Elko, NV to Fallon, NV - June 16, 2010

Elko, NV to Fallon, NV
June 16, 2010

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A lot of this Blog is a portion of a bigger Blog created by Sherman Acord, copied with his permission.

After about 20 miles we left Interstate 80 and went 90 some miles down to Eureka, on Hwy 50. It was a cold ride for those on bikes. This is mid-town Eureka, NV.
Skid and Sandy modeling motorcycle clothes

The famous Owl Club where Lil Doc and I had a couple of meals here last August.


Eureka was another Silver Mining town. Lots of neat old building?





The Court house. Still in use.



A newspaper printing museum, the Sentinel.



Trouble was freezing, so I loaned her my jacket and gloves. Looks they fit about like OJ's
gloves. - Sherm

Then we head another 64 mies to Austin, NV along Hwy 50. It was so cold that my teeth started chattering over Austin Summit.
The "Lonliest Road" riders. VTP Don, Skid, Trouble, Sandy and Jamey T.

The International Cafe and Bar
We ate in the restaurant of this old Hotel/Bar. Good place. If you click on the picture, you can read the little sign in the lower right corner of the window :-)


VTP, Jamey, Trouble, Sandy and Skid

Don (back to vsp) showing Jamey the route to the North Shore of Lake Tahoe

We stop at the "Shoe Tree" which is pretty easy to spot since it is the only tree for miles and miles along Hwy 50.
Skid, me, Sandy, Trouble and Jamey

That's my little BMW F650GS in the rear

We ride the last few miles into Fallon and rest at the motel for awhile. Nite Lite and his wife Linda are already there.

Then we go to dinner at the Overland Hotel where I will once again meet up with Eddie and Brenda Alves.

The dinner at the Overland Hotel is a separate Blog - click here.

This is the End of the HSVROC Parade Blog series since the last leg from Fallon, NV to Topaz Lake, NV was an uneventful 98 mile ride through the farmlands of western Nevada.

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Delta, UT to Elko, NV - June 15, 2010

Delta, UT to Elko, NV
June 15, 2010

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The following photos were taken by Sandy Robinson and Sherm Acord and are being used with their permission.

From Delta, UT we head west on US 50 to Ely, NV.
Jamey T. and Trouble, and Don (vsp) on "The loneliest road in America", US Highway 50.

Happiness is Skid in your rear view mirror.

Fresh chip sealing. A 20 minute wait, then about 10 miles of fresh rocks and grease on the road.
Waiting for the Pilot Car



Don, Jamey T., Melanie, and Sandy. A long way from No Where.

Skid hasn't been feeling well, but is much better today. He's still a little under the weather, but refused an offer to drive the truck..He's a tough old bird!

Hwy 50 gives you about 43.4 miles to set up for the next corner. :-)
A very curvy Highway 50. Perfect for cruise control and a nap

We went up and over 7800 feet today, and lots of passes over 6500. Still snow, some fresh in the mountains.
I think this is Ruby Mountain

The obligatory stop at the Hotel Nevada in Ely, NV. Jamey, Melanie and I had a nice lunch here.

After lunch we head up Hwy 93 to Wells, NV. It is such a boring road that Trouble falls asleep on the back of the bike.

But things get really interesting as we approach Wells. The skies open up and the wind starts to howl. Right now we have a heavy tail wind. As we approach Wells we ride through a dust cloud in the middle of a rain storm, go figure.
But at Wells, NV we make a 90° turn heading west to Elko, NV. Now we are faced with 40 mph sustained winds with gusts to 55+ mph. After about 25 of the 50 miles we have to travel from Wells to Elko the road turns so that we are into a head wind and relief. But those 20 minutes or so with the cross wind felt like two hours.

We get to the motel and soon walk to dinner at the Star Hotel. Dinner is in a separate Blog at: Star Hotel Dinner.

Continue to June 16, 2010 Blog
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Kanab, UT to Delta, UT - June 14, 2010

Kanab, UT to Delta, UT
June 14, 2010

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Since we were going to make an early start I decided to change the route for today and ride up Hwy 89 to Salina, UT then turn onto US 50 and head into Delta, UT.

The following was written and belongs to Skid Robinson. It is copied here with his permission.
We made our first stop at a convenience store in Panguitch, UT. The temperature had dropped to 52° and the Californians were feeling the pinch.

Stopped in Panguitch Utah for a break

Further along, it warmed up some and we rode along for another hour before stopping at a rest area just north of Maryvale, UT. This stop had a spectacular backdrop of rock outcrops. We met a family from Georgia who stopped there for a picnic.

The motorcycle part of the parade in a rest area north of Maryvale Utah

Out of the rest area, we entered a canyon posted for "40 MPH curves for five miles". It just doesn't get any better than this.

We joined I-70 and followed it to Salina, UT where we stopped for gas. I took 4.08 gallons and Cranky took 4.09. I was happy with this (over 40 MPG US) until I checked Don and the baby BMW. He took 2.8 gallons. This little bike looks like it might be the answer to the energy crisis. A block down, we found Mom's Cafe with a blue Toyota pickup/HD on a trailer out back. Sandy and Sherm had already ordered. She was having a prime rib sandwich with fries, an absolutely stupendous feed for less than $6.00. There was enough that she saved me half, as well as half her "Utah Scone", which made a more than adequate and very tasty meal.

Mom's Cafe - Salina, Utah

Utah Scone at Mom's Cafe

Cranky and Don chowing down

The following was written and belongs to Sherm Acord. It is copied here with his permission.

Most excellent place to eat in Salida, UT

Daily special, a Prime Rib sandwich for $5.95.

A Utah Scone. Blob of dough dropped into hot grease. Served with Honey Butter and Strawberry jam! A diabetics dream.

The following was written and belongs to Skid Robinson. It is copied here with his permission.
We rolled west on US 50, the "loneliest road in America". Don went on ahead while Cranky and I followed Sherm. The mountains faded behind us as we entered the big, flat empty headed towards Delta, our stop for the night.

We had a running joke that you can't make a wrong turn on US 50 way out here in the west but, as we approached Delta, Sherm and his GPS missed the new 90 degree left turn and covered about 200 yards of the road to Salt Lake City. Backtracking, we came into town and found our Days Inn to be a very nice place. Green grass, a clean pool, spotless grounds and the let us park the bikes under the overhang.

Don left as soon as we got to the motel to check out a museum and the area of another internment camp. It was 15 miles out of town, we were too tired to go out again right now.

vroc5569:
I left for the Topaz Museum which houses artifacts from the Topaz WW II Internment Camp.
There I met up with Jane Beckwith who drove me out the 15 miles to view the remains of the Topaz Internment Camp. While at the Topaz Museum I also met Brenda Alves and her husband Eddie who now live in Fallon, NV. Brenda, who is of Japanese heritage and living in Pescadero, CA as a two year old was interned with her family at Topaz for four years.

Slideshow of photos from the Museum and from the location of the Camp

We will meet up again with Eddie and Brenda on June 16, 2010.

Continue to June 15, 2010 Blog
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Cortez, CO to Kanab, UT - June 13, 2010

Cortez, CO to Kanab, UT
June 13, 2010

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The following was written and belongs to Skid Robinson. It is copied here with his permission.

The planned ride was like this. We (VSP, Cranky, Sherm and Sandy & I) would ride to Kanab, Utah via Kayenta, Arizona. Corvette would take the Jeep and trailer back home to Silt Colorado. Mal, Vinnie & Sami, Clive and Jazz (the two Kiwis) would ride with us to Kayenta and then cut north through the Monument Valley back to Silt. Jamie T, trouble and Maxxx & Mar would ride down through the Monument Valley and meet us in Kayenta. Ham, Rocketgirl and Flying Willie & Leslie, who left Cortez yesterday, would join us in Kanab. Got all that straight? To top it off, Sandy abandoned me to ride with Sherm in his truck.

We headed south on US 160 with VSP {that is me - vroc5569} in the lead. All was well for the first twenty miles or so.

The group Kayenta bound

We encountered our first difficulty at the Four Corners Monument. Don hadn't planned to stop but Vinnie and Clive had never been there before. It took a bit to get Don stopped, but we managed it and returned to the Monument while Sherm and Sandy continued on in the truck. On the way back to the turnoff, I had the Wing up to 100 MPH on the GPS when Mal blew by me at a reported 123. That Connie 14 sure can move. The Four Corners was open but we couldn't access the actual spot because it is under construction. They are moving it from the previous location to the actual spot to keep the GPS users happy.

Getting The Parade turned around to visit Four Corners

Back on the road, we continued on US 160 towards Kayenta, which was 120 miles from Cortez. Mal had miscalculated the distance, not realizing that the mileage given by his GPS was as the crow flies. It seems that the Suzuki Intruder Vinnie was riding only had a 100 mile range. I was riding second when we came to a gas station about 80 miles out, so I led the group in for fuel while VSP just kept going. {my comment}

We caught up with Sherm, Sandy and VSP in Kayenta where the rest of us fueled up and had lunch at Burger King. We found out that the Monument Valley crew were broken down near Mexican Hat because Trouble's Drifter had split a rim and the tire had gone flat. Corvette, who was already in Moab towing an empty trailer, turned back to retrieve the bike while Mal and his crew headed north on their planned route which would take them to the breakdown site. We said our goodbyes and a smaller Parade continued on 160.

The following two photos were taken by Joe "Malachi" Blanc

A "split" rim is not a very common occurrence.
Part of Vinnie, Sami, Trouble, Mal, Kiwi Jazz and Jamey

Here is Trouble's bike being loaded onto the trailer for the tow to Silt, CO.
Vette, Mal, Jamey and Trouble

Sherm and Sandy left first. Hitting the road at a pretty steady 75 MPH, we expected to catch up to them but never did. When we turned right on Arizona 98, Cranky asked if we could slow down a bit so I took the lead and set the cruise at 65 MPH. We had one stop because VSP got something in his eye, and another at Page, Arizona to fuel Cranky's Nomad.

Stopped at the roadside so VSP could rinse his eye

The Navajo power facility near Page Arizona

In Page, we turned north on US 89 and headed up into Utah, crossing the Rainbow Bridge at the dam that forms Lake Powell. VSP was leading now and took us to a BLM Information Center just past Big Water, where they had a display of dinosaur bones. It seems they have actually acquired T-Rex DNA and have proved his kind were the ancestors of modern day birds. They also believe now that carnivorous dinosaurs were warm blooded and feathered while the herbivorous ones were cold blooded. We even watched a fifteen minute movie on the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument.

VSP and Cranky at the BLM Information Center

Hadrosaur bones with T-Rex teeth embedded

Diabloceratops skull

vroc5569: We leave the BLM Information Station and about an hour later arrive in Kanab, UT.

The following was written and belongs to Sherm Acord. It is copied here with his permission.
Parry Lodge, lots of VROC'ers will remember this sign when it said "Welcome VROC". Jack and Barb Foree hosted the Red Rock Rally here in 2005. One of the best rally's the "family" ever had!


Cranky is in the Barbara Stanwyck room.


The Barn, where the Red Rock Rally of 2005 VROC dinner and entertainment was held. They have free movies in here every night. Every one they show was filmed here in Kanab, and most of the actors stayed here at the motel.


All the walls inside Houston's Trail's End Cafe are covered with Western things.

And my contribution to today's events is the bath tub in my Fess "Davy Crockett" Parker room:
An old bath tub

Continue to June 14, 2010 Blog

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