Xenotropic Systems

I woke up on time, but ended up leaving Winnemucca a little late. Aunt Sue cooked an awesome breakfast, and I was a little lethargic in the morning. At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter, because I arrived in Mesquite at a decent hour, around 6:00 p.m.

The morning ride was actually cool in the desert. Between Battle Mountain and Austin was in the 70’s. What made the ride grueling for most of the day were the desert winds. I felt like I was going to be blown off the road most of the time, and I was angling the bike into the wind for most of the day. This makes the ride pretty tiring. It’s not like going around some mean curves, because at least you can see those up ahead in the road and prepare for them. It requires that you keep the bike constantly muscled into the wind, and you have to be ready for a gust that will blow you around. It’s stressful, you’re always on guard, and it’s fairly athletic. I really hope I don’t have to do too much more of it, but something tells me that Kansas will be even worse.

I met a group of Harley-Davidson riders going down Hwy 50 in Austin at the gas station. There are a group of curves to the east of the town on Hwy 50, and the first guy there was laughing at his buddies because he was the one having fun in them. They were from around Austin, TX, so the joke was pretty good. They asked my advice about Oregon, because they were headed towards Astoria and the Columbia Gorge. I was pretty wiped out from the winds, so I spent a while chatting with them about stuff at the gas stop.

It gradually started to warm up on the way down to Tonopah. My endurance was starting to suffer a little bit, so I at least got off the bike for a quick drink in Carvers. There’s nothing there, and the gas station looked long since shut down, so it was grabbing a nip out of the Camelbak and stretching my legs.

I backtracked into Tonopah to grab some lunch and tank up on some more gas. Coming back out of town, I saw a missile mounted on a pole on the side of the road. It turns out this was the entrance to the Tonopah Test Range where they ran the stealth fighters out of when they were still classified. There were signs all along the road about low flying aircraft.

I stopped briefly at Warm Springs to make sure that I was on the right track. There literally is nothing in Warm Springs. The buildings that are there are dilapidated and look like they’ve been closed for some time. But it is entrance to the Extraterrestrial Highway. It’s named this because it’s the closest approach to the famous Area 51 at Nellis AFB. I had wanted to go on this highway the last time, but it was flooded out when I had tried to go. It’s lucky that I got gas in Tonopah because there was a sign saying that there was no gas for 111 miles. It was pretty much right on. The entire length of Nevada Highway 375 lacks a single gas station, and there’s pretty much only one town along it. Luckily Dylan didn’t come, because his fuel tank isn’t big enough for a run down the ET Highway. He’ll have to fix that before we tackle it one of these days.

The one town on the ET Highway is Rachel, NV. This is where they have the “Little A’Lie’Inn” hotel. Using the word “hotel” is rather generous though. I didn’t really know about Rachel until I rolled up to it.I wanted to stop, because the wind was again hampering my endurance to around 50 miles without stretching out at least a little. There’s no gas in Rachel, but the A’Le’Inn is a bar/hotel/etc. I didn’t go inside, because it looked pretty sketchy, but you can see the pictures from outside.

I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel in Rachel. I continued on to Alamo which was pretty much the first opportunity to get gas. I got a chance to get a good stretch, and doused my shirt in water to get cool on the road. By this time the temperature was approaching 105° F. I don’t know why, but I was very nervous that the bike was going to begin overheating for some reason and I kept a close eye on the engine temperature. To its credit, the VFR performed admirably, and didn’t really give me any trouble. Things were a little greener by the side of the road because there were a couple of lakes along the way that provided an oasis-like feel to things.

I saw one of the weirdest things that I have really encountered right at the junction between US-93 and NV-168. It was a new community named Coyote Springs. It exemplifies Southern Nevada for me. It was essentially an entire city that was being created from nothingness. The first thing done, of course, was a golf course. The web site says they have plans for 150,000 homes. These people are literally creating life from nothingness. Apparently their major problem has been acquiring water rights for the community. It’s mildly ridiculous to have to bring in water just to start a whole new city.

I made one last stop in Moapa just to stretch the legs again, and grab some cold water. The water in the camelbak was pretty much dead by this point in time, and the temperature continued to rise, averaging out at 108° or so. I buzzed the freeway for the remaining few miles into Mesquite, and when I hit the exit it was 111°. I was glad to see Grandma. She heard the bike, and greeted me at the door. Dinner was some cold cut sandwiches that tasted really good after just getting off the road. We went out later that night to say goodbye to one of Grandma’s Salt Lake friends that was visiting, and I convinced Grandma to stop by the liquor store to grab some beer. I found some Arrogant Bastard, and things were mellow. A good end to a tiring day.

Total Fuel Cost: $49.78
Estimated Fuel Cost: $54.94
9.39% under fuel budget