Day Three - Leave with a Full Tank

Today: 642 miles

Total: 2097 miles

The planning for long rides begins in the backyard with the Harley Road Atlas.  I know where I am going and about how long I can be away, I use the Harley Road Atlas to start because I look for the roads highlighted in yellow.  US 50 across Nevada is one of those roads and I can verify that it deserves its status.  What a great day of riding!

The morning began in full vacation mode.  Leave the watch at home, go to sleep when you’re tired, get up when you wake up, leave when you’re ready.  My body clock told me I was ready to go at about 9:00 AM.  My motel was right on US 50 as I would be for the rest of the day.

Since I was starting in Salina, UT, I figured I could get to Delta, UT, pretty easily on the gas that was left in my tank.  So I decided not to fill up as I left the motel.  Before I left Salina, I changed my mind. You can’t go wrong if you start out with a full tank. 

Which made me think about how I had spent my morning.  At church I have been holding these bi-monthly learning times around prayer.  I’ve encouraged everyone that comes through that to set aside a 10 minute block of time each day for intentional prayer.  Sometimes I do that in the morning before I leave my house.  Other times it comes during the day.  On a motorcycle trip I have plenty of time while riding to connect with God.  But, time and again, I have learned the value of starting my day off on the right foot.  Whatever the content or style of such morning prayer, it is always best to start the day with a full tank.

So off I rode.  For all of its fame, US 50 out of Salina is nothing to write home to mother about.  It is just a two lane road that heads out into some beautiful desert country.  12 miles out I ran into my first road construction delay of the day.  Fortunately, it would be my only road construction delay of the day.

The real beauty of US 50 on a motorcycle is that you are either riding across the desert on a flat straight road where you are basically alone and can go as fast as you want, all the while seeing the next mountain pass that you will ride over coming closer and closer OR you are climbing the twisties to the summit and then flying through the twisties on the way down.  There are 17 such passes across the state, I hit a bunch of them.  In the 409 miles between Delta and Fallon, you only go through three small towns (Ely, Eureka, and Austin).  I stopped for gas in each one.

This is basically how I spent my day.

The plan was to stop for the night in Sparks/Reno.  I figured there would be plenty of hotel rooms and that would leave an easy 200 miles to get to where I’m going. As the day wore on I thought about the rides I used to do with groups.  Many years ago, that would mean ending the day about 7:00 PM, finding the motel, dropping off our stuff, finding a place for dinner, and then heading to a local dive bar for beer.  In bed by 10:00 PM or so then wake up and do it again.

Call it age or changes of priority but I’ve left those days behind.  Now all that really matters to me is getting to the motel and into comfortable clothes, talking to Kelley on the phone for awhile, having dinner and going to sleep.  Dinner is optional.  And writing a bit about each day.  Which, I’m learning, is often done best the next morning.

So I got to the Reno area but there was lots of sunshine left and only 83 miles to Susanville, CA.  I decided to get gas and ride on.  I don’t know why I expected the countryside to change once I left Nevada but it didn’t.  For a while.  Then suddenly, about 60 miles or so north of Reno, the hills to the west were covered with evergreen trees.  After a day in the desert, it was great to see trees.  It makes me look forward to Thursday.