Reno and the Aliens.

Day 10

As much as I would like to hang out in Vegas, the main goal now is to hit the west coast and do the 

Pacific Coast Highway. So this means a drive up to Reno, and onto San Francisco. I was thinking of

doing the drive again through Death Valley, but then I thought, why not go up highway 95, to area 

51?

So a plan was born. I'm not one of those people who have to be in such in such place by this time...

The only thing I have to do, is be at LAX next Saturday at 10 pm, to catch my plane home. So I wake

up to early, finish yesterdays, blog and pack the bike.

Waiting for the sun to rise.

                                    This is about as close to the Las Vegas sign as I will get.

                                                     Some nice Stratosphere neon. 

The sun has risen, the bike is checked, and I'm on my way. I take I-15 over to Highway 95, and head

north. About 45 minutes later, out of Las Vegas I see a huge ROV landing at a Air force base in 

Indian Springs, NV. 

They look bigger in real life.

It looked cooler than it sounds. But since I didn't fill up my bike the night before, and I'm at

a 1/4 tank. I make Indian Springs, NV my first stop of the day.  I'm back on the bike and 45 minutes

down the road is the Area 51 Alien Center. So how could I not stop for that!

                                                        The yes I was here picture.

                                                 The "bike was here too", picture.

The sun is still rising, but, boy, that sun is really bright in the desert, enough that I moved the bike

under some shade.

                                                           You can't just miss this place.

         The Brothel was a surprise, but you could come here, and get a couple of visits out of the way.

                                                  Free tours, who can say no to free tours!

                                                   More like "Outer Space prices"

So the Storming of Area 51  t shirts have dates for the 20th of September. The lady at the cafe said

that there's a whole community starting to camp out just down the road.  I did stop and have

breakfast here as well and it was actually good,

or, better than what I was expecting from a tourist trap. As to those

people camping down the road waiting to storm area 51, I just made that up, got ya!!!

             This was above the table where I was eating breakfast, they sell them in the gift shop.

So somewhere back there is Area 51. I'm on highway 95 or, the southern route that goes by Area 51. 

It was worth the stop, but coming all the way from Vegas to visit, I don't know about that. Though, as

I'm getting ready to leave a highway, a coach pulls up and drops off a load of tourists. 

Then there's Highway 375, better known as the Extraterrestrial highway and the Little A'Le'Inn in

Rachel, NV.  Which is the northern route.  Maybe next time. As I leave here there is a sign that says  

"No gas for 93 miles", well it makes you think, especially on a bike.  I've got 3/4 of a tank

so I'm good to go.

Next stop, well not a stop, as I drove through, and downloaded these pics,

as I've got a long ride ahead of me.

You see lot's of local cops,  and sheriffs about, so keep the speeding down. I was doing 80 mph + 

for a while,  then I had to slow down as some bikers were pulled over. Just as I did that a State 

trooper pulled on the the road and followed me for 4 or 5 miles.

Thank god he didn't catch me. From there on, I kept the speed down.

Goldfield, NV

Goldfield is a ghost town, there are lots of abandon buildings, but don't get me wrong, people still 

live here. But this place is creepy. Though you could spend the day exploring.

 From here there is a lot of nothing all the way to Tonopah, NV, which is the half way mark.

I fill up the bike, and talk to some riders heading south. 

There's not much in Tonopah, NV, except for the Famous Clown Motel.

I do have a few friends who you couldn't pay a million dollars to stay here. Hey, is that a red balloon

over there by the storm drain?

With at least 5 hours to go to I get to Reno, I hit the road. As I'm leaving town, I get my second "No

gas for 100 miles" sign. I'm glad I filled up. From here it's just abandoned towns and nothing to see.

1 1/2 hours later I hit Hawthorne, NV.  Home to the biggest army base that I've ever seen. It stores 

Ordnance for the army, in bunkers over 10's of square miles of army base. I fill up and have a lite 

lunch and book a room for a couple of nights in Reno. 

No cheapo rooms in Reno this weekend, as I found out later, they are having the air races this 

weekend here. From here I'm still 2 hours from Reno,

where the only things I see is a Coyote crossing the road and a couple of Mustangs crossing the road 

in front of me. Don't worry, I slowed down as traffic was stopped for them. As I was slowly pulling 

up they decided to cross the road in front of me. It was kind of cool. Then trough a new pass cut 

through a hill that saved me 20 minutes, and onto Interstate 80 for the short ride to Reno. 

Actually, they let us park our bikes here overnight. Which is good, as this hotel isn't in the greatest of

neighborhoods. I did have to change rooms due to no working Wi-Fi. No Wi-Fi, no blog. I went down

the road and picked up some chinese takeaway though I ended up watching the rest of Pennyworth,

which was great, and bad, as now I have to wait weekly for the rest of the episodes to come out. Time

for bed.

Today mileage 470 miles or 756 km

Total mileage 3596 miles or 5787 km