Time of departure:  7:00 A.M.

Temperature: 55 degrees

Elevation:  5100 feet

Total Mileage:  250

The wildfire, that has now reached almost 500 square miles, has burned only one uninhabited structure, and currently does not threaten any other structures.

                                                                                                        local Utah newspaper

Space is relative.  When you say something is far away, your idea of far depends on your surroundings.

Crowded is relative.  When you say something is crowded, your idea of crowded depends on how many people are too many for you.

Yesterday, we stopped on the entrance ramp to Interstate 70.  We sat sat for several minutes while I looked over our maps.  We then entered Interstate 70.  In the span of time we sat on the entrance ramp, not one car passed on the interstate in either direction.  Imagine. 

Later, when two cars passed us within several seconds, we commented on how crowded the road had become.  Our idea of crowded had changed.

We have entered a land where space takes on a new meaning.

We left Richfield, UT and traveled west towards our destination of Baker, NV.  Within an hour, we  ran directly into the largest wildfire in Utah’s history. 

We stopped at a convenience store where the flames had literally surrounded the buildings and burned a truck in the parking lot.  We don’t know how the store kept from burning. 

The road we were to take was closed, so we had to drive north before turning west.  Soon we were back on U.S. 50, the same road we drove to cross Monarch Pass in Colorado, only now it’s called The Loneliest Road in America.  And I believe it. 

When we turned west again, we entered what’s known as the Great Basin.  The Great Basin is a geologic formation running from the Wasatch Range of Mountains in Utah to the east, to the Sierra Nevada Range in the West.  Literally, it’s an area where all ground water (lakes, rivers, creeks, etc.) does not run to any ocean.  Any water in the Great Basin eventually goes underground. 

Distances become so far.  The land becomes sparse.  After leaving Delta, UT, it was 83 miles to our destination of Baker.  We met fewer than 10 cars. 

We crossed mountain ridges followed by deep valleys, and saw distances further than I ever thought possible.

After 68 miles, we topped a pass to enter the Snake Valley.  Our motel was at the bottom of the valley.  Across the valley was Nevada’s second highest mountain, Wheeler Peak, standing at 13,063 feet. 

The valley was so large and distances were so long, we could see across the valley, but couldn’t see our motel in the bottom of the valley.  It was dwarfed by distance.

We arrived at the Border Inn Motel.  To be more accurate, it was a convenience store/gas station/motel/bar/casino/gift shop/restaurant/pool hall.  It sat on the Utah/Nevada state line.  Literally, the convenience store/bar/casino/gift shop/restaurant/pool hall was in Nevada.  The gas pumps and motel were in Utah.  We fueled up in Utah and payed for it in Nevada.

After lunch, we checked into the motel, then drove ten miles west to Great Basin National Park.  The park surrounds Wheeler Peak, and includes Lehman Caves, which we took a tour of. 

Our tour was decidedly more supervised. 

After our tour, we drove the road that carried us to an elevation of 10,000 feet and gave us a great view of Wheeler Peak, and also dropped the temperature into the low 50’s.  So we retired to our motel for the night.

The next morning we awoke and discovered that Meredith’s bike wouldn’t crank.  It had been temperamental the previous day, and it had been necessary to push start it several times.

We tried to push start it in the morning, but it would not start.  Our only option left was to pull it with my bike.  So, we hooked the two bikes together with a tie down and I started.  We moved forward.  After gaining a bit of speed, I yelled to Meredith to let the clutch out.  She did.  The bike coughed and spit for a few seconds, then fired and started.  Meredith had given it a bunch of gas.  So, when the bike cranked, it rapidly accelerated, faster than my bike was was moving.  Her bike shot past mine.  Meredith couldn’t pull the clutch in fast enough.  I was still attached to her bike.  Her bike literally dragged my bike down, and, in the process, dragged hers down also.

So, picture if you will, a pile of motorcycles with people lying on top of the them, in the parking lot of a motel/casino, in the middle of the desert.  Later on we had a good laugh, but not at that moment.

After that, we’d had enough.  We called AAA.  In two hours, a very nice fellow arrived to haul our bikes.  An hour later, we arrived in Ely, Nevada. 

We unloaded at Attitude Motorcycles.  The nice man there was as knowledgeable about motorcycles as anybody I’ve ever met.  Within 20 minutes he had diagnosed our problem and was working hard to fix it.  The valves needed adjusting.  

When we left the bike ran better than it had in years.

We decided to not push on.  We found a motel room and will wait until tomorrow to go further.

All in all, we’ve been very lucky.  I told Meredith earlier, while picking ourselves up off the motel parking lot, that this is where we supposed to look at each other, smile, and remember where we are.  She agreed.

See y’all down the trail.

Ron and Meredith.

July 13