The End of the Road

Day 19 Wednesday, May 5, 2010

This is Cinco de Mayo and I want to wish my Motorcycle a Happy Second Birthday! Two years ago today, Chuck, J.B. and Suzy accompanied me to Neihaus Honda in Litchfield, ILL where I bought and picked up my Gold Wing. J.B. and Suzy, do you remember the trip? It was a blast. Like I told Chuck, when I'm ready to buy a new Gold Wing, I wouldn't hesitate to return to Litchfield, ILL and get a new one.

C.E. and I woke up at 6:30 AM and put on The Weather Channel. They were reporting that it was 30 degrees in Eurica, NV. We got dressed and packed up our bags. We took them out to our Motors and put the bags away. We went into the breakfast area and had breakfast. What did you think I was going to say, we had lunch? We were by ourselves for a long time when, finally, Chuck and Ken joined us. Jan and Bruce came in a little bit later and had breakfast. Chuck told me that he had seen and spoke with Jim Bob and Vicki Penn outside and were walking to a restaurant down the street. After breakfast, we packed up our Motors, checked out of the hotel and rode a block away to gas up the Motors. We left at 8:44 AM with Bruce in the lead.

Bruce led us out of town and back onto US 50 and, "The Loneliest Highway in America." We rode for 72.5 miles and stopped in Austin, NV at 9:45 AM. We had climbed a mountain and rode down the curvy, twistie road and into Austin. We needed our morning pit stop. We also took a break and as we were about to leave, Jim Bob and Vicki Penn came riding in to gas up. We spoke with them for a while and then left at 10:08 AM.

We continued on this Lonely Road, as pretty as it is, and we stopped in Harmon Junction, NV so that Chuck could put in a gallon of gas. We stopped at 11:38 AM after riding 110.3 miles. He couldn't go much further with the amount of gas he had in his gas tank. He knew that a gallon would take him into the next town. We left at 11:40 AM.

We rode another 6.3 miles and at 11:52 AM we stopped in Fallen, NV. We stopped so that we all could gas up our Motors. We then rode down the street to a Subway, with C.E. leading, and had lunch. After we had lunch, Chuck got the map and went over the map with C.E. We were headed to Carson City, NV. We left at 12:51 PM.

C.E. took the lead and after 11 miles, he missed the sign and the turn to go on US 50 to Carson City. Instead, we were on US 50 Alternate. The Alternate would have taken us about 32 miles out of our way. We rode for 2 more miles before we could make a u-turn to head back and make the proper turn. C.E. led us for 50.9 miles and at 1:49 PM, we stopped at a gas station/mini-mart in Dayton, NV. We took a pit stop and we were soon back on our way. We left at 2:03 PM.

We continued and eventually rode through Carson City. As we headed west of Carson City, we rode up a mountain with curves and twisties. There weren't very many cars on the road on the same direction that we were going. We had a very good time with this road. I was taking a video when Chuck left his #5 position, jumped in front of Jan and rode next to me. He told me that he saw me with my camera out and knew that I was making a video and he wanted to be in it. He was! C.E. led us into South Lake Tahoe. What a beautiful city! The lake was awesome. C.E. pulled over to the side of the road just south of Glenbrook. We got off our Motors and took several pictures. The Lake was beautiful. The surrounding mountains were snow-capped. We left at 2:59 PM.

We continued on this great Motorcycle road. We crossed into California. We rode for 41.9 miles and stopped in Silver Fork, CA. at 3:54 PM. We stopped at a small gas station/mini-mart. We took a break, made a pit stop and C.E. "cracked the whip" and told us to saddle up, we were leaving. We left at 4:07 PM.

We continued on US 50. The road was full of curves, twisties and high speed. We rode for 42.5 miles and stopped in Shingle Springs, CA. at 4:50 PM. We were all getting somewhat excited. We knew that the end of the road was near. Actually, it was about 50 miles away. We looked at the maps and set the navigation system with some information that would get up close to our destination. We left at 5:17 PM with Chuck in the lead. It was appropriate for Chuck to lead us on our final leg to get to our destination, the west end of US 50.

Chuck was in the lead and I was right behind. I had the information in my navigation system and I could direct him through the CB. We rode another 34.8 miles and got off of the interstate to where we thought that the end was in West Sacramento. It wasn't. Chuck asked a gentleman for directions and he gave him some. We left at 6:02 PM.

With directions in mind, we got back on the interestate and headed west. We went over a causeway, made a u-turn and went back the same way we came. The directions that the gentleman gave Chuck was correct. We had ridded 18.6 miles and at 6:20 PM stopped at the sign indicating that Ocean City was 3,073 miles. Chuck pulled over to the side of the interstate and we all followed. We parked by the side and saw the sign. One by one, we all stood under the sign and had pictures taken. A tow truck stopped by us and asked if any one of us had broken down. That was a valid question, since I'm sure that he saw 3 Harley's in the group. We told him that we were all ok. He left and we continued taking pictures, including a Group shot. Now that we had reached the end of the westbound trip, we wanted to head towards Needles, CA. It was late and we knew that we wouldn't get very far, however, we still wanted to ride towards Needles and find a hotel in that direction. We left at 6:31 PM.

Chuck rode east on I-80 and then south onto US 99. We rode another 14.4 miles and at 6:46 PM, we stopped at a gas station/mini-mart in Elk Grove, CA. We made a pit stop and talked about our accomplishment. We were all exstatic about it. We looked at the map and decided that we would head for Turlock, CA. at a Best Western. We left at 7:05 PM.

Chuck got us back on US 99 and we headed southbound. The speed limit was 65 and we were going about 78 mph. I believe Chuck was trying to get us to the Best Western before it got dark so that we wouldn't yell at him about making all of us ride in the dark. That is one of our rules: We don't ride in the dark! We rode another 77.4 miles and at 8:11 PM, we stopped at The Best Western Orchard Inn in Turlock, CA. I went in to "make the deal." As everyone entered, the deal was made and we got a good rate. We each got our rooms, rode our Motors to the back of the hotel, parked and got our bags. We put the bags in the rooms and then tucked the Motors in for the night. We later walked next door to the Grizzly Rock Cafe and Grill for dinner. After dinner, we returned to our rooms.

Today, we rode for 504 miles. We completed our destination: The west end of US 50. We then started our route home. We know that we have about 500 miles to get to Needles and then about 300 miles to get back home. We are trying to hurry because Chuck needs to get to his daughter's, Genna, graduation from N.A.U. on Friday at 2 PM. Genna, we will get him there for you. Congratulations! So far this trip, we have traveled 6,341.6 miles. We still need to get home! We will get to Needles tomorrow and spend the night. So, until tomorrow...