Another southwest tour for us......

[JCZ]

Six of us on four bikes left Nor Cal for another soutwest tour. The forecast on Fri. 5/25/12 was for possible light showers above 7,000 feet over the Sierra Nevada mountains and 0% chance of precipitation after Carson City....

Clear skies as my wife and I led the group out Grant Line from our home in Elk Grove....







That begin to change quickly as we headed up Hwy. 50....



What the hell is all that white stuff? Must be residual from the early morning lows. Not to worry, if the clouds open up it'll only be light showers.....





Rut-rohhh....this wasn't supposed to happen and we've already dropped down to Carson City at this point. Oh well, our first night is scheduled for Fallon (we had to work all day).







This trip will take us all over the southwest.....places like Zion & Bryce Canyon National Parks, Monument Valley, Four Corners, Million Doller Highway, etc. It's going to be a great trip after we get out of this mess. Fallon was forecasted at 10% chance of precip. Let's get moving.

We arrived in Fallon.....weather was fine. Washed the bikes. I have double duty since I have to wash my wife's bike as well. She never does a good enough job so I have to do it.

A friend from Ariz. is meeting us here at this hotel.....he should be rolling in, in the next hour or two....then there'll be five bikes and seven of us.



We head east on Hwy. 50 (billed as The Loneliest Road In America) the next morning. Sun is out and we're all in good spirits.....lookin forward to this adventure that we're all going to be sharing. We've all rode many rides together, all over the west, for a number of years. We're just really lookin forward to one more adventure together.

[JCZ]

As we head east on Hwy. 50, the sun is out and we're looking forward to the day. Supposed to make it to Salina, Utah by the end of the day. Should be easily do-able.

An our into our ride the sky clouded up quickly behind us. Eventually, it started raining and it got colder and colder as we continued east, crossing over several passes.

At the height of one of those passes it turned to snow but wasn't sticking. We were about to drop down a couple thousand feet......maybe we can get out from under this cloud before it starts sticking. It just got colder and colder and it never did turn back into rain.

Can't turn around, the storm came from behind us so it's worse behind us.

Just keep moving slow down to 25-30 mph and continue on. How much further was that next little town? I can't even remember but even in good weather I know from previous experience on this Hwy 50 that it's a long way from one town to another. Praying, pretty much full time now! Cars and trucks aren't even on this road anymore!

We finally arrive in Austin, Nev.





The front of my bike.....




We found an abandoned gas station in the middle of town to at least park the bikes out of it....







The power was out in the whole town, except for the restaurant.....which quickly became standing room only. The three motels were without heat (due to power being out) but they were all booked up, anyway. The restaurant closes at 9:00p.m. What the hell we going to do?



After about four hours of sitting in the restaurant, Andy stopped one of the snow plows that kept shooting back and forth through town. The driver radioed ahead and asked about conditions between Austin and Ely. If we could make it up over the next pass, it was clear sailing after that.

By now, a few other riders had came from the other way and joined us under the abandoned gas station. With the power out, the gas station wasn't able to pump gas, either......those boys were scramblin! We were thankin God for six gallon tanks on the Harleys.



I did stop up on top of that pass to get my camera out and snap a couple of pics of the valley down below that we'd just road through earlier that day....

My wife on her Street Glide. She was a real trooper......no snivelin at all!



The valley down below, for as far as the eye can see......

[JCZ]

We made it out of that and had a great time on this journey. I took over 3,000 photos on this trip and while I'm certainly not posting all of them, I still haven't finished posting the full trip either.

All I can say is that it was an incredable journey that I'll never forget!

However, if you want to see the first 15 pasges of the full ride report, just click on this link.....

http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=74330.0

[ZSNUGZ]

Wonderful story, great photos, I am sure you will be talking about that for awhile. My son and I will be riding 50 tomorrow on our way back from the southwest. Sure hope it doesn't look like that.

[Harvey Mushman]

Holy crap JC! That looks like our NE in January. And here I thought that you were the world's best at picking out roads to ride. I'll have to go over to CVO to read the rest of it tonight.
Glad to see that you guys don't mind a little filth on the bikes.
Thanks again for all your help earlier this year, Tom

[GeoNorskie]

When I see "southwest tour" in the title, I expect sunny mesas, cactus, deep blue sky... What a adventurous start to an adventure! Loved the pic of Hwy 50 with the clouds , and the one with all the bikes under the awning. Looking forward to more!

[JCZ]

Originally Posted by Harvey Mushman

Holy crap JC! That looks like our NE in January. And here I thought that you were the world's best at picking out roads to ride. I'll have to go over to CVO to read the rest of it tonight.
Glad to see that you guys don't mind a little filth on the bikes.
Thanks again for all your help earlier this year, Tom

That bike's been ocean to ocean, Canada and Mexico.....you think it hasn't seen it's share of rain, mud, snow, hail, sand storms, smoke and everything else you can throw at em.


Just posted another two pages of photos.....click on this link.....

http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=74330.0

[hrlyman]

JC that neighborhood looks very familiar!.... I think you are right around the corner from me.... ever hear a very loud boat running?

WOW what a trip!... any trip planned around Memorial Weekend that includes a mountain pass is always a gamble in my book.... You guys look like a bunch of kids on a snow-pass-school-day!....

[JCZ]

Originally Posted by hrlyman

JC that neighborhood looks very familiar!.... I think you are right around the corner from me.... ever hear a very loud boat running?

WOW what a trip!... any trip planned around Memorial Weekend that includes a mountain pass is always a gamble in my book.... You guys look like a bunch of kids on a snow-pass-school-day!....

You mean like at a private water ski lake on Sheldon Rd??

[hrlyman]

Originally Posted by JCZ

You mean like at a private water ski lake on Sheldon Rd??

lol.... yea not that place! just in my driveway...

Im right behind Edna Batey Elementary School, your neighborhood shots look like they are close by that... I think Ive seen you ride by a few times maybe.