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Day 9: Cedar City, UT to Benton, CA During our original route planning, we had wanted to take Route 50, the Loneliest Road in America. However, that was going to take us too far north of our eventual California destination, Yosemite. In Gunnison, we amended our route to go through the Extraterrestrial Highway. Mary scouted this route online, and she was already worrying about gas shortages. Plus, the day was turning out to be very windy, causing more concern for running out of gas. Rachel, Nevada in the middle of the state looked like a good place to gas up, but checking the website the night before, she discovered a footnote at the bottom of the page: Note: The gas station in Rachel is closed. The nearest gas stations are 60 miles south in Ash Springs and 110 miles north in Tonopah.Great. We gassed up in nearly every town that we saw, and we met some fun people this way. In Caliente, NV, we met four guys on two GoldWings, 1 ST1300, and 1 Chrysler 300 that were tearing up the roads. While we were here, other drivers told us that it was raining pretty hard in Alamo, NV out west. We weren't headed directly there, but rain never hurt us Seattle folk.What they didn't tell us was about wind. By the time we went 45 miles to Ash Springs, Mary was tired from fighting gusts and I was tired of riding sideways to go straight. At the gas station there, we met a GS guy in a Honda Civic who said he had turned out once he saw the sign "No Services Next 110 miles". As he left, he predicted two things: 1. we would pass him at 90mph. 2. we would meet again at the next gas stop. In the short time that we were in Ash Springs, the wind picked up even more, and Mary could hardly keep the bike upright while going slowly. We eased slowly onto the Extraterrestrial Highway and made our way at 30mph. The wind and dust made it difficult to find the road at times. We could hardly hear over our communicators for the same reasons. However, we were already passed the point of no return since it would be impossible to do a U-turn in this weather. There is no try. The land was so flat that we had very little break from the wind. When we did have a moment, we stopped to put on extra layers and continue into the rain that had just started. Eventually, we rode out of the thunderstorm and into Rachel, Nevada where we had lunch at a deserted gas station. Mary had her leftover shepherd's pie and I had a hard-boiled egg, a bagel, and some cream cheese. Fortunately, we had packed a little bit of food, all lifted from the hotel that morning. After relaxing there for a while, who else would ride by but the same guys on the Gold Wings, ST1300 and Chrysler. They went passed the deserted gas station and took the next left. We packed up our gear and joined them there at the Little A'Le'Inn, a combination hotel, restaurant, and gift store. Ale for beer, Inn for bedding, A-le-inn for being near Area 51. Very punny, those folk out in the middle of nowhere. The restaurateur told us that they had 100mph gusts in that storm. I am not sure we went through winds that strong, but it was definitely the Worst Ever riding conditions. The rest of the day went like a peach though. Temperatures stayed in the upper 60s, so while we were still wearing layers, we could wick up our speed to 90mph without any problems. Miles came and went with hardly a blink - except for when cattle crossed the road. Then we inched past them and resumed our merry way. Entering California is like entering a foreign country. I don't know of any other state that checks for produce, but they waved us two motorcyclists through. Benton Hot Springs arrived soon enough, and after a quick dinner at the Benton Cafe, we luxuriated in the hot tub fed by the natural hot springs until our tired muscles stopped aching. There was so much hot water that even the lawns were watered all day and the toilets were flushed with hot water. Your butt would get misted by hot moist air as you sat there. It was a butt sauna. After hot tubbing, we closed the windows, turned on the air conditioner, and fell asleep in the cool breeze. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....... |
View Larger Map  Sunny and windy  The Extraterrestrial Highway looking east towards the thunderstorms we had just ridden through.  The Extraterrestrial Highway towards the west, straight as an arrow into the mountains.  The one time I wish I had an extra STN sticker... Onto 2009 STN National Meet Day 10... |
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