Out of gas in the middle of nowhere yesterday.

[Rick Lee]

I'm back home after 630 miles yesterday, ran out of gas 30 miles from anything, wind battered, saddle sore and just plain tired. My buddy in Mammoth Lakes, Cliffy, gave me a super route of back roads and mountain passes I'd have never found on my own. Much of it was at or above 7000' and I left at sunrise. So yeah, I was cold until I got to Vegas. Who'd have thought I could go 170 miles without seeing a gas station? NV makes the AZ and CA deserts look like overcrowded cities. Man, is there endless nothing in NV. CA gives you warning signs before each gas station how far it is to the next one. NV does not and I didn't see any until Beatty anyway. I ran out by Scotty's Junction, NV, sort of near Death Valley. I decided to pull over when I had one mile left on the gauge, as I knew it was another 30 miles to anything.



Until I had gotten on that road, I had seen maybe five cars in the last 170 miles. Like manna from heaven, there was a super dingy trailer park with an old bread truck parked out front with "Emergency Gas Sales" painted on the side. Of course, the bldg. next to it was abandoned. So I walked into the "park" and knocked on the first trailer door. Charlie Manson's twin brother answered. He was only missing the swastika carved in his forehead. But he was a nice guy and said he had one five gallon jug left for $40. He could have asked for $400 and I'd have paid it. And my bike only takes 4.5 gallons. No discount for that unused .5 gallon. Luckily, I credit carded the previous night's dinner, so I had some extra cash from Cliffy and his buddy. Before that I had $30 in my wallet. I was too cold to peel the bills from my wallet, so Ken (Manson) said he'd brew up some coffee for me.



When he invited me into his trailer for the coffee, it looked like a mix between a kennel and one of those trailers you always see on Cops. So filthy and disgusting, full of cigarette butts, dishes, ragged sheets, dog toys, stains and lots of other stuff I didn't want to know about. Ken's wife was missing most of her teeth, but could still speak well with a cigarette in her mouth. It always amazes me how the poorest people (by American standards) are never without cable tv. Sure enough, there was a sat. dish next to the dog pen in front of the trailer.

I wasn't in much of a hurry and figured this was a chance to have a chat with some folks who had done some hard living. Turns out they moved to this place from ID, when Ken broke his back and could no longer chop firewood. Ken's wife has a raging case of Hep. C from a tainted blood transfusion and, from her chain smoking, that looked to be the least of her problems. Ken was a chef in Philly before that and later in Vegas during its mob heydey. They really were nice folks, but I wasn't tempted to share email addresses and phone numbers. After my second cup of coffee, Ken and I headed out to put that funnel in my bike and fill the empty tank. I wish I had taken more photos of this fiasco, but getting all bundled up after fueling and then looking for the camera was too much hassle.

Then it was on to Vegas, only another 150 miles away. I figured that would take me well under two hours and it did. After another fill-up, I took a detour into town to have lunch at my favorite diner on Sahara. Two more fill-ups in Kingman and Wickenburg and I was home after only 10 hours on the road with plenty of stops.

A few shots from my weekend travels.

Endless nothing.


Hiking in Mammoth Lakes.



Another sign here warned that discharge of firearms in the park was prohibited except for in cases of emergency. Ha! I don't know that my SIG P239 would have been much help against black bears, but I couldn't conceal my bear gun.


This is where I knew I had to take the gondola back down while skiing. I hadn't been on skis in 20 yrs.



Cliffy and me at 11k ft.



Guess where.



Give up?



Seconds before I took this one, I saw two F-18's come screaming through that narrow canyon, fully at 90 deg so I got a good view of their undersides. Looked like that final dogfight scene in Star Wars. Couldn't get my camera out in time to capture them.



So I put 1300 flawless miles on the bike on Thurs. and yesterday. Now I have as many miles on her since April as the seller put on her in two years. Trying to keep it at 1000 miles per month. Going to buy a small gas can for the next trip and keep thinking about a GS Adventure for the nine gallon tank.

[LakeCleElum]

Great adventure Rick. Sounds like a fun day. UR lucky to still be riding this late in the year.

I was on my m/c in eastern Oreon in Sept. I knew I had enough fuel to get to a small town I'd fueled up in b4. My GPS said fuel in that town. Got there and it was out of business. I flagged down a local leaving morning coffee. After a bit he said: Follow me to my house, I'll give you a few gallons. He refused to take a dime.....

[jkarolyi]

Cool adventure...reminds me of the time I drove west from Carlsbad caverns to El Paso. Lots of little towns on the map, one of them has to have a station, right? Nope...AAA had to come out from El Paso to bring me gas. Took forever, I had a good nap waiting for them.

[Rick Lee]

Ken actually made this a small business. He drives his truck every so often to Beatty to fill up his gas jugs. He said he makes $20 on each jug, which sounds about right when you consider it's a 60 mile roundtrip and what gas costs there. Beatty is also in the middle of nowhere, but it does have two gas stations. But Ken said I was the first customer he'd had in six weeks. He said calling a tow truck in Beatty would cost $200 for them to come bring you gas. I don't know if my roadside asst. insurance would cover that, but I know it would have taken a long time too. So it wasn't a bad adventure and I didn't get all upset or panicky once I realized what was about to happen.

However, that photo above from my fuel gauge is actually from my ride on Thurs., as I came just as close to running out of gas then too. I almost coasted into the first gas station on I-40 once coming off the back roads from Phoenix. My warning light usually comes on with 50-60 miles left to go. So I was sure I was gonna make it to Kingman. When it came on with only 40 miles left and long after I passed the last gas station, I got worried. I was running at 90mph most of the trip and dialed it back to 65 until I got to the gas station.

[Gogar]

I dig that radar detector placement!

[Rick Lee]

I use an earpiece in my helmet for the RD. Best money I ever spent and it saved me plenty on this trip.

[911boost]

Very nice Rick. That looks like a sweet ride.

I about ran out of gas between Wyoming and South Dakota last summer. The head wind I was riding against was so strong, it drastically cut into my mileage and I coasted into the gas station. I was sweating bullets for about 20 miles just waiting for the bike to cut out on me.

[MotoSook]

Good adventure Rick.

On road trips to lesser traveled places I find the locals can be the nicest people you'll ever meet or the worst. More often the former.

Ken and wife sound like good people who've had more bad luck than good.

Do they make a 1 gallon steel gas tank that could safely be carried on a motorcycle? I always thought I'd bring a spare gallon if I ever took a long trip on the motorcycle. It'd get me at least 40 miles with a gentle throttle.

[Laneco]

Ever read the book Ghost Rider by Neil Preite? (yeah THAT Neil Preite)... The picture of your motorbike facing the SB road in the desert reminds me of that book.

Even more interesting as Preite also rode a BMW.

angela

[Rick Lee]

That's Neil Peart. Yes, read his books, met him and seen him play about 50 times. His last book, Roadshow, is partly what got me back into riding. And yesterday is mainly what makes me want to go back to riding a GS. In fact, there was a quote in one of his books that aptly describes yesterday - "Adventures suck while you're having them." or "I'm happy to be alive when I get on my motorcycle. I'm happy to be alive when I get off my motorcycle." Everytime I ride my bike around Santa Monica or Malibu, I wonder if I'll run into him. He has a few running out of gas stories in NV too. I'll remember better next time.

[VincentVega]

Cool trip RL. I'm impressed how you've turned that bike into a tourer.

[Joeaksa]

Rick,

Remind me sometime over a beer to tell you the story of running out of fuel on a run on my BMW bike between Kopenhagen and Berlin... in East Germany before the wall fell.

Joe A

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I use an earpiece in my helmet for the RD. Best money I ever spent and it saved me plenty on this trip.

I have mine tied to my Autocom, get both music and rd...

[fingpilot]

There is a GoldWing accessory fuel tank, like 2 gallons, that fits in one of the side saddles. Can even be plumbed into a petcock. Of course 2 gallons in a GL is like 55 miles worth.

I was eastbound on I-10 (big time tailwind) just about even with Palm Springs (with the mental note about finding fuel soon) when the GL started chugging. Looked down to see the reserve light, the guage on empty, and the speedo on 95. Pulled the clutch in, red oil press light immediately, and started working over to the right lane. At that speed, coasted to next offramp, thru the green at the top of the ramp, and down the hill to a pump, never touched the brakes, and rolled to stop at an open one. Luckiest out of gas ever. Anyone who has ever pushed a GL knows that about 50 feet is all you're gonna get without injury.

Nice ride Rick, glad it all worked out.

[9dreizig]

Rick I can relate. On my way down to S. Cal a couple of months ago that stretch of NV there is NOTHING. Always amazes me how there's suddenly there's a bordello and casino!
Add 120 degree's in the shade is the only thing that would be worse..

[Seahawk]

Nothing better than what you did, nothing...only so many spins around the sun.

[legion]

You guys have gas gauges on your motorcycles!

I have a "reserve" on my petcock.

[Laneco]

[QUOTE=Rick Lee;5027878]That's Neil Peart... [QUOTE]

DOH! Sorry, spelling from memory... Bad memory evidently - LOL!

angela

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by legion

You guys have gas gauges on your motorcycles!

I have a "reserve" on my petcock.

Had a reserve position on my old BMW petcock but there are times that the reserve straw falls off, and then you are screwed. Thats what happened to me and I limped it in on the opposite side of the tank going very slow.

No one in East Germany had ever seen a new BMW, and had quite a crowd when I stopped. It was a real experience...

[jriera]

Rick, let me know next time you are in town .. got a new toy in .308 :-)

Great adventure there ... after you are done with Joe's story in East Germany I can tell you about mine in Zimbabwe ...