8/9/2011 - What an amazing three days of riding I've had since Sunday. Bright and early Sunday morning Laela and Miranda departed San Francisco and I was back on my own. What did I do to celebrate my bachelorhood? I did my laundry at 6:30 in the morning. I took my time packing things up and getting out of the hotel because I knew it'd be the last time I stayed in a GOOD hotel on this trip. I finally got on the road about noon and started making my way towards Nevada. I started by hopping on US-101 Northbound and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge. Traffic was tight for a Sunday at noon, I was surprised by that but what else should I have expected in California? It didn't take long after getting away from the coast for the weather to start warming up. When I left the hotel, I looked like I was on an Arctic expedition and by the time I got to Sacramento I'd pretty much stripped off all of my extra layers and put my summer gloves back on. I spent the majority of the day traversing California and it was pretty run of the mill until I got close to 
Lake Tahoe. The roads got twisty and threw me back into the mountains. Perfect riding. The south shore of Lake Tahoe was super touristy but in a classy way. I started seeing Casinos and I knew that I had crossed into Nevada. Riding away from Lake Tahoe I encountered my first accident of the trip. It was a three vehicle affair, one of which was a Harley Davidson Road King. There were lots of first responders on the scene and it was yet another reminder not to get cocky on roads that I don't know. I hope everyone was okay. The Chevy Avalanche and the Mazda 626 hadn't fared too well. They hadn't uprighted the Road King yet so I have no idea what kind of condition it was in. I pulled over into the first RV park I found in Carson City and set up shop for the night. The weather was perfect for sleeping and I was very comfortable. The staff at the RV park was very friendly and helpful.I got up the Monday morning, had my coffee and oatmeal and I was back on the road. I'd put 3500 miles on the bike since my last oil change and wanted to get it done again before I headed into the Nevada desert. The Carson City O'Rielly auto parts oil tank was full so I couldn't do it there. I found another one about 30 miles down the road and I was in business. Fresh oil for the bike and I was on my way again. The desert landscape was something not at all what I expected. I thought I was going to be inundated with sand and nothing. That wasn't the case at all. There were mountains a plenty and open range cattle EVERYWHERE including ON the road. It's a little unnerving rolling up to a full grown bull with horns and being only 10 feet away and being stared down by it. I'm glad my bike isn't red. Lots of space in between gas stations too. At one point I went 225 miles between them. I wasn't nervous yet but I was 
really glad when I found one. I stayed the night at the Little Al'E'Inn in Rachel, NV. It's a few miles away from the infamous Area 51. Rachel is a sparsely populated town and the Inn is nothing but a cluster of about 8 or so mobile homes. The biggest one is the restaurant/bar/office. The people working there were extremely nice and accomaditing. It wasn't someplace I'd stay with my family but I'm glad I stayed there by myself. I went to park my bike and unload my bags and I was in the gravel. I went to put down my kickstand plate (the one I got when I took Ohio's Motorcycle Safety course) and then it dawned on me. I left it at my campsite in Carson City. I was bummed but hey, what are you going to do. After getting settled in I went back to the restaurant and had an Alien Burger. The Alien Sauce is Thousand Island dressing. Spooky. After eating I went outside to the picnic tables with a Boston Lager and was greeted by a cloudless night sky. With it's lack of light pollution, it put on an amazing show. The stars were super bright; unfortunately, efforts to capture that sky with my camera failed miserably. Lack of cell service but having wi-fi, I chatted with Laela for a while on Twitter and then turned in for the night.
really glad when I found one. I stayed the night at the Little Al'E'Inn in Rachel, NV. It's a few miles away from the infamous Area 51. Rachel is a sparsely populated town and the Inn is nothing but a cluster of about 8 or so mobile homes. The biggest one is the restaurant/bar/office. The people working there were extremely nice and accomaditing. It wasn't someplace I'd stay with my family but I'm glad I stayed there by myself. I went to park my bike and unload my bags and I was in the gravel. I went to put down my kickstand plate (the one I got when I took Ohio's Motorcycle Safety course) and then it dawned on me. I left it at my campsite in Carson City. I was bummed but hey, what are you going to do. After getting settled in I went back to the restaurant and had an Alien Burger. The Alien Sauce is Thousand Island dressing. Spooky. After eating I went outside to the picnic tables with a Boston Lager and was greeted by a cloudless night sky. With it's lack of light pollution, it put on an amazing show. The stars were super bright; unfortunately, efforts to capture that sky with my camera failed miserably. Lack of cell service but having wi-fi, I chatted with Laela for a while on Twitter and then turned in for the night.Staying in a room has the advantage of not having to break down camp and tetris everything back onto the bike, so after getting my directions straight I was on the road right away Tuesday morning. Again, first order of business was fuel. I'd gone 125 miles since my last fill up and I was 88 miles from the nearest service station. One thing is for sure, I couldn't have done this trip without carrying copious amount of extra fuel on any of my other bikes. En route to the gas station I was greeted by more desert mountain ranges tinged with the early morning haze. I had never really understood the phrase "purple mountains majesty" before this morning. They were a beautiful sight to behold. After fueling up, I made my way to Utah. As soon as I crossed the state line, the roads turned to shit. Very gravelly and with a speed limit of 40MPH. Again, I wasn't going to push it on unfamiliar roads especially since I was still in "open range" territory. I took a rest stop in Cedar City and when I got going again I happened upon a Suzuki dealership. I went in to see if they had any kickstand plates available because I never know what kind of surface I'm going to be parking on. The lady behind the counter was very nice and said "I've got one but you probably won't want it because it says Suzuki." I explained to her that would make me extactic because I'm riding a Suzuki V-Strom and went on to tell her about my trip and that my other bike is a Suzuki Savage. We had a nice chat and she let me have the plate free of charge. Being as directionally challenged as I can be at times, I asked her where UT-14 was because I had made a wrong turn in town. She informed me that I was on it. So I hopped back on and started travelling east. It was then that I took back my previous cursing of Utah's roads because UT-14 is a twisty mountain road flanked on either side by canyons and other gorgeous scenery. I couldn't stop to take enough pictures. It was awesome. I finally ended up in Arizona and found a campsite at Jacob's Lake. I got my camp set up, had dinner, and wrote this blog entry. You are now all caught up on the adventures of kid gorgeous.
