Las Vegas to Carson City ride - on the way home!

Peter Galea (top photo) and Robert Grawet (bottom) in Beatty.  You can click on either photo to make them expand to full size.

Thursday, June 10, 2010 - We made it out of Las Vegas very quickly as we got on the highway at 6:30 AM on a Thursday morning.  It was only in the 60's when we left, so it made for a pleasant ride out into the desert.

 A little over 100 miles north of Las Vegas on US 95 is the Oasis town of Beatty, NV.   On a motorcycle with their smallish gas tanks, it's pretty hard to go by Beatty without gassing up.  There is nothing but open desert for a hundred miles in either direction.

On our 5th trip thru Beatty (3 x to the south, 2 x to the north), we've come to know the town and it's amenities well.

The complex where we gas up has:  gas station with about 20 pumps, store with tourist/travel type goodies (candy, nuts, ice cream, gum, etc.) that is quite large.  They have 100's of bins of goodies that allow you to buy the amount you want of whatever delight you find too hard to pass.

Peter often gets an ice cream here, as have I a few times also.  When it's hot in the desert, this is THE place to take a break.

From Beatty, you continue north on US 95 for about 30 miles to the turn off toward Bishop, California and Highway 266.Below is a photo of me pointing at an old house (that is now shuttered) that is the only thing located at this desert intersection.  (formerly a brothel and now for sale).  Peter is checking his load on the bottom photo.

The next part of the ride takes you back across 100 miles of open desert with no gas stations or stores of any kind.  It's an awesome ride thru wide open desert that travels up and down three mountain passes that take you from the desert floor up eventually to Bishop.  If you want to get a feel of how desolate this area is; you can click on this link and be taken to the Mapquest interactive map.  Mapquest Interactive Map US95 and Hwy 266 area.  You can follow the road thru the desert all the way to Bishop.

You finally come up over a hill and see what lies ahead at the end of this desert road.  Off in the distance are the mountains that make up the eastern side of Yosemite National Park.  Snow capped rugged and very beautiful, they are in your view often as you wind your way toward Big Pine, California and then on to Bishop.

A reminder:  It's roughly 150 miles from Beatty to Bishop, so be sure you have gas, sunscreen applied, and won't need anything along this route, as there is NOTHING at all available.

As always, we stop in Bishop at 'The Petite Pantry' for some great food, service, and shade from the sun on their deck in front of the restaurant.   You can see Peter at the table out front getting ready to have some of their great iced tea and his favorite sandwich, while I await my usual BLT.

From Bishop, you're up in the high country quite soon and the ride is spectacular as you travel for miles along the back side of Yosemite National Park.  I've described this trip a few times in earlier posts, so I'll just mention that we highly recommend this section of US 395 from Bishop to Carson City Nevada as one of the nicest and most beautiful rides you can find anywhere.  You need to be prepared though as it can throw some of nature's finest elements at you if you aren't.  We hit some very strong winds at Mammoth Lakes, CA - about 30 - 45 minutes north from Bishop. We had to stop at Mammoth Lakes and add clothes and the wind was cold and blowing at about 40 mph.

Be sure to take an eat or coffee break at the Bridgeport Inn just another hour up the road from Mammoth.  The proprietor is an awesome man who is full of baseball stories. The Inn has motel rooms (OK, but spartan rooms), a great restaurant (a bit pricey), and bar (fantastic decor).

You will pass the iconic Mono Lake and later Topaz Lake just south of Carson City on this segment of the ride.  Very beautiful.  It took us from 6:30 AM in Las Vegas til approximately 5PM to arrive at the Holiday Inn Express on the far north end of Carson City.  Nothing beats the free HI Express breakfasts when you're on the road.  We don't spend a lot of time getting pretty in the morning as we'll be wearing helmets and lots of other gear all day, so we like the idea of slipping down the hall for a quick bite and then hitting the road as soon as possible.  (a photo of the Mammoth Lakes area below)

In the next post I'll describe our ride from Carson City to one of our all time favorite night time stop destinations - Rogue River, Oregon.

Day Three - Ride to Las Vegas Infocomm Show - Carson City, NV to Bishop, CA

After a restless night of little sleep in Carson City, NV the night before; one thing was clear from now on.  We won't stay in cheap motels anymore.  You need your sleep and you need to have a comfortable room with airconditioning and decent pillows to get that sleep, so need to stay in a place that will offer that plus good security.

We filled up at the Shell Gas Station on the south end of the Carson City/Gardnerville area and headed out with full tanks to ride the awesome stretch of road called US395.

This road takes you along the eastern side of Yosemite National Park.  Not as pretty as the main park, the ride is incredible in its own way.  From Carson City, you start seeing amazing sites almost immediately.

Topaz Lake gets its name because the waters look like topaz.  You ride along this lake and then on to more lakes, all beautiful in their own way.  After a very long climb up many thousands of feet in altitude, you get to the high plains.  Here you will ride for another 150 miles to Bishop.

After Topaz Lake you begin the climb up to Bridgeport.

Soon you reach the high long plateau that will lead you into that spectacularly beautiful little town, Bridgeport.  Now don't get me wrong; the town itself is not that special, although the historic Bridgeport Inn, built in 1877, has a fantastic dining room and bar.  Do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes in the bar talking with the proprietor.  His moustache echos Earl Flynn or Clark Cable, and he grew up in Los Angeles around many pro baseball players from the era of Don Drysdale and the great Dodgers of the 50's and 60's.  He has some great insider stories about baseball players that he met along the way.

Where was I...oh yeah...the town of Bridgeport isn't that special, but the view in all directions is quite special.  Super high plains with very green pastures for miles in every direction.  It is surrounded by very high mountains on all sides with the snow capped peaks of the Eastern Sierra Mountains making the frame around the entire west view.  Cattle and horses graze in what seems like miles of green pastures with shallow creeks running everywhere thru-out the valley.  Last time thru this area we stayed at the Bridgeport Inn.  This time we just stopped for coffee and 'amazing' apple pie ala mode about 2PM one afternoon.

 South on 95 you will eventually come to a long steep downgrade.  At the top of the descent, you get your first view of Mono Lake.  It is stunning!  So big, so majestic!  Coming down the hill to Mono Lake, you begin to hit some high crosswinds that seem to be omnipresent.This lake is huge and is a main water supply for San Francisco and Reno.  You travel along its banks for many miles. 

Riding with crosswinds is hairy at times, and  you must stay focused and hold on as sometimes the winds can make you feel like they will blow you down if you aren't holding on tight.All the while, there are a constant stream of tremendous views of the mountains to your right (back side of Yosemite) and the lakes and dry mountains/desert to your left. (as you head south).

After Mono Lake, you slowly climb up again til you hit the higher elevations that are around Mammoth Lakes (Mammoth Ski Area is in this area).  Its so pretty in this area....very green due to the high elevation and plenty of sun and water; yet trees are widespread....giving you an open view of the mountains with snow caps and the beautiful hills and valleys all along this section.  Amazing ski lodge type housing can be seen several places in this area also.

After Mammoth Lakes (where the winds can really howl at times) you begin another long slow descent getting closer and closer to 'the desert', which waits below.  After many miles you come down a very long slope that starts in green trees and ends in low elevations with desert sands beginning to appear in the distance.  The town of Bishop, California is awesome!  There is still lots of water coming down from the high mountains that make up the entire western view from Bishop.  There is a stream and lake surrounding a park that is right in the center of town.  The town deserves accolades for the way it keeps up this park.   A lake that was well stocked (trout and more), a stream, a well designed and nice baseball stadium, a skateboard park, picnic tables and more all fit into the town park.

Having learned our lesson about sleeping in bad hotels, we wisely chose to call our day over early and stay at the Best Western Hotel in the center of Bishop, and directly across the street from this great park.

This is a nice hotel.  Great new rooms, with wonderul pillows, fantastic airconditioning, a great pool, fresh cookies at 4PM, and a very tasty breakfast buffet all made this one of the most comfortable nights of our trip.

We had decided that one of the biggest considerations on the ride would be how we approached the hot desert surrounding and including Las Vegas.  Last time we arrived at 3:00 PM or so and the temperature gage on my bike said it was 126 degrees on the blacktop.  That's NOT fun!

So, we thought that we'd make an early night in Bishop and then leave as early as 6 am in the morning so we could finish the last few hundred miles to Vegas while the day was young and relatively cool.

There's a restaurant in Bishop called 'Petite Pantry'.  I'm sitting in their outside eating area in the photo.  There's a fly shop on the north side of the restaurant.  This is in the north end of Bishop before you hit the main part of town where we stayed in the hotel.  We've now eaten here 4 times (two times coming and two going home), and each time has been spectacular!  Great fresh Mexican and American 'sandwich' style food, awesome service, the deck under its massive tree with lots of shade.....wow.  It's the only place I'd have lunch in Bishop, California.