DAY 16 BARSTOW, CA TO FALLON, NV

A quick note: This is Sunday, July 25 and I am at Lorrie's. I completed the requirements for the 4-Corner run yesterday, shortly after noon at Blaine, WA. I will now bring you up to speed on what happened over the last 2 long days.

I was on the road out of Barstow by about 8:30 AM. It was an early start and I was anxious to get some miles on today. My plan was to run up to Baker and then head into the interior and Death Valley. I had always wanted to see Death Valley; I had been intrigied with the area for many years. This seemed to be my opportunity and I was gonna take it.

The temp had started to increase and was already above 100 by the time I got to Baker, CA. I fueled up regardless of need. Now I don't try to stretch the gas. If I run low in this country, it is a long way to the next station. I leave Baker and make my 1st mistake for the day. I miss the turn off for CA 127 to Death Valley and end up going north on I-15. It didn't take long to figure out I was on the wrong road but it took 12 miles to get to the next intersection that I could do a crossover on. I get back to Baker and find the right road. Now I am headed toward Death Valley.

The area is a contiuation of the Mohave Desert. I see plants that I am familiar with from my Palm Springs days. I still don't know much about them but at least I recognize them. It is getting hotter. I check temp and I am at 106, then 109 and then 111. I am drinking a lot of water. I have plenty with me. I am just crusing along, enjoying the view and the various structures that the enviroment creat. Erosion is such a wonderful scultor. Suddenly my instrument panel goes out. Damned, must have blown that fuse again. I check the milage and next town is about 25 miles. I run to that location without the speedo. I stop at a station and get some new fuses. The old one has definately blown. I change it and take off. I am about 5 miles outside of Death Valley Junction when I blow another fuse. I had been debating going through Death Valley or just continuing up to the next town in NV. I decide that discretion is the better part of valore and take the safe route. Death Valley is no place to be messing around with a questionable bike.

So at Death Valley Junction, I take CA 373 toward Amargosa Valley. I ride along the southeast edge of the valley and look longingly for a view on the other side of the mountain. I fuel again at Amargosa and then head north on US 95. I am again in desert country. I ride easy and spend my time looking at the vistas as they appear. I am now aware of the distance to the mountains. The flat seems to run on forever to the smoky haze covered mountains. On occasion I experience riding closer to near mountains that are clear, however, there are always the distant mountains wrapped in smoke (haze). It reminds me of the Smoky Mountains, only a lot hotter and dryer. I am mindlessly crusing along when anothe fuse goes. It is the last one I have for a spare. I also now know that it is not just the trailer lights. I know that the heat is causeing the cooling fans to run more. One is squalling on occasion. I decide that I will also eliminate use of cruse control until the temp starts to drop. I run this way into Beatty. There I find a hardware store and buy 5 fuses at $1 each. I also find an ice cream bar. I looked at my last fuel stop and they had the freezers but no ice cream. I need to eat it fast to keep from wearing it but does it taste good. Nothing like good cold ice cream on a hot day.

I continue north with a good supply of fuses. The ambient temp drops to about 101 so I decide to try the cruise again. It works and no fuse problem. I have my spares but no fuse problems for the rest of the trip. I get to Tonopah and have some decisions to make. It is now getting late in the afternoon and I have about 180 to 200 miles to go, depending on directions. I pick the way that seems to have a better chance at over night facilities.

I continue north on 95 which will eventually take me to Hawthrone and Fallon, NV. A word about Tonapoh before we leave. This is an old mining area and I was amazed at the amount of old specialized equipment that was sitting around and on display. It is an area that I could have spent days wondering around and looking at the old machines. They all seemed to be in good rust condition. Apparently the dry are causes a coat of rusty brown to develop and then they stop rusting because these items appeared as solid as the day that they quite using them. Some of them were definately of 30 and 40 vintage. This place is definately on my list to return too with time to explore all the old equipment. For a shade tree mechanic like myself, this was like falling into heaven. So the list gets longer.

As I roll north out of Tonapah, I come down from mountains into high desert. We climb through several high passes and roll down grade into some more interesting structure. I am not sure of the sequence but I know that I pass some high dry land ranching/farming. There seems to be subturaean water that had small fields green. The rest of the area around them were a definate dry brown. Eventually I get to Hawthorne. This is an Army Ordinace storage facility. I was amazed at all the earthen bunkers that were located around the town. I did not find any motels that were to my liking though there was one casino in town that probably would have had space. There were a lot of cars there.

I decided to push on to Fallon. I know from past experience that Fallon has excellent tourist facilities. I continue on 95 north. Just north of town I run into the Walker Rservior. This is a new expeierience for me. The road follows the western shore, about 5ooft above the shore line. I can see that the water level is way low from the high water mark. It is an interesting ride. I have sharp mountain on my left. Much of the road is cut out of the mountain. I have guard rail on my right with a steep slope going down to the water. The road sweeps left and right with nicely graded curves so that I can really roll through the corners. It was a fun ride if I had not been pushing daylight and needed to watch out for God's little critters , and some of the big one, that can cause so much hurt to me if we collide. North of Walker is the Walker River Piute Reservation which seems to be headquartered in Schurz, NV. It was definately evening and pretty quite as I rode through. I was impressed with the neat small houseing and farm units that I saw. Again, the ground seemed to be irrigated by subterrainian water flow.

Dusk was settling in. When I was out of the shadows, it was bright. When in the shadows, it was dark. I kept an alert for the critters that like to roam at this time of day. Fortunately, I did not see any. Thank you Lord. The temp was getting comfortable and I could even feel a chill as I rode through the evening. I was glad to hit the flat land and then the irrigated land south of Fallon. The dampness in the air from the irrigation moisture felt good after the heat that I had ridden in today. Finally, Fallon in the distance. It is a nice town that is built alone the highways. US 50 and 95 intersect here. I remember crossing US 50 in the eastern shore of Maryland as I headed toward the Chesepeak Bay Bridge/Tunnel. I also think of the other times that I have ridden 50, bother here in NV (Fallon to Utah; The Loneliest Hwy in the World) and in central KS around Dodge City. I am tired, it has been a long day with a lot of hot miles. I find a motel and grab dinner in a nice little Mexican Resturant that I catch just before they closed. I grab a quick shower and am down for the night. The odometer shows 451 miles plus I need to add about another 45 for running without a speedo for a total of 496 miles for the day. This is the longest day of riding so far and I feel it. Later. Milo