get out of dodge.  We hauled up to our room and picked up the rest of each of our gear and headed for the front desk to check out.  There were no others in line to check out at 6:15 am, so we got thru it quite fast and headed out the door.

Load up the final things, get on the bikes, and start em up!  Let's Ride!  More to come on our ride from Las Vegas to Carson City eventually ending back at our respective homes in Olympia and Vancouver.

Day Four - Ride from Bishop, CA to Las Vegas, NV - thru the desert!

We arose about 5:30 AM in Bishop, excited for the next portion of our ride.  Highway 168 out of Big Pine, Ca, is a special kind of motorcycle ride.  We learned from our previous rides that to 'do the desert' you need to travel in the coolest part of the day, if you want to enjoy the ride. You wouldn't want to ride it in the dark.  You don't need massive speed.  You better have a tank full of gas!  Once you leave Big Pine, there's not alot between it and Beatty, NV. 

Highway 168 starts to climb immediately and you get from desert floor to 4000 feet quite rapidly.  At the top and for miles following this is a forest of Bristlecone Pines that is the largest in the world.  It's dry, and 'warm', but its far from the heat of the desert floor up here.

As I said; you wouldn't want to take this trip at night...cause you need to be able to see very clearly or you'll miss one of the huge number of twists and turns you'll go thru.  You don't need speed; cause you rarely get above 30 or 40 mph while in the turns.

What you would like to have for a perfect ride.....is a temp in the 60's....some clear morning sunlight...a full tank of gas, and an almost completely open road.  This is exactly what we had that morning.  Maybe one of the top 20 riding experiences I've ever had...and Peter felt quite the same.

Because this was our third roundtrip to Las Vegas, we made sure it would be the most pleasant one it could be from our previous learnings.  The temperature remained less than 80 degrees as we completed the long and joyful ride across the desert mountain tops up and down three separate times....thru the open range...where cattle often are using the same road you're on...(and we saw them every time).  Along the way; we came to the junction of Hwy 168 and the start of our journey on Hwy 266.

It was at this very junction during our last ride to Vegas, that we encountered one very large, very mean looking bull just standing in the road right at the intersection.  I remember it clearly, cause for a brief moment, I wondered if that bull was going to let me go by or just charge me and throw me and my bike into the desert...broken and battered.  You have to slow way down in order to make that corner when you go onto 266, and it was as if the bull knew that and was just waiting for the rider he wished to smash the most.  Here I was; the only one of the three of us on that ride with a 'red' motorcycle.  I made that turn almost without looking at the bull...hoping he wouldn't get pissed off at me, and then gunned it to full throttle immediately after I completed the turn...getting up to 100 mph quite quickly.

The ride on Hwy 266 is quite fast.  There are stretches where you can see 10 miles ahead and the road is 100 percent straight where you can go very fast.  I got over 110 mph on one long stretch.  With sand on both sides and trees nowhere near the road, you can have the safest possible place to gun your bike and see what its got in it.

The ride across this stretch finally comes to an end when you meet up with US 95 - one of two North to South highways that run the entire stretch of Nevada.

DOWN US 95 thru Beatty, NV (the oasis)

It's roughly 130 miles from Big Pine, CA to Beatty, NV.  When you take this route, the ONLY gas is at Big Pine at the beginning of your ride and Beatty.  Your bike's tank better be able to handle that mileage, as the only other choice is a looooooooooonnnnngggg walk.

After you make it to US 95, it's a right turn down US 95 to the town of Beatty.  It's about 40 miles from point to point.  Beatty is an oasis in the desert.  It has several gas stations and hotel/motels. It has a couple of casinos, and it also food and ice cream!  Ummmm ice cream is good at this point of riding in the desert!  Here's a photo of our favorite Beatty place. 

After the Beatty rest and gas stop its another 120 miles to Las Vegas.  Between the two are a few small places and then Indian Springs.  Its in the middle of nowhere, but only 40 miles more to Las Vegas.  There's two gas stations there; PLUS....on the east side of the highway is Creech Air Force Base.  Its at Creech that they are doing lots of development of the pilot-less drone aircraft that are being used more in the war each day.  While riding by, we saw two drones flying around the area. Interesting!

After Indian Springs it is a short ride to Vegas.  It gets quite intense as you get close to the city, with cars zooming in and out from all directions.  Best thing to do is get there during a non-rush hour time frame, and know where you are going.  Last minute lane changes in 5 lanes of traffic with locals, tourists, and new residents all trying to find their own way makes for very dangerous conditions.  Also, make sure you get there before the heat of the day starting around noon time.

Next - I'm going to write about the return trip, which has its own set of highlights.