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| Day 1 - Santa Clara, CA Day 2 - Lee Vining, CA Day 3 - Baker, CA Day 4 - Las Vegas, NV Day 5 - Las Vegas, NV Day 6 - Grand Canyon, AZ Day 7 - Durango, CO Day 8 - Glenwood, CO Day 9 - Highlands, CO Day 10 - Highlands, CO Day 11 - Estes Park, CO Day 12 - Craig, CO Day 13 - Jackson, WY Day 14 - Cody, WY Day 15 - Mammoth, WY Day 16 - Choteau, MT Day 17 - Kelispell, MT Day 18 - Sandpoint, ID Day 19 - Omak, WA Day 20 - Anacortes, WA Day 21 - Anacortes, WA Day 22 - Poulsbo, WA Day 23 - Poulsbo, WA Day 24 - Poulsbo, WA Day 25 - Astoria, OR Day 26 - Lincoln City, OR Day 27 - Bandon, OR Day 28 - Eureka, CA Day 29 - Anchor Bay, CA Day 30 - Martinez, CA FINAL THOUGHTS |
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| Day two of our trip started at 12:03 a.m. I say that
because that’s what time it was when I looked at the clock. I had
gone to bed at 11:00 p.m. after a long day yesterday but the Gateway
Motel is apparently short for The Gateway to the Fires of Hell Motel
since there is no air conditioning and it’s hot in this room. I cannot
get to sleep and it’s hot enough in the room so that when I put one
part of my body on another part of my body, I sweat! No blankets,
no sheets, nothing but the hot air. Well, that’s not entirely true,
I can hear a lone mosquito flying around somewhere in the darkness.
I know that sucker is going to bite me and I hope he chokes to death
on my HOT blood. I can hear Linda breathing softly with that little sound that lets me know she’s asleep. How does she do that? I look over at the clock, its now 12: 41, and I was almost asleep but I started having one of those pre-nightmare type of experiences, and it wakes me up. I think I was dreaming that I had died and was burning in the fires of hell. At sometime after 1:00 a.m. I drift off. Linda on the other hand, was asleep and awake most of the night. At least I know one thing for sure today. When we get to Las Vegas, we find an air conditioned room.
We leave Lee Vining at 8:15 a.m. and my temperature gauge on the Goldwing says its 66 degrees. Actually, its comfortable riding. We go five miles and take the Benton Rd. turnoff to our left to see the Mono Lake Tufas. Tufas are a kind of crystallized rock formation that has been left behind as Mono Lake slowly evaporates away (photo 1). They look more like a stalagmite that you might see in a cave, but not out here in the middle of the desert. They are weird looking formations, but interesting. There is one other fellow here also taking pictures, otherwise we have the place to ourselves. I walk down to the water’s edge, about a half a mile, and find that the waters edge is filled with a type of small flying insect, kind of like a sand flea. Of course, this brings out several sea gulls that are chowing down (photo 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7). Back on the road, we go another 10 miles and take the June Lake Loop, a diversion of about one hour. Still, it was worth the effort, since this is one very scenic place. We first pass June Lake, then Gull Lake and then on the other side of the loop, Silver Lake. The temperature at the lake is 63 degrees. That’s the coolest it will be all day. I will look back longingly at those 63 degrees. I finally take some pictures of Silver Lake (photos 8, 9, 10, 11). The loop drops us back on Hwy 395, just north of Benton Road, the road we first took this morning to see the Tufas. All right, we’re on vacation, so no harm done.
Now it’s time to make some serious time. Buy the time we get back on 395 it’s almost 10:00 a.m. As we head south, the scenery is fantastic. The granite face of the Eastern Sierras stays off to our right like a friendly guard dog. As we pass the turnoff to Death Valley, I am aware that our original plan was to spend the night at Furnace Wells, on the floor of the valley. I cancelled that plan as soon as I learned that it had been 108 degrees just last Saturday, and I decided to take a run for Las Vegas instead. Little did I know that the temperature today would climb to 113 and that 108 would almost seem survivable? We stop at Bishop for a quick breakfast and back on the road. Bishop, CA is a nice town but the temperature has already started to climb to 88 degrees. We continue south pass the Mammoth Lakes area and stop for something to drink. As we near Inyokern, it is now 103 and climbing. As we finally get to the Junction 58 turnoff, it climbs to 108; I might as well be in Death Valley. Still, what to do? It’s still relatively early and it’s only 102 miles to Las Vegas. We decide to go for it and then get an air-conditioned room in Vegas. It doesn’t happen. It is just too damn hot. As the temperature on the bike hits 113 degrees, we cry “Uncle” and pull off to stop for the day in Baker, CA. We get an air-conditioned room at the “Bun Boy” restaurant and Motel. They advertise themselves as having the world’s tallest thermometer at 134 feet (photo 12), which at the time we check in says only 111; it went to 113 shortly after we arrived.
Now its time for us to take a cold shower, drink some ice tea or Gatorade, and relax a bit. Tomorrow is another day and we still have more of the desert in front of us. We decide to try and get up at 4:00 a.m. to get an early start. With a little luck, we will get to Las Vegas tomorrow, before the heat catches up to us. I will try to book a room in the Grand Canyon area for July 3rd, after we’re in Vegas, and hopefully we can be in the mountains of Colorado before we die of heat stroke. Kind of a funny aside, as I’m typing this, Linda is getting stuff out of the Goldwing, when she meets a gentleman, named Igor, from Toronto, Canada. His story is almost identical to ours. He and his wife rented a Harley Electra Glide in Los Angeles and are on their way to Las Vegas. Because of the heat, they have to stop and take on liquids to keep riding, same as us. They finally stop at this motel when that 134 foot thermometer reads 113 degrees. We both will probably be out of here by early morning. I’ve recommended that after he visits Las Vegas, he might want to head north to Yosemite and then over to the coast and back to LA. If you read this Igor, email me and let me know what you finally did. Tomorrow’s another day. |
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