5.26.2008 Las Vegas to Ely, Nevada

Leaving Las Vegas under overcast skies and heading north west for Death Valley. Being that I was a bit on the bright side and not paying enough attention to the map. I took a short cut on Rt 156 which I thought would save me time getting over the mountains to Death Valley. Well, at the 8000 ft level with snow and at a dead end and a very strong recommendation from the Park Ranger that I turn around.....
So back to square one and a couple of hours of wasted time I finally got into Death Valley. Spent the night in the valley with the winds blowing in excess of 20 knots but I had enough large rocks holding the tent down that I was in the No Worries stage.

Next morning out of the National Park to Scotty's Junction where the weather was a bit nasty. At this point is was all of my multiple layers of clothing, winter gloves, balaclava and anything else that would take a bite out of the wind, rain, cold and outright nasty conditions that would stay with me for the next 6 hours.

Someone, some where forgot to tell Mother Nature that summer is here......

Across the Great Basin it was and if I thought that the roads in the outback in Australia were straight, the Great Basin proved me wrong. Straight roads from horizon to horizon with snow on the mountains all around you. The only thing missing was road kill and the great smell that went along with it.

It was the late hour that I pulled into Ely, Nevada for the night. It was a grass lawn for the night with clear skies for the first few hours before it was rain, hail, rain and finally frost. The morning sun did come about but it would be many hours before the rays would envelope the tent. The camp site did have free coffee which put a glow on the morning activities.......

Being that I thought an extra day spent in Ely would prove beneficial to the local business and a chance to check out the local areas. Weather cancelled all thoughts of going any where as it was either raining or hail or both and snow on the road to add another flavor.

Tomorrow its into Utah for another week or so

5.24.08 Honolulu to Las Vegas

Well does it ever feel good to be back on the road again. Got back from my last trip to Australia on 19 March with bike in crate and waiting to be shipped back to the US.

The bike arrived in California on 9 May, it took 10 days for it to get through Customs and clearance. And I thought that Australia Customs was bad! The cost for Customs and etc was another $800.00 on top of the $1000.00 for shipping the bike. I am surprised that they didn't hit me up for a bloody coffee break!

The flight over from Honolulu wasn't too bad especially when the movie for the night was about some kid finding the Loch Ness Monster just hatched on a Scottish beach. If this movie didn't keep to you glued to the seat, nothing else would. Thank goodness that the flight was only 5 hours long.

Into California at 0500hrs, catch a shuttle to the fright forwarder and wait 2 hours for the business to open. BMW Sydney had crated the bike and a fine job they did. Got all of the bike bits put back together and it was Las Vegas for the next stop. Of course the day I decide to head to Las Vegas the temperature is 107F, now add the temperature of the asphalt to this equation and I believe that we could add another 10 degrees to this trip. Believe me when I say that I made a pit stop often just to hydrate.
My biggest problem was staying awake on the bike as I had only an hour or two of sleep in the last 24hrs. Twice I found myself asleep on the bike and is this a bit of a wake up call!

Into Las Vegas it was, the last time I was here was 10 years ago and has the city of sin expanded. Spent the next week getting the bike fixed, camping gear in order, spending money and enjoying the hospitality of the city that never sleeps.

Off for Death Valley and the road untraveled.

The Grey Nomad