CC20 - Day 3

Today was another day of riding mostly roads I already knew and have done before. I'm still in the "get out of the known area"-mode.

The route today was from Henderson, NV to Cedar City, UT. I stopped at Eurocycle in Las Vegas to pick up a cover for my GPS mount and surprisingly they had one in stock, in addition to the ones on all the bikes on the floor, of course. So, at least that part is set. 

Since I wanted to ride some nicer roads today I took a route through the Valley of Fire:

Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire

I've been here before, but it's worth it. It's a very beautiful State Park and well worth the entrance fee.

From there I went further North East and rode through Zion National Park, finally getting an annual park pass since the Rangers in Death Valley are only on site during Friday, Saturday and Sunday right now. 

Zion is one of the most beautiful and breathtaking parks I have seen so far, I like it better than Bryce Canyon or others I've seen, the only problem is that it's always packed with people. At least always when I'm there ... 

Zion NP

 

Zion NP

Zion NP

It was a great day today. I ended it with an interview with a company I've been talking to for a while, could be an interesting job. That's why it was so important to just do this trip before joining the hamster wheel of daily office work again.

Route from today:

Route on Day 3

Tomorrow my route will take me mostly East. I haven't fully planned the day yet, so don't know where I'll end up, but I'll likely keep the pace of 450 to 550km (280 to 330 miles) per day for now. If I don't, I'm not making it to the East Coast and back on the roads I hoped to ride in the planned time of four to five weeks.

Also, I hope to get into slightly more temperate weather, today was again mostly 37C/99F.

CC20 - Day 2

Another day to get out of California, away from the fires and smoke. I rode from Ridgecrest, CA to Henderson, NV. Henderson is South of Las Vegas, about 450km overall. The hotels there are better, cheaper and much more relaxed, plus we have stayed in this one before and I had an idea how it would be.

I took a route through Death Valley, and although most of it was rather boring and straight, there were some fun bits in there as well.

Route for Day 2

Especially the part that ends on 190 was fun. Some gravel passages and some twisty bits. This is still part of getting out of the areas I already know quite well, I have crossed Death Valley many times on the motorcycle, therefore I hadn't planned exciting routes, just a way to get out of California that wasn't a freeway blast.

Temperature was an okay 42C/108F in Death Valley, I poured some water over my base layer and into the arms of my GoreTex jacket and then controlled the temperature via ventilation. It was quite okay. 

Burros crossing ... ;-)

And yes, they did cross. Not quite in front of me, but they seemed to have used the road as a toilet rather often ... there were some signs of that. Plus I saw a few in the distant hills.

Boring stretches.

And I was wondering why my water was gone so fast!

I easily had 3L of water during the ride today. Even though my temperature regulation measures worked quite well, I was going through the water fast.

Entering Nevada

I arrived early today and will hopefully have a better night than last where an overly loud AC system kept me awake. The AC here in the hotel isn't quiet either, but I still hope I can get some more sleep.

Tomorrow morning I'll visit the Las Vegas BMW Motorcycle dealer and try to convince them to sell me a cover for the GPS mount when no GPS is in there. I take mine to the room each night and forgot the cover at home. Don't want it to sit like this when I might get rain. Not a problem right now, but during the trip it will likely happen.