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.

Infocomm Trade Show - Las Vegas, NV - The 'excuse' for our ride to Las Vegas.

Among other things; Infocomm is the largest gathering of people involved in the audio/visual communications business in North America.  Every other year, it is held in Las Vegas, Nv in June.

My riding partner on the three rides we have made from Seattle to Las Vegas has always been Peter Galea.  One year, his wife Francis also rode her bike down with us.

Peter 'literally' grew up in the audio/visual industry as his dad was the founder and owner of Premier Audio Visual in Toronto, Canada.  He informed me that this Infocomm was the 42nd that he had attended since he was in his teens.  He also told several of us that this would be his last......we'll see....I'm kind of doubting it.

Over the years we've come to know a lot of people in this industry.  I've worked for a couple of the best companies in the business - (Da-Lite, and SMART Technologies); one of the oldest members (DL) and 'possibly' the 'most' successful of the later generations of companies (SMART) involved with Infocomm.

Peter has run the gamut as well.  After working with his dad, he moved out west to Vancouver, BC and eventually ended up at Sharp's AV as Manager of the Vancouver, BC office when I first met him in 89 or so.  He worked later as President of Califone and traveled the world for them.  For the latest years he has run Future Image Systems, Inc. a rep firm for all of Canada.  He just sold that to Andy and Ed and has opened up another company now to distribute products in Canada.

So, between us; we know a lot of people that attend this show.  Many of them we may only see once per year; while at this show.  It's always great to see old friends and get into the hummmm of excitement that surrounds Infocomm each year.

You want to connect with as many friends and associates as possible as networking is awesome AND its a great way to keep your knowledge about what's really going on.

So...next I'll get back to the road as I start to write about our ride back to Seattle (and Vancouver, BC) for Peter and I.

Sorry for my departure from telling you about our ride from Las Vegas back to Seattle/Vancouver BC; but I thought it might make sense to some of you if I explained a major component of the trip.

Next post; back on the road again!

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.

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.

Day Two - Ride to Las Vegas - Roseburg, OR to Carson City, NV

We had a very relaxing stay in Roseburg along the river and awoke early on this day to continue our trip.  Once more, we had no goal as far as our destination for the day.  We decided early that we should take this ride much more slowly than our previous trips.  Each of the other two times we've rode this ride, we did it in 2.5 days.  We decided to take up to four days this time.

The skies were mostly blue and the temp around 60 degrees as we loaded up the bikes once more.

I have some really nice storage for my bike, but instead of using the saddle bags and a specially made leather box for carrying my goods, I elected to take my regular roll-around suitcase and its attachable bag instead.  With my saddlebags, you have to lift up the back of the seat each time you put them on or take them off.  Since we always strip the bikes down each night I was not looking forward to dealing with that each night.  In the end, my plan worked well, including the awesome ability to pull my suitcase along on its wheels when we arrived and departed from the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas. (vs. carrying them).  So, you'll see photos of my bike....it looks strange without bags and with the suitcase strapped on...but at this point of my riding career I was not out to impress anyone other than myself.

Peter had his great zip off saddle bags (there's a zipper that releases the bags from the bike).

We both really enjoy this part of the ride thru Southern Oregon. It is normally very green in June and much more dry than all things north of there.  You ride mostly in a valley, but go up over several big passes (elevation up to 3000 feet) as you head south to California.  There are lots of winding roads going up and then back down each of these passes, and you can travel 70 - 80 mph very safely as the roads are exceptional interstate highway with great maintenance on them, and the traffic is relatively light.

As the day progressed we began to focus on Carson City Nevada as our place to stop for the night.  You leave I-5 at Mt. Shasta and head mostly east on US 89 from Weed, CA to Susanville, CA.  It's an awesome beautiful ride going thru the high country that runs to the south of the majestic Mt. Shasta.  The road from I-5 to Susanville is approximately 140 miles.  You are surrounded by nature's best, with mountains, valleys, streams, and lots of trees along the way.  Often you have trees immediately surrounding the road on both sides for miles at a time.  The downside is that you need to remain very focused and always on the lookout for movement from the sides of the road.  A deer crossing in front of you going 70 mph has potential for making your ride much less pleasant.  I usually take the lead on this part of the ride.  I'm all about safety.  I have a white helmet because studies show you are much more visible and much more likely to be seen by motorists.  I also have special running lights added to my Honda VTX 1300 to add to my visibility with a total of three forward lights always on.  Since this portion of the road is almost entirely two lanes, you have to wary of motorists making ill-advised moves coming from the other direction and watch for animals on the road.

This drive could not be more beautiful on a warm sunny summer day, and it was just that as we headed toward Susanville.  We stopped a few times to enjoy the surrounding views and were always glad when we did.

My Honda has been a great bike and has taken me on two Las Vegas roundtrips and one to Los Angeles.  I love how it handles and how it rides and looks.  However, it has a total range of just about 200 miles due to gas consumption, before you are out of gas.  We normally stop and get gassed up at Yreka, CA. as it is the first city in California coming from the north.  Oregon has strict laws at their gas stations; ie:  the attendant has to handle the transaction (even tho you are sitting on your bike right next to the credit card swiper).  They have those devices on the end of the pump that catch escaping gas vapors.  These are really hard to use on a bike.  If you want to fill your tank completely up, you have to stand your bike up straight while filling (they normally lean on their kickstands), and you have to grab the vapor trap and push it up to simulate that it's being pushed up by how its inserted into the gas tank.  This is the only way to get your tank totally full.  For the 140 miles across Hwy 89 plus the ride from Yreka to the turn off...it's getting close to 175 miles from gas to gas in Susanville.  I usually run out of my main tank at about 150 miles.  So...both of us were on reserve as we rode into Susanville.

Susanville is a working class town with nothing special other than its great location to take notice of.  We gassed up and then stopped at the Starbucks on the south end of town where you finally hit Hwy 395 south.  Starbucks became a normal stop on our ride this time.  A little cappucino in the afternoon really helped make the late afternoon ride better.

This ride is as pretty as it gets with every type of scenery you can imagine in the high mountain plateaus.  I do highly recommend taking extra precaution for fuel consumption and for the many deer and other animals that may decide to cross the road in front of you at any time.

Drive safe, stay focused, do not consume any alcohol or other things that would cause you to be less than 100% on this stretch.  You don't want to miss the beauty of have an accident.

We decided to make Carson City, NV our stop for this night.  It would allow us to get south of the Reno traffic in the morning so that we can start our next days ride without that hassle.  HWY 395 comes from Susanville and goes all the way down behind Yosemite National Park.  However, you have to go right thru downtown Reno, NV, and it is always scary and crazy as the many visitors to Reno add their lack of knowledge of the area to the huge onslaught of normal traffic....all trying to find your way to the next place.  I hate this part of the ride, and we decided to take it on at the end of our day so it was not in our minds for the next days ride.  Carson City is about 30 minutes south of Reno and is much quieter, so it worked for the end of ride on day two.  We stayed at an in-town old motel cause it was close to the restaurants and all.  We wanted to be able to walk to dinner.  BIG MISTAKE.  Lousy  air conditioning, bad pillows, and  more caused us both to have a bad sleepless night.  All of that factored into our ride on day three.

We stopped for about 30 minutes for roadwork along Hwy 89 (below photo)

Ride to Las Vegas begins tomorrow (Friday), June 4. 2010.

The picture is Peter Galea, his wife Francis, and I just prior to departing for Las Vegas Infocomm in 2008.

Francis is not riding with us this time.  Peter will arrive from Vancouver, BC late this afternoon to my house in Olympia, Washington.  We'll leave at the crack of dawn on Friday.

Initially we'll ride down Interstate 5 from Olympia to somewhere in Northern California.  There is a town called Weed, California, about 10 miles north of the road we'll use to cut over to Reno, Nevada.  This road goes thru the Mt. Shasta Nat'l Forest, and is one of the most beautiful parts of the ride.  Second day, we'll make it as close to Vegas as we can.  We've learned from our previous two experiences riding to Las Vegas, that you need to do everything possible to arrive prior to the heat of the mid day.  It was 126 degrees on my motorcycle's thermometer as we pulled into Vegas last time.....don't ever want to experience that again.

I have a vented Kevlar jacket for the final stretch into Vegas.  I'll probably wear a vented t-shirt under that.  My helmet is white (helps keep it cool also).   I always ride with the proper protective clothing, so the final miles in Nevada are just plain HOT...no matter what you do to make it better.

I have been using one of those back-packs with the built in drinking hose, so you can always have water at your immediate disposal.  I'm going to wear it under my leathers in hopes it will also help me stay cool in the final part of the ride.

This will be the fourth time we've ridden to Infocomm. Third time to Las Vegas, and one time to Orange County.  We also rode to Calgary one year.

If you live along the route and wish to join us, please let me know asap.

Ride safe brothers and sisters!