First Day's Ride

Wow, where to begin... This morning when i got up, I finished packing all the odds and ends that were coming with me. These are things like tooth paste, deodorant, things I still needed in the morning. I got up at 6 and wanted to be out of the house by 7. I had to go back into the house on 3 separate occasions... The first time was to get my CamelBak, which I had to fill with water, and SPOT. Then I remembered I needed my ID. Then I went in for my gator (fleece neck warmer). I thought I would never get underway. After getting that all ironed out, I started down 680 towards Sacramento. With all this stuff going on, I forgot to activate my SPOT. I finally turned it on after about an hour on the road.

The next stop I made was in Sacramento. I NEEDED coffee!!! I found a Starbucks that, unknown to me, was in the ghetto. What tipped me off was the tweaked standing next to me trying to scratch the "ants" on her arms. Needles to say, I drank my quad espresso and ate my coffee cakes as fast as I could just to get out of there. My next stop was about 3 miles up 80 at the super huge Cycle Gear. I went in there looking for some warmer gloves. Unfortunately, they didn't have the really warm ones in my size. I ended up with some Alpine Star WR-3 GTX gloves and a pair of thick liners. These really came in handy going through the mountains when the temperature dropped to as low as 39 degrees. The hardest part of the entire ride was the wind. This is something I had to deal with from the time I got onto 580 until I reached the base of the mountain after Sacramento. The. It kicked up again after I got passed Reno until I reached Elko.



















One of the coolest stops I made was at this shell station just before Truckee called Nyack. There were signs of snow all over the place but the roads were completely clean and very easy to manage.










I stopped for lunch in Fernley at the Pizza Factory...GREAT pizza. Although it is not easy to mess up pizza, according to my dad, HP pavilion does a good job at it so I do have something to compare it to.


















The next 2 stops were Lovelock where they proudly claim "we now have oatmeal" and Winnemucca. I was able to find a Peet's coffee in such a small... Village. Shortly after leaving Winnemucca, I ran into scattered snow. When I first saw it, I thought it was ash from something burning. After all, it was about 48 degrees and I thought it had to be at or below freezing before it would snow. As I found out, that is not the case.

The day ended at a Holiday Inn in Elko and a dinner at a really good Mexican Restaurant called Sergio's. Food was as good as what my grandmother used to make.

Total miles traveled on the day: 542

So I spent some time looking at the weather for tomorrow and it looks like I should be OK. I think the only thing I will have to worry about is the wind. There is a small chance of snow but it is a SMALL chance. If all goes well, my next post should be from Rawlins, WY... So until then, I'll be seein' you.

Location:Elko, United States