Day 17–One of those days you just say, “Wow”.

Ok, I did the weather report thing last night and then the morning of and it made me load 3 routes into the GPS in case I need to bail out on the fly. All the information that I gained from 3 different sources told me to go south and enter Lake Tahoe from the southwest side and get through it before 4pm and I should be good. All the weather forecast indicated that higher elevations 4000 and above around Lake Tahoe could get 1-3 inches of snow and they were warning all the Holiday campers.

So we left Sacramento about 7:30, stop at McD’s, Lori ‘s request to get oatmeal, and then we were on the road. We had a beautiful ride through little towns like El Dorado, Jackson, MickelLumne Hill, and a few more that I have forgotten. We turned on one road that ran for about 10-15 miles that had grades that would make most people in a car cringe but we plowed ahead. That same section of road gave my poor broken shock a work out and it kept my speed back to 20 mph of less most of that 20 mile run. There was just to much bouncing. Where as if I had my F650GS Dakar Dual Sport, I would have been doing 50-60 mph most of the time because the bike it built for absorbing those types of bumps.

Now the Fun really started, we pulled out of Avery and the road started climbing and climbing and it made me turn the GPS on to check elevation.  I also bought a temperature gauge to hang on the handle bar so I could keep tabs of outside temps in case it got close to freezing, I was turning around. Before I could blink, we were climbing through 7000 and enter the bases of the clouds. If that wasn’t enough snow was on the sides of the roads and it was high. How high you ask? In some places it was stacked 10 feet tall at least. I could not see over the top of the snow from side to side. So it was like we were driving in a snow tunnel with no top. Do you think that was as bad as it got? Not quite!!! It started snowing on us again. By this time I had hooked up with another Fool, excuse me, I mean motorcycle rider that I didn’t know but I was following him and we were going to make sure that we both got through it. The outside air temperature fell to somewhere between 38-39 and I was bit cold in some of my fingers and toes, but my core was good and warm. Lori on the other hand, she was just warm and little worried. I saw the guy and gal on the bike in front of us give celebration wave and then I noticed the sign they were pointing to was the high point of 8730 which is just short of 9000 feet. After this point we started to descend and after 5 or so miles he pulled over and we chatted a bit. They lived just 100 miles away and travel this road a lot. They were caught off guard with the snow to. I do not know how they did it, open face helmets and really thin gloves and maybe three layers total including a jacket. To Damn cold for me and riding in the snow, even knowing it isn’t cold enough to stick, sucks.

We parted ways with the Johnson’s from California and made our way into Lake Tahoe. It is a very busy place and reminded me of Gatlinburg, Tn. The Lake itself was very large from what I could see, but due to the cloud, rain, snow, and mist, you just couldn’t see all the way across to the other side. We stopped once again at McDonald’s for a Apple pie and coffee and watched a 5 minute blizzard rush by. Lori and I just looked at each and laughed. So, after driving through all that stuff, I loaded up the GPS and told it to go with plan B and shoot me out of Lake Tahoe and into Carson City so we could drive out of all these snow showers.  Even though Carson City is still about 5000’, it was enough to drop us out of the snow and freezing cold. Yes, even 50 degree feels warm after riding for 2 or 3 hours at 38-42.

Our day ended in Reno as planned with the skies overcast and spiting rain. We are staying in the Peppermill Casino Hotel and we country bumpkins do not belong here. To many people and we do not gamble, but it sure is pretty. Neither Lori or I drop a penny in a slot, just returned to our room to post this blog, watch a little TV, and read. Ahhhhh.

Tomorrow’s plan is going to be another dramatic route change. After studying the weather reports along Interstate 80 from Reno to Salt Lake City, it is going to rain the entire route and the temps are going to be between 38-45 all day. I could not wrap my mind around that ride for 522 miles and 9 hours, just to see the Salt Flats. So, we are turning southeast and we will stay at a Hampton Inn in Las Vegas. I was trying to figure all along how to fit this in my route, so this just makes it easy. Las Vegas forecast is sunny and 72. I also might look into driving through Death Valley and crossing that new bridge at Hoover Dam. I have to review some of Gary Mace’s routes and Road Runner routes and try to keep it under 500 miles. So, below you will see a GPS route from Reno to Vegas, but it is hotel to hotel and it might change after this post.

The Motorcycle, Trailer, and us are holding up well and it has been a very, very, interesting trip that I will remember the rest of my life.

Todays run was 273 miles, and our total is now 6044.

Click here for todays pictures:

Tomorrows route is pictured below:

The Picture below shows what we have completed and what we have left. The Red is complete and the Green is what is left.