| Day Three, |
| Awake at 7:30. Got camp together and on the road at 8:30.
Uneventful ride to Caliente. Nice train station there. |
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| And a snow plow for the tracks |
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Talked with the locals about gas on the Extraterrestrial Highway. Heard both stories, Rachel has gas, Rachel does not have gas.
Best advice I got was “go 5 miles past the turn to Ash Springs and fill there.” I am glad I did, it cut 38 miles off the range I needed.
It would have been 195 miles from Caliente to gas in Tonopah, it was 157 from Ash Springs.
Still took it kind of easy because of mileage concerns. I looked for markers stating “Extraterrestrial Highway”, but did not find any.
Just pulled off to the side and took a pic with my bike showing the road going on forever. |
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Finally at Rachel a sign for the ET Highway, so I took a picture. After it was done, I realized the auto focus was off on my camera,
I am surprised it came out. |
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| Also, to all you nay sayers. There is proof at Rachel of the aliens landing,
they have one of the ships still on a wrecker.
As to gas in Rachel, There are signs on the pumps saying closed for remodeling. But I saw no signs of a remodel in progress.
Again, glad I stopped earlier. |
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Now, while there is not much on this road civilization wise. That does not mean it was a boring ride.
All through Colorado and Utah I had seen signs saying "Open Range", but no cattle. There were cattle on the ET highway.
Not long after Rachel I came upon some cows crossing the road, so I had to stop. There was a cow and her calf in the middle of the road,
and four others still on the left shoulder. I had stopped about 20 yards short of them.
Now the cow and her calf continued across the road, and the other four backed away from the road. When the road was clear I continued on, but that cow
gave me the most vicious "Stink Eye" I have ever gotten (LOL). She definatly did not like me being so close to her calf.
There were also some very strong side winds for about half of the stretch from Caliente to Tonopah.
When I got to Tonopah and filled, I had about one quart of fuel left in the tank.
Also, because I was worried about my range, I counted the cars I saw on the Extraterrestrial Highway, in the 157 miles I saw,
20 cars, three big rigs, and 2 motorcycles. It would have been a wait if I had run out of gas. |
After Tonopah, I was no longer worried about stretching a gallon of gas. A lot can be said for bombing across Nevada at the ton.
Gassed up in California at Benton. Hwy 120 to Lee Vining was a nice road.
Here is a little stop to get a picture of my bike and Mono Lake. |
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| Stopped in Bridgeport, took a picture in front of the court house, nice building. |
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| Can't really tell the court house is there because of the trees, but it is. |
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Gassed up in Bridgeport.
Now, in Nevada there was a stretch where I was 150 miles from the next gas, but I still did not get as gouged as in Bridgeport.
The most I had paid so far for gas was $3.45. In Bridgeport it was $4.59. OUCH!
Construction held me up on the way out of Bridgeport. A CHP snuck up to the front of the line.
A little conversation with the pilot car and they let him go first, he had his lights on.
Continued up 395 with no thoughts of the CHP, until I saw the first sign for Sonora Pass.
Just as I saw that sign, I also saw a car ahead of me, it was the CHP car. I slowed, and so did he.
We were on a gradual right turn, around a mountain. I believe he was slowing to ask me how I caught him.
I was slowing to avoid that conversation, all the time praying for the turn to 108 and Sonora Pass.
Luck was with me, just as I rounded the mountain to a little straight stretch, where I could again see the CHP car,
there was the turn to 108, and the CHP car was already past the turn. I put on my blinkers, moved over and went up 108.
If that CHP was going to talk to me, he did not want to bad enough to turn around and follow me up the canyon. WHEW! |
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108 up the pass was great, very tight turns and good views. Stopped at the peak for a photo.
Upon starting the bike after the photo, it would not rev above 1200 RPM, it was over fueling that bad.
I had to push the bike down hill. When I got up to 20MPH, I let the clutch out and it cleared and started to run again. |
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| Historic marker at the pass |
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| Stopped on the way down for a picture or two. What did this placque used to say? |
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Uneventful until Sonora, where I stopped got gas, and called my friend.
On the way up to his house, just on the north end of Stockton a silver Impala passed me.
I said to myself, he is in a hurry. Hey, I am too. So I pulled in behind him. We were doing 90 on the way north.
Some slower traffic tied him up, so we slowed. He was going to go around, but the car in front of him moved out of his way.
As soon as the car cleared the lane, I throttled up, figuring the Impala would do the same, he did because I never got any closer to him.
We just sped up together. |
Mileage for the day 593. |
