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.