by Brian Curry
The trip started at 'o dark thirty Saturday morning. Pennsylvania was experiencing a storm that would dump 2-3 inches of rain on the area in 24 hours. This provided me with some excitement on the way to the airport when I hydroplaned through about 50 yards of deep water in the complete dark. =8-0
Arriving in San Francisco my Traveling Partner picked me up at the airport, took me to Palo Alto, I picked up my bike and went over to Kari's California BMW Triumph open house and visited with him and loads of other BMW and biker folks.
That night I attended a friends 1/2 Century surprise birthday party in Walnut Creek. It was a surprise. He never expected it at all, and expected to see me even less. I ended up traveling back to where I was staying about 2 AM. I was really beat and it was only later that I realized I was beat, because I had been up for about 24 hours. :(
Sunday morning Michael the Milkman came over and we did some stuff on his bike and chatted. IBMWR folks are good folks.
Sunday afternoon I traveled to Joe Denton and Robyn's place outside Sacramento. As always, it was good to see Joe and Robyn. They were in their usual superlative hospitality mode. I was also able to see Joe's mobile sculpture. Also known as a hand cast.
Robyn demonstrated her usual extraordinary culinary skills. (If you get hungry here, it is your own fault.) Though mobility limited, Joe was able to show how to make a Black and Tan and showed why the black stays over the tan even though its specific gravity is greater. (Ask him for details.) I also left my cylinder flexible ball hones with Joe for his work on the Frau.
Monday morning began the longest day of this trip about 440 miles. (This was not a big miles/day trip. Remember, I was concerned about the weather and had "float" time in the schedule.) Crossing the Sierras on I-80 I saw where snow had been plowed off the road. Plus they were making snow at Boreal ski area just off I-80. This was a portent of things to come. It was cold. The electric grips were great! I was still in 3 season gloves at this point.
I left I-80 at Sparks and meandered down to US 50 "The Loneliest Highway in America." (In reality Nevada SR 722 is the loneliest highway with approximately 45 cars per day.) If you are crossing Nevada I strongly recommend US 50. It is much more scenic than I-80 and I have done both several times now. However, if the weather had turned bad I would have taken I-80. It was on the alternate route list. On my way across US 50, I took SR 722, just west of Austin, and saw 7 of the 45 cars on that road that day.) Crossing on US 50 you pass through the towns of Austin and Eureka. They are about as close to a "wild west" town as you will find these days. You cross several ridges/ranges as you travel from town to town. US 50 is only two lanes wide and has some real straight stretches. Like 28 mile straight stretches. As Larry Fears says, you can "enter the zone". At the same time, you have to be careful "in the zone." Once I looked forward and saw two vehicles approaching. _SIDE BY SIDE_ TRUCKS!! I then did the Harold Gantz weave. While some will say that it will not work with a frame mounted fairing, the on-coming traffic suddenly noted that they were not alone on the road and the passer pulled back into their lane. (I was slowing at the same time.) I remembered: "Weave when necessary for attention."
It was getting dark as I arrived in Ely. As I prowled the city looking for a place to stay I noticed something. The puddles were not wet. They were frozen. Not skin frozen, solid frozen. It had been cold here. This was the just about the last day I used the gloves. The electric grips were good at warming the insides of the hands but the outsides could be coolish.
The next day when I woke up it was 11 degrees Fahrenheit. It was cold. I did not have a long way to go and so waited for it to warm up some before I left. I found out that it had been 8 degrees Fahrenheit the morning before. IT HAD BEEN COLD! I also noted something else when I left. When it gets below freezing, shock oil gets rather thick, and the forks can almost imitate struts until they beat the oil enough to limber up.
I took US 93 up to Wendover and "entered the zone" again. Here there was another absolutely straight 30 mile stretch. Like yesterday I looked back to the road and there were two trucks coming at me, side by side. The "weave" worked again. :) :)
Wendover, is Wendover, 'nuf said. Here I got back on I-80 after visiting the Bonneville Speedway salt flats. There is not much on this stretch. It is straight and flat. It is a road that lends itself to 100 mph cruising. At those speeds you can see the fuel economy falling noticeably on the Fuel Plus.
Just before Salt Lake City there is a ridge of mountains. They were snow capped on the north side. Like the Sierras, this was another indicator of what the weather would be like. It also showed why staying at lower altitudes could be good.
I arrived in Salt Lake City, with no problems or delays. This trip was working out well. I found where I needed to be in Salt Lake City later in the week and then went to Provo where I stayed.
Wednesday I left Provo and meandered up to Salt Lake City. I did this via UT 189 which goes up the Provo canyon, and then took the "Alpine Loop" (UT 92) north.
The Alpine loop travels through the Mt. Timpanogos Wilderness Area. The loop is a tight little road. There was snow on the roadside. A good bit of it. (At least it seemed that way at the time. Little did I know how much we would see later.) Part way over it, it was signed that "Winter Maintenance Was Not Performed" so I was on my own. I was cautious and did not attempt to carve the corners. Plus it was cold. The tires do not, and did not, heat up well at all when it is freezing out. As I went up, the snow got deeper. As I went down the snow disappeared. I found roads that were not on the map. When the road turned to dirt, I turned around. A K75RT loaded for traveling does not make a good mount in wet slippery mud in the middle of nowhere. ;) The deer hunters were out in force on this road. If you ever get a chance take this route. I was lucky as just days later I would not have been able to take this route.
Arriving at the motel in Salt Lake City, I found my business partner registering at the desk. He had my bag with clothes. Timing is everything. :) :) Life was good.
The next day I left Salt Lake City for Provo in a light rain. In addition to attending a meeting in Provo, I intended doing some more exploring. I headed over to the Bingham mine. The Bingham mine is the largest open pit mine in the world. It is visible from space. The pit is where a mountain used to be. =:-0 As I got closer to the mine it rained harder and harder. As I entered the town of Copperton, just before the mine, something looked strange. I looked at the side of the road closely. Yup, there was snow there! That explained why the face shield was fogging like crazy. Snow will really cool it down and condense moisture. While the mine might be a real deep hole it was in the mountains, and I had been rising since Salt Lake City. I had ridden high enough for the rain to turn to snow. By golly, what I anticipated could happen, did! Plus, I thought of the Alpine loop. It was probably impassable by bike today. I turned around and headed to my meeting in Provo. Back on I-15 I was nearly blown off the road near Bluffton. The wind was strong from the left side. It was raining like crazy. It was cold and the tires were not sticking well. I could feel the bike slipping sideways! I didn't lowside going straight, and got where I needed to go in Provo. I was the only one that arrived by motorcycle. I know I amazed some people. I was not using the mitts. Wet gloves are much better than wet mitts. Gloves you can get to dry. Mitts are close to impossible to dry on the road.
When I left the meeting the rain was letting up. I-15 near Bluffton was dry but it was still blowing like crazy, and gusting. In the left lane, I was being pushed towards the median. Well, I figured it was better than being pushed into a car, if it came to that. I was glad when I left this stretch safely. Since it had stopped raining I headed for the Bingham mine again. Later the same day, there was _no_ snow on the ground. It was dry and cold. Unfortunately the mine observation point was closed since it was late in the season, and they were having some labor problems. On the way back to Salt Lake City, I stopped at Salt Lake City BMW. Nice shop and I got to see the 650 ST. Nice bike. But someone stole the shaft. :):)
On the way back from Provo, I picked up some Saran wrap. Rain and snow were predicted for the rest of the week. When I got back to Salt Lake City, I parked the bike and basically left it for the rest of the week, as I attended my convention. I layered the Russell seat with Saran wrap in anticipation of the weather. Good thing I did. In addition to rain, it accumulated about 3 inches of snow at times. It looked rather forlorn.
It also looked real dirty. I am guessing that they use unwashed sand on the roads for traction. It contains dirt. Real fine, sticky dirt. It gets everywhere. It looks like hell. While it was dirty now, it would get worse.
Next: Salt Lake City to Las Vegas
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