Day 6 is in the books. I successfully made my way from Rigby, ID down to Ely, NV without ever putting a tire on an interstate. I guess the closest I came was on the short stretch of highway from Eric's house to Idaho Falls that was 4 lanes. We will look the other way.
Riding through this section of Idaho and Nevada requires patience. Not because of slow traffic - more because the scenery is pretty consistent. There are breaks, but it looks a lot alike for most of the trip. The trick is to admire the raw beauty. You have to remember to enjoy it.
My first real stop of the trip was at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Jeannette and I lived in Idaho Falls for a while in the early 90s, and we made the trip out to the monument once. Except we never actually made it! We saw lave flows and stopped, admired, and turned back around. This time I made it to the visitor's center and drove through the 7 mile loop. Simply put, it was stunning. I wish I could say my pictures do it justice, but my poor iPhone just couldn't quite capture all of the detail.
Next stop - Twin Falls (of Evil Knievel fame). I came in to town from the north and crossed the Snake River on highway 93. It looked like a good stop. The bridge and surrounding bluffs are about 700 feet above the river. While I was there admiring the scene I stopped to talk to an older gent who was watching the river. He pointed out a group of people packing parachutes and preparing to jump off the bridge. It is not illegal to jump and seems to be a popular spot for thrill seekers. I watched two young men walk out to the center and jump off. It was pretty dark cool.
After Twin Falls came Jackpot, Nevada. I encountered the only rain of the day crossing the pass into the Great Basin and into Wells, NV. Wells is the location of one of the new themes on my motorcycle rally - whorehouses. The idea is to ride to as many Nevada whorehouses as possible and take a picture with my motorcycle and placard. I was pretty sure this theme would set me up for embarrassment, and it only took one stop to set up an awkward situation. The stop I made was at Donna's Place. No problem. There was a second house (not on my list) right across the parking lot from Donna's. Several girls from the other house saw me at Donna's taking a picture and started to walk over to see if they could entice me to their business. Imagine how a hooker would dress for work and you pretty much have it right. Then imagine Tim quickly putting his gloves back on and getting the heck out of there!
The other place's name was Bella's. I had a restaurant on another one of my excursions that was named Bella's, and I really hoped that was not a restaurant in addition to a whorehouse! Thankfully there was a restaurant on the other side of town, and it had no affiliation.
Wells is also home to the biggest and meanest group of free-range dogs in the world. I clocked one of them at about 30 mph as he ran next to me waiting to see if I would poop my pants. I managed to escape. I have had my fill of Wells, NV!
The ride down through the Great Basin into Ely, Nevada was very pretty. Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong place for pictures. I am hoping to have better picture luck tomorrow.
Tomorrow's ride is across Nevada on highway 50 into Reno. Should be a pretty spectacular day.
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| This is officially the middle of nowhere in Idaho. I believe those are the Sawtooth Mountains. |
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| Obligatory national monument sign picture :) |
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| Craters of the Moon |
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| Craters of the Moon |
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| Craters of the Moon |
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| Looking down on the Snake River in Twin Falls, ID. |
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| Small people on the center of the bridge getting ready to jump. |
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| Afetr the jump and thank goodness the chute opened! |
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| Donna's Place. My least favorite stop so far! |
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| This dude followed me all day long :) |
3 comments:
I saw the same areas you did this day over the course of my nearly four years at prototype. Loved the scenery, as you said, it is a raw beauty. Also crossed the same bridge to go to Nevada to do my once in a lifetime gambling day (Lost all my money, a cheap lesson back then). Pete
The capability to do the trip you are doing is what makes the 'mainland' so attractive from my position here in HI. Sounds like you have had a great experience!!
Pete - it was fantastic! Jackpot was a destination when I was staff at prototype, too. Me and a buddy took $100 each and that was all we were allowed for gas, food, golf and gambling! It was a great time, though.
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