Valley of fire... Been there many times.

You say, boring... But you were so close to some of the best riding in the country. Tis a shame.

Enjoying the journal, stay safe.

 

None of these epic stories have been boring! What an adventure! Thanks for sharing and a safe finish to this years journey!

 

Love reading about your trip. It's inspiring! Great write ups. Have a safe rest of your trip.

 

Two more states today, California and Oregon

Woke up at 5:30 this morning to a thunder and lightning storm and a real downpour. Took my time packing up then went and had a leisurely breakfast hoping the storm would pass as the weatherman predicted. By 7:30 it stopped raining so I headed out of Toponah, NV on Highway 95.

All was well for the first 20 miles and then I hit a construction zone that was one lane only. I was third in line behind two semi’s and we sat for 35 minutes. When we took off behind the pilot car it was grooved pavement for 10 miles. That really sucks on a bike.

Went about another 20 miles and came to a slow crawl behind a long line of vehicles. They were painting the right shoulder stripe on the highway. Everybody was poking along behind the paint truck at 10 mph. After about 3 miles of this I decided that I hadn’t seen any signs that say do not pass the paint truck. Only signs that said “Caution. Wet paint” I looked in the oncoming lane and I could see that it was clear for a long ways so I pulled out and passed about 30 vehicles and the paint truck at about 40 mph. After I went by I saw several cars pull out and do the same thing. They just need a leader (or a guinea pig).

After that it was smooth sailing. It was about 70 degrees and the high desert is much nicer at 70 than 100. Stopped in Hawthorne, NV and got gas. Hawthorne is the largest weapons storage area in the US. You could see storage bunkers for miles.

From Hawthorne on to Reno. Had a short stretch on I80 and then exited to 395 for Susanville. That short stretch of I80 was the only freeway today.

At Susanville I got on Highway 139. The first 20 miles of 139 was amazing. Comparable to The Back of the Dragon. Great road for motorcycles.

Stayed on 139 all the way to Klamath Falls, OR. About 150 miles from Klamath Falls there was another one lane construction stoppage. There were two bikes first in line, then me and two more bikes. The flagger waved all the bikes up to the front to get us out of harms way (he was rider himself). Got to chat with the other riders for about 20 minutes. Two guys on Ducati’s were just finishing a loop from Oregon down to Southern Utah. I don’t think they believed me when I told them what I’d been doing for the last 16 days 

Once the pilot cars got us through the 2 Ducatis and I kind of left the rest behind. They turned off and then I was on my own.

139 was a great ride. 65 MPH through the trees. Really reminded me of why I love the Pacific Northwest.

About 50 miles from Klamath Falls was another construction stoppage. I was first in line which meant I got to wait the longest. This was a 15 minute delay. The only good thing about being the first in line was that once I got through there was nobody in front of me.

About 20 miles from Klamath Falls in started raining lightly. Just enough to say welcome back to the PNW then it stopped.

Got to Klamath Falls about 5:45. Late start and several delays made for a longer day than originally planned.

So, another 525 miles and the lower 48 and DC are DONE in 16 days.

It’s been long but worth every minute (or mile) of it. I'll take a couple of days to arrange my thoughts and then I'll post what I thought were the highlights and lowlights as well as some stats on the trip.

Thanks to all of you that read this "Novel" and thanks for all the encouragement.

 

My riding partner called me earlier wanting to know where "the post" was!
I fwd to him and he then fwd's to another friend.

Good read and I'm (we all) are glad that you made it home safe and sound..

Any info that you'd be willing to share would be interesting to those of us that have not been able to get out for a while.

So the question now is; what's in the works for next year!

Congrats on achieving your goal!

 

This has been awesome! I've been thinking about doing this next year to celebrate my 70th birthday. I also do Run For The Wall. This year I did the Southern Route, and then home from DC to Idaho. 21 states, 7,000 miles. I live in Lewiston. You mentioned Spokane. Are you by any chance a Lone Wolf HOG member? I'm a member of both Hells Canyon HOG and Lone Wolf HOG.

I'm going to go back through all your posts and try to list your highways. I'm going to try to match your route. Do you have a typed itinerary? Would you be willing to post it? Are there any roads that you would now not recommend?

I know, a lot of questions, but I'm really excited! Thanks again for doing this thread!

Clay

 

Thanks for sharing your 16 day, 48 state adventure. Each day I looked forward to reading that day's leg. Glad all worked out for you and you're home safe. I too, would be interested in seeing your actual route listed for future reference. Thanks again for sharing.

 

I, too, want to congratulate you on achieving a bucket list item! Way to go. And I have enjoyed the vicarious trip along with many others. Thanks for taking us along.
Looking forward to your debriefing once you get some rest and collect your thoughts.

 

Awesome, just awesome. Welcome home.

 

Thank you for sharing your adventure with us. I also enjoyed reading all your updates.