1 August 2017
Decent start time; figures, as I don't intend to make it all the way home.
The weather was fairly nice to start, but there was a hint of what was to come; I made sure I had a chilled bag o' water and a wet towel for the eventuality.
In contrast to the finish of yesterday's ride, with a new freeway, exiting south from Carson City on 395 was glacially tedious, compounded by the tail end of commuter traffic. After clearing the last light in Gardnerville, the pace picked up.
Until I hit the first "Single lane ahead" road construction sign. This one wasn't horrible, I was stopped for only a minute. But then that line of traffic has to get up to speed, and invariably there's some slowpoke that can't quite manage to do the speed limit, and everybody has to wait to pass.
395 is mostly divided highway now, except where it comes into towns. Like Bridgeport, where there was more road construction. This time the wait was six minutes--and this is a quandary, because you don't know how long it's going to be. Do I shut off the bike (which takes some seconds to reboot, and lately mine hasn't always turned on immediately, or leave it running? I left it running...
I stopped for a break in Lee Vining, broke out the wet towel and refilled the water. Not at the Whoa Nellie Deli, which used to be my favorite 'road food' stop along here: a) I wasn't hungry, and 2) I heard they changed hands, the chef is gone, and the food isn't what it used to be. I'd love to be wrong--anyone?
Down through Bishop, then a stop in Big Pine for fuel and water exchange--you know you're drinking enough when you have to stop for both. And it is hot--anywhere above 105, I close my face shield, it's cooler inside than the blast furnace that creeps around the windshield.
About 10 miles north of Olancha, the road narrows down to two lanes; a couple miles north of Olancha--road construction! Just over five minutes this time, and I left the bike running.
But that's no real rest, so I stopped at a middle-of-nowhere station on the east side of the (once again) divided 395--I was out of water, and half-way through that tank of gas.
Then south to Kramer Junction, where I just missed the green light and had to wait for the SR58 traffic to clear; of course a couple of semis turned south. Turned out not to be a problem, they were apparently staging there. But of course I soon caught up to some that were a problem, and there aren't a lot of places to pass on that section.
My route for the day ended in Adelanto, just before 395 merges onto I-15. I could see nasty weather up ahead, and was hoping it was beyond where I wanted to stop. I had a tentative motel picked out, but in the event got turned around--I remembered "Budget Inn," so expanded my search and found it. Except I was now headed east, which didn't seem right. Any port in a storm...the pitter-patter started as I waited to turn left (from a left-turn-only lane that didn't register the bike). Ran it on the next cycle, and pulled up next to the motel. Got a room for a semi-reasonable $65...turns out the "Budget Inn" I remembered was some miles north on 395, but this one is right next to an entrance ramp for I-15, which will make leaving easier in the morning.
No handy groceries; I hiked a mile north to a Stater Bros where I had to pay a dime for a shopping bag--I have a net bag with me, but forgot to take it with. And I didn't get rained on, but it looks iffy this morning.
Motel: $65
Groceries: $11.35
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