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.
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