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By 7:30 I was streaking across the desert at 80 mph.
Hwy 50 is supposed to be 'Loneliest Road in America' but I think hwy 212 through south dakota beats it. There was a car every couple minutes, a town every 50 miles. Pffft.
I was expecting the desert to be hot, boring and featureless. It was nothing of the sort (whereas Nebraska is ... sorry Tim!). It was 54f and slowly crept up to 81f. There were mountains all around... 319 mountain ranges in Nevada, supposedly the most of any state. And the road was straight for 10-15 miles at a time as it crossed the desert valley floors, but it passed over a mountain range for another 10 miles. Rinse, repeat, 10 times.
The recent rain has caused the sage to bloom in shades of yellow and release pollen, a quite palpable odor. I didn't expect any odors at all.
The fun ended at Fernley. That's when I re-entered civilization, and with it, people and traffic. This continued until Truckee, which is in California. Truckee is a cute mountain town and that means tourists go and drink wine, look at art, and generally get in my way. Therefore, I felt it was prudent to avoid Truckee. But my GPS took me there anyway. Who in tarnation programmed this route....
I went north on 89. Despite 40- and 35-mph corners I maintained 65-70 mph except through the towns. I was back in the pine trees, ponderosa this time... which has a distinct odor. I love it!
Hwy 70 was where the fun started again! One of the things which makes California the best motorcycling state is their speed limits. Hwy 70's statutory limit is 55mph (except in towns) and they don't mark it down for the corners. Thus corners with 25mph yellow signs can be legally ridden at 55mph, or 65mph, assuming the typical cop fudge factor. And 70 has 50+ miles of curves, smooth pavement, and almost no traffic. I think I saw ten cars total.
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