Comments

I want to thank everyone who has commented during our trip so far. We love hearing your comments and are glad you are all enjoying the blog.  But I understand quite a few people are having difficulty posting a comment on the Blog. It's not my doing, it's just the way Google and Blogger does it.   But anyone who cannot post their comments here are free to text or email your comments so we know you're following along.

Thanks,
Mike, Jerry, James and Joe

Day 11. Yosemite National Park

Roger, you were right!  Tioga Pass and Yosemite were indescribably amazing.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves in tonight's blog. 

Tonight we are in Oakdale California for the night. It was a hot ride after we left Yosemite. It got to about 100°  so James and I took a dip in the pool.  

172 miles today. 

Day 10

We left Carson City and immediately went up and over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It was another morning of fabulous riding.  We made it to Lake Tahoe in about 30 minutes. As you can see by the pictures on the previous post, the view was spectacular and the weather was perfect.  We rode 3/4 the way around the lake before our route took us south toward Mono Lake. We stopped and had lunch at Bert`s Cafe.  After lunch we once again went thru up and over the Sierra Nevada's via Monitor Pass. It was about 40 miles of high mountain riding, S curves and hairpin curves that were posted at 10 MPH. Much of that ride was above 7000 feet, and the top was 8314 feet.  It was amazing. In case you're wondering, yes that is snow atop those mountains.  If you can't read the sign behind Jerry, that's Old Pony Express Rd we were on.   We ended our day in a little town called Lee Vining which is right next to Mono Lake.  We settled on Murphy's after trying three other places in town but none of them had air conditioning .  That was going to be a must-have. 

It was only 200 miles today but when you're doing mountain roads like that you don't cover much territory. It also didn't afford me much opportunity to take many scenic pictures unless we stopped because I needed to keep both hands on the handlebars.

Tomorrow it's Tioga Pass and Yosemite National Park.

Day 10 Pictures

Lake Tahoe and California

Lake Tahoe was awesome!  The lake itself, not the tourist trap part. 

Day 9

It was 58 degrees this morning, and it felt GREAT!  It certainly was a welcome relief.  The motel we stayed at did not offer breakfast so we rode to the Silver State Dinner.  It was definitely at least sweatshirt weather, and James and Joe had their leather jacket on for the first part of the morning. We went up and over several mountain ranges, which were separated by long stretches of flat nothingness.  It's the Nevada desert after all.  But the S curves and switch backs up and over the mountains were the best yet. Especially the last one before Austin where we met the folks from Denmark.  Our original destination this morning was Reno, where James would have his new bike's 1000 mile service done. Even though it's been about 1800 miles. But when he called Reno Harley, they wouldn't take him, even after he explained his situation.   So we called Carson City Harley and they said they would take him on as soon as he arrived.  So it's a big thumbs DOWN for Reno Harley, and a big thumbs UP for Carson City Harley.  Thank you Carson City!  

We had lunch at a place called Old Middlegate Station.  Now THIS is the place that I imagined seeing when I thought about being in the old west. As you can see, it even still has a hitching post for horses. The people inside this saloon matched the appearance of the outside of it.  It was truly a unique and terrific experience!

As we rode into Carson City I was lagging behind the others and I watched a Dirt Devil swirl up and cross the street right into those 3 guys. It blew them over towards the next lane, and they described it like being sand blasted with the occasional BB hitting them.  It was amazing they didn't get knocked off the bikes.  

After getting James's bike was serviced, we checked into the Gold Dust West Casino for the night.

James won $50 and a free dinner in the casino. Since we won't be here tomorrow, he gave it away.  I won $17 which covered the cost of tonight's dinner. 

335 miles today.

You meet the nicest people

We met these folks at a little gas station in Austin Nevada. They are from Denmark on the left and Finland on the right. They had their cars container shipped here to Port Elizabeth, and are on a cross-country drive.   They are with a group of about 80 cars and over 200 people driving the Old Lincoln Highway coast to coast.  All the cars are classics.  They said they loved our country and were amazed how beautiful and BIG it is. 

The other couple with the deuce coupe are also from Denmark.

 The lady in the yellow Messerschmidt was videoing us as we rode past them. They were also with the Denmark contingent.  Could you imagine riding cross country in that thing?  Notice the extra gas can strapped on the back.

Riding to Reno with you today Steven. 58 degrees this morning. What a relief!

Day 8

We got into Utah not long after we left the hotel this morning. Even though we were on highway 70 which merged with 50 the scenery was outstanding with that southwest look. We traveled through, over and around mountains and buttes.  We stopped in Salina for lunch.  After lunch we climbed a few mountains up to 8286 feet, and rode through a town called Delta. It was 98 degrees in Delta. Then we entered Grand Basin National Park.  The key word here being basin.  It should have been named Death Valley.  Flat, low and HOT for about 100 miles.  It made Delta seem like it was air-conditioned.   I had no idea how hot it really was when were out there, but heard later this evening it was 108. It was the hottest stretch yet on this trip. And of course it was 80 miles between service areas.  After the Grand Basin we stopped at the Borderline Motel and Casino. It was no more than a gas station gift shop and a room with a few slot machines. But that's where we took our pictures under the entering Nevada sign.  After leaving there, we climbed another couple mountains and wound our way into Ely, Nevada where we are spending the night.  

It was 444 miles today and now we're three time zones away.  

Riding through the southwest like we did today, it made me think about old westerns with Gene Autrey, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Peter Fonda in Easy Rider. 

There has been a change in our itinerary. Tomorrow we are headed to Lake Tahoe instead of Yosemite.  We will get to Yosemite after Tahoe. 

Many of you may be wondering why Im wearing long sleeve shirts if it's so hot.  It actually keeps me cooler by keeping the hot sun off my skin. The white shirt reflects the heat and also keeps the heat from dehydrating me so fast.