09 WCT Day 12 - The Loneliest Hwy (NV Hwy 50)

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Day 12 - Saturday.- 26 SEPT

I was the first one up this morning. I packed my gear and folded up the rollaway bed. I knew I had 500-600 miles to travel today so I wanted to get going early. In the process of quietly getting my gear to the door when the dogs woke up Lena. I wasn’t going to leave before they got up, but I figured that I could pack my gear on the bike while they still slept. Karl went up to bring Effie down the hill from the shop, I had told him I had been too unsure to get it off the table last night.

Karl comes back from the shop and says that there is no power to the ignition. We decide not going to mess with it until he gets a cup of coffee. As he drinks his first morning cup I am thinking we connected the ignition wires in the wrong order, but he is confident that was okay. I was confident that all the fuses were good because I had checked all of them last night. Now my bike has a lot of switches because of the electronics I have mounted on it and convenience. Like my odometer switch is mounted on the handlebars. The original handlebar switches all have the text worn off. As he is sipping on his coffee I verify that he turned off the kill switch and knew where the ignition switch was, because the odometer switch is a stock start switch and says START but its on the left side. He kind of smiles and heads up to the shop. Pretty soon we can hear Effie zipping up the road for a quick road test. I have a scrapping noise that we think is the front brake. The one thing on the bike that has not been messed with. Effie is leaving Karl’s with 1.) oil and transmission oil change, 2.) new rear brakes, 3.) new rear wire harness and rear fender modified to accommodate it, 4.) inspection cover screw fixed, 5.) primary had been inspected and new gasket installed, 6.) ignition switch was moved to the speedo mount. He had also made a nicer spacer on the Xena mod I had. I had used a stack of washers for a half inch spacer, he made something that looked a lot cleaner. 7.) was repacing the kickstand bushings. When I changed the oil in Yucca Valley I had noticed that the kickstand was barely staying on. Karl said one bushing was gone and the other one was installed upside down. Karl had wiped her down, which was his method of checking for loose nuts or bolts. Effie had just been through 3 days of TLC and she looked the better for it.

Karl offered me a parting gift of some left over tri tips and grilled chicken along with some French bread to make sandwiches. Oh, yeah. Shortly after I was loaded and after some pictures I was headed to Sam’s motel. Sam determined it was a little early from him to worry about the lenses so I left town. Headed to Hwy 88 and Lake Tahoe.

The road to Tahoe was awesome twisting sweeping with some great views. Karl said it was a must ride and he was right. Riding through Tahoe I stopped at Carlson City NV visitor center to pick up a Hwy 50 Passport book. The book required 5 stamps, one from each of the 5 cities listed to qualify for the Loneliest Hwy certificate. The first stop would be Fernley which is on the current Hwy 50 but a 15 mile detour on the Alternate Hwy 50. The book said the stamp was available at the Chamber of Commerce which was not open so I took a picture of Effie outside it. The next town was Fallon, the stamp was available at its visitor center which was also closed. I took a picture of Effie outside the VC, but posted on the door was a list of local businesses that the stamp was available at. Speedys Gas was one of the places mentioned so I stopped there for gas. There was a sign in the window saying they had the Hwy 50 stamp so from here on I just looked for businesses with this sign. It was plenty hot. Effie had a little vapor lock and did want to start again after getting the Fallon stamp.

The ride across hwy 50 was as beautiful as the ride down hwy 93 I had made the previous week. NV really has some great scenery. I stopped several times for pictures. While browsing through the passport book I realized that the shoe tree was on hwy 50. This is a famous tree that people throw their shoes on. Most recently it was a bonus location for the Iron Butt Rally held in AUG. It was supposed to be “just outside” Fallon. As soon as I crossed the city limit sign I am looking for the tree. After 5 miles I speed up to the speed limit, after 20 miles I am not even looking for it anymore. I figured that I missed it. 30 miles later I come up on the Shoe Tree. “Just outside” is 50 miles.

The next city on the passport was Austin NV. I stopped and got gas the station also validated my passport. Austin is in a bit of a valley, getting into it and out off it was a fun little ride. At the top of the exit was a pullover with a great view. It is here I chose to stop and enjoy my lunch. I had the tri tip slices that Karl had packed for me. It was a great lunch stop.

As I traveled along 50 there were areas of hills and areas of long flat sandy reaches. The sandy areas had the same rock formations that I saw in UT on the way to Bonneville. People had used rocks to write their names in the sand along the road. I didn’t stop to take pictures but took some pics as I am riding down the road. I do this frequently, the camera is hooked by its strap to my tank bag so it just sits on the tank bag until I want to take a picture. But I never have to worry about dropping it or loosing it because it is tethered to the bag.

Eureka the next town on the passport was bigger and had multiple gas stations. While leaving town there was the Loneliest Hwy sign so I stopped for a picture beside it. It was cooling off and had become perfect riding weather. Now 12 days into this trip and I had not been rained on once. I have been on trips were I was in rain for days on end, this was nice.

It was getting dark by the time I pulled into Ely my destination for the night. Decman had suggested staying at the Nevada Hotel, but when I rode by it there were a bunch of bikers out on the sidewalk drinking. Not a draw for me. I continued on down the street and filled up my tank for the next day getting my last stamp in the hwy 50 passport book. I decided to stay at the White Pines motel, my total bill there was $46 for the night. Supper is a nice fat chicken sandwich thanks to Karl and his son.

Its 495 miles for the day. Effies odometer is 124629 miles.

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Photos

My Lunch Stop
Austin is the building in at the bottom of the hill.

Comments

[Sharing the Journey]

Neat
How do you find out about all these neat rides and stamps! I wish I could get as much time to ride as you do! Alec

[Harley Mom]

Trip Info
I had heard about the Loneliest Hwy on the XL-List. Ride reports are really a big part of that list, to me anyway. I knew about the passport book because I had requested an info packet from NV tourism a couple months ago. It came with some motorcycle specific info, really a great packet for any biker headed that way. That is how I knew Hwy 93 was going to be such a great scenic ride too. It came with one of those passport booksfor Hwy 50 but I didn't take it with me because I thought I would returning along the old Route 66. But when Effie broke I ended up in Jackson.