Another day of, up early, and up and on the road. One of the reasons is ,that I have no idea where I'm spending the night. Hotel and motel searches came up empty. Either they were to expensive, or the cheap ones where too scary. Worse to worse I have my camping gear.
Out of town and the scenery starts. This is Ponderosa country. The ranch is down the road.
Setting up the "action cam"
So basically for the rest of the day, the Sierra mountains are on the right (west) side of me for the entire day.
It's a cold morning as well, with starting out temps at 46° and not getting much above that till 10 am. Almost time for the thermals. With death valley a possibility today, it will be a day of extremes. I did check the forecast for death valley, a high of only 101° .
I'm getting chilly, so I hit a Starbucks somewhere south of Carson City. At least I know I've beaten rush hour traffic. I catch up on yesterdays blog, coffee, and a hot oatmeal with nuts and blueberries. That should keep me going for a while. The temperature has also gone up to a reasonable 60° .
After looking at the helmet cam footage and the bike footage, the bike footage wins. Too bad I can't edit it and add it to the blog as I'm going. If I did it, I'd have no time for my vacation.
I've got a few of these gems. The camera loves to go off after the action has passed. Enjoy my glove.
There's snow atop of those mountains. So first snow of the year for me.
For a lot of this journey, it's back into California.
The fun part about going into California is the inspection stations that everyone has to stop at. Except when your on a bike. You'd think being from Canada, they'd want to check me for Poutine smuggling or something. But no, just wave me through.
Same thing when I was coming up from San Diego and the Border customs guys have a check point on the highway for illegal aliens. Being from Canada you'd think they'd want to check me. Nope, waved me through, guess I was the wrong color.
This is one of the passes I went through. I thought I recorded it on my action camera, but i can't seem to find it. I will see if I can find it, as I did change out sd cards, hopefully. From here it's riding for a few hours of easy riding with the occasional pass or mountain thrown in for fun.
With temps rising to the mid 70°s, it's gear change time. Off come the waterproof boots and on goes the vented ankle boots. The sweater and windbreaker are off. Same for the lid, 3/4 to 1/2 lid. I wasn't the only one doing it.
Panorama time!
Somewhere behind me is Whitney Peak. The highest mountain in the lower 48 states.
I make it to the cut off for Death valley, in really good time. A lot of these roads have just been redone, lucky me. The bikes all gassed up for Death valley. Though as I pulled into the gas station I got stung by a wasp, just above the eye. He was a little guy and I got the stinger out fast. I stopped the bike by the pump and out comes the Eppi pen. Lucky for me I didn't react. It's the second time I've been stung ( funny as both happened when I was riding, and both times I had my pen on me).
Temps are around the mid 80°s good riding weather. But heading to Death valley I know they will rise, I just don't know when.
Well I'm here, it looked good on paper, but now I actually have to do it. It does make you think.
Gotta get that "Death valley" selfie in.
I have absolutely no idea what I did to take this, I like it though.
Well time to go, as it's a cool 92°
Phone still in selfie mode when riding. What a action shot.
Gee I look happy, it must be getting warm, or maybe this wasn't the best idea moment.
This is actually the first of the two valleys you visit. As I would learn.
About as much of a grand canyon as I'll see in this trip. Still impressive though.
Now, I'm in death valley and the 104° temperature. Still, not as hot as my London Bridge day of 110°. But it's still hot, so I take pics and I'm on my way. Fill up before you come, as death valley gas is over $6 a gallon. I didn't check to see what water, Gatorade costs.
The "why did I do this drive"
The "sand dunes, ya!
The selfie while riding through death valley drinking 100° water.
If your coming from Vegas, this is the start of your Death valley tour. For me it was the end. With that the temperature starts to come down to the more reasonable 80°s. It was a day of extremes for me. Temps from the low 40°s to over a 100° and from over 7500 feet in altitude to a low of -244 feet below sea level in Death valley. Wow. Even the ride into Vegas through Red Rock Canyon was great.
The day and trip ends in Vegas at sunset. I'd have to say it's been the second best day of riding on the trip and a great way of ending up the riding portion of the trip.
I kind of have a tradition of the first thing I eat when I get to Vegas is a In-N-Out cheeseburger. Plus today, I earned it.
Now where to sleep, now that I'm here. I go online to see what I can get, since I'm here 2 days earlier than I planned. D's on Freemont, for $38 for 2 nights sounds good. I've stayed there before and liked it. Funny part is the "resort fee" is higher than the room rate.
A new funky elevator at the D. No buttons on the inside. You do all that outside before boarding.
The Freemont light show.
I want to make a tablelamp out of these ie: "Christmas Story"
Total mileage 5637 miles/9072 km
