Sunday, September 20th - MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Sunday, September 20th: Did 475 miles today. Stayed

the night at a Holiday Inn Express right on the Mississippi

in DesMoines, Iowa. That's the good news. The other news

was that the railroad tracks were "spitting distance" from

my room (see below). Oh, the other good news was that I missed a

torrential downpour by about 30 minutes.

The lobby had a huge fish tank with 4 Large Mouth Bass.

A quick trip to a nearby grocery store resulted in

a wonderful gourmet dinner!

Avoca, Iowa (western Iowa in the middle of

nowhere!) Picture taken close of intersection

149th street and I 80 (and, I repeat, in the

middle of nowhere. What's up with 149th street?)

Saturday, September 19th WY --> NE

Saturday the 19th:

Stayed at Quality Inn & Suites in Laramie last night. Same place I stayed on the
of homemade brownies for the guys at the HD shop.

This road sign is not uncommon on I 80 in the plaines and mountains. It greeted

me as I began my travels East for the day.

A great place to stop for gas and a snack is Waverly, NE. It's about 3 miles

north of I 80. Took this pic leaving Waverly.

BIG winds, some dust, lots of BSTs (big, scary trucks) and a few
construction slow downs. A lot of bikers headed West. I did around
420 miles and stopped for the day in Grand Island.

Eastern Wyoming wind farm. There's something elegant about the wind
turbines.

---

---

OK . . . I've been warned. Rest area Kimball, Ne.

---

---

I don't see any rattlers . . do you?

Marker at eastern Wy. rest area. In the late afternoon

the sagebrush looks faintly purple.

(Purple Heart marker) Sincere thanks from Manjo and

myself to all you who have served our country and given

so much.





































Not a great pic. A small SUV pulling a trailer w/3
pristine, well decked out Harleys pulled up in front
of me at a rest area (about 300 miles east of Omaha).
One by one 3 youngish guys and3 women climb out

of the car. One guy - on his way back from the men's

room (I'm assuming) -asks me in his big biker voice

"where you going?".I replied, "Atlantic ocean. Where

you going?" I asked."Omaha" he says in a not so big

biker voice and walked away.

Thursday, September 17th and Friday the 18th - SLC to Laramie, WY.

DAY 3 - September 17th - on the road to Ma. I stayed over in SLC. Slept just about the entire day. Felt good!

Delicious (?) chicken offerings in a

vending machine at the Airport

Quality Inn in SLC.

Day 4 - September 18th- Up and out early! Only took me 10-15 minutes to get thru SLC. No construction to speak of between SLC and Laramie. I had planned to get to Cheyenne. But was hard-pressed to figure out what the upside would be to riding through Cheyenne on a Friday afternoon. Beautiful day! Big winds! I'm estimating well over 30 knots. The high plains in the early morning and later afternoon are serene. Saw a number of antelope grazing. Crossed the Continental Divide 3 time. The 3rd time at 7,000 feet. FYI : a great stop is I 80 east exit 5, Evanston, Wy.: Chevron, Maverick, McDonalds, Arby's and Starbucks.
A few pics from today's travels:

Marker at rest area 50 miles west of Laramie. I'm

almost positive this is the same rest area Manjo and

I stopped here several years ago on our way back

east. We saw a caravan that included a stage coach

and covered wagons. Everybody was in period dress.

Manjo dug up this picture of the travelers (taken 2

summers ago).

Wy. high plaines late afternoon.

Shooting for the Iowa-Nebraska border tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 15th Leave for home/Rt. 50 Nevada & Wednesday the16th: Eureka, NV to SLC &

Left Sunnyvale around 6:30AM.

My route for Tuesday, Sep 15, 2009:

Sunrise, shoulder of 680-Fremont, Ca. around 7AM.

I didn't read VSP's very excellent directions carefully

and ended up with a brief tour of Vacaville.

Gassing up at a Pilot in Fernley, Nv. before we start

Rt.50. I told VSP I wouldpay for his meals if he

rode Rt. 50 with me.So we had lunch at the

Wendy's (located at the Pilot Station).

It looks desolate. But in person

Rt. 50 is absolutely stunning, stark,

with wonderfully sweet desert

aromas. For additional info see:

http://www.route50.com/history.htm

I'm standing in the middle of Rt. 50

around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Don VSP shot this.

A picture of Roadqueen taken from Don's

bike.

Austin, Nevada: A little "town"

we passed through on our way

to Eureka.

More pics of Rt. 50. I shot these in

late afternoon/early evening on our

way to Eureka.

VSP AND I DID ABOUT 510 MILES ON TUESDAY.

Wednesday, September 16th. We're in Eureka.

Cute little town in the middle of nowhere.

(Pics courtesy of Don VSP.)

For additional info, see: http://www.nevadaweb.com/cnt/pe/eureka/

Court house

Looking east to west on "Main Street".

Looking east. You can see the court house in the background.

Don VSP and I had a nice steak dinner Wednesday night at the Owl Casino and Restaurant.

Then the next morning I wanted a burrito for breakfast, but there are no burritos on the menu. The waitress asked George the cook if he will make a burrito, but George is the only cook this week and with only four hours sleep he wasn't in a very good mood. So I ordered the stuff for a burrito and a flour tortilla and made it myself.

George looking blurred and tired.

After breakfast we hit the road. Today we will ride to Ely, NV and then leave Hwy 50 and head back to I-80 at Wendover, NV right on the Utah border.

At Ely we stop to look over the Hotel Nevada and Gambling Hall. Then the ride along NV Hwy

93 and NV Hwy 93 Alt was the most boring road that I have ever ridden. It is worse than the road from Wendover to Salt Lake City, UT.

We gas up and have a Junior Whopper at the adjacent Burger King. After lunch we say our good byes and VSP heads west and I head east.

This is my route for Wednesday the 16th:

Picture of the Salt Lake Desert headed east on I 80.

Shot around 6:30 PM

DEPARTURE MINUS ONE DAY

Spent the morning packing and repacking (although in theory I shouldn't have that much stuff left. I sent 2 boxes of "stuff" back already.

Met our son at work for lunch then managed to avoid finishing packing for most of the afternoon.

So far looks the like the weather gods are going to cooperate along Rt. 50.

I plan to be all packed and ready to go before I go to bed. (No fair laughing Manjo!)

9:30pm - Packed! Time for a beer and dinner w/the kids.

Departure minus 3 Days

DEPARTURE MINUS 3 DAYS:

The kids treated to a really breakfast early today (Saturday) at Dinah's Court on El Camino in Palo Alto.

Caged it to the Walmart in Mountain View for a can of Berryman's and some "healthy" road snacks. No Berryman's but got H2O, salted cashews, Baby Ruth's and Pretzels! My daughter-in-law had warned me about going on a Saturday afternoon! Totally crazy! Got Berryman's and 2 safety flares at Kragen Auto. I'm still optimistically waiting to hear from a VROC'er interested in riding Rt. 50 with me.

DEPARTURE MINUS 2 DAYS:

Off to church. Pics of my friends

Marlene and Bonnie (aka the "church ladies"). It was so nice to seem them again. I will miss them until next time.
Also a pic of me and Pastor Bob

(St. Lukes Lutheran Church, Sunnyvale - ELCA). Great people, great music, very user friendly.

Haa-zaah and great news!! Just talked to Don VSP and he will ride Rt. 50 with me. I'm so psyched! I might be able to meet up with Badger somewhere along the way and ride with him back to Pa.

My son changed the oil on the trike this afternoon. He was completely unimpressed by how user-UNfriendly HD is (location of oil filter).

I'll miss the Kids and the baby

but it will be nice to start back home to Manjo and the rest of my friends and family there.

LilDoc (30949)

Departure minus 4 days

It's been great staying with my son, daughter-in-law and Annika . . .

On Wednesday (the 8th) I took a ride up Sunnyvale-Saratoga Blvd. into
the mountains to Saratoga.













From there I followed Rt. 35 north and stopped at
Alice's (corner of
Rts. 35 and 84). Met a guy - Doug, his wife and his daughter. They're from
New Brunswick and good friends of Victor Griffith and his family.
Victor stayed with Manjo and me several years ago on his way back to
N.B. from Conn.







Continued on my way through the mountains and stopped at the "general
store (and bar)" in San Gregregorio. Last time I ever do that! Staff
was - at best - rude rude rude.

Continued on my way to Half Moon Bay. This is looking east from Rt.
35 about 10 miles from Half Moon Bay. I had hoped to get into downtown Half Moon Bay
but the fog was coming in pretty fast and headed to 280 instead.



I'm planning on leaving this coming Tuesday, the 15th. I will put post on VROC shortly
asking if anybody wants to ride some, part, or all of Rt 50 from Sparks or Fallon, Nevada to
Utah with me probably on the 16th.