Crossing the Wyoming Desert was the most difficult, dangerous, and challenging section of the 4,250 miles I covered whilst crossing the U.S.A during the “Bikecentennial” 1976.
Three years later with that experience behind me I was tempted to try another desert region again. Armed with the lessons learned in 1976 it would be a challenge that I hoped I would successfully complete!
The one and only road across the Nevada desert from West to East was the route I chose which would lead me to the GRAND CANYON and finally on to LAS VEGAS and DEATH VALLEY to conclude another Desert Experience on a bike. It was to start and finish in San Francisco.
Undertaken alone, little did I know what lie ahead as I set out in 1979.
Sunday 6th May
Hornchurch, Essex
Left home at 8.05am to be driven to Gatwick airport by Helens brother Stan along with my wife Helen and my son Bob. Arrived without delay at 9.45. Spoke to Nickie and Bob Hensley in the departure hall they were American bike riders from Tulsa arriving here on a bike trip of their own.My bike box had to be collected by a porter, as it was too big to go through the baggage gate. My daughter Angela and her fiance David arrived, what a lovely surprise! Went to the boarding gate and said our goodbyes, then it took 30 minutes to find gate 21 and wait to board. Taxied out at 1.35pm and saw the people standing on the balcony watching take off. Too distant to recognize if my family were amongst them, and took off to fly 4,7000 miles for 9 hours 20 minutes at altitudes of 31,000 to 39,000 feet. Heavy cloud prevented all but brief glimpses of the areas below, but I still couldn’t take my eyes off the window, I think the whole experience is fascinating.
A very smooth flight, and at 2.15, 80 miles south of Glasgow. The captain announced that we leave Britain over Stornaway to fly over Iceland and North Greenland coming over The Rockies at Grand Prairie into Vancouver. Their time is 8 hours behind ours. Caught a glimpse of the snow on the mountains in the North of Scotland. Now for the important bit! FOOD 2.30 Orange juice and ice, Chicken carrots potatoes onions green-beans/salad and dressing, brown loaf and butter, mousse and trifle, cheese and biscuits, Blue Nun (2) coffee (2) Remy Martin (2). The meal was marvellous and to add to the feast was the view over Iceland and Greenland with snow covered peaks and a sea littered with floating ice. A spell binding sight!!. Got chatting to a 26 year old chap from Nottingham who sat next to me after lunch and was staying 5 months in Canada camping in the North West Territories National Parks and taking photographs. I took some shots through the window as we passed over Iceland and Greenland. The inflight movie was “They killed her husband” and the blinds had to be drawn. The air hostess requested I keep mine down after I had showed more interest in looking out of the window rather than watching the film. Surprisingly we were still flying over Greenland, on the west coast. At 6.15pm I’m thinking sitting down to dinner. It’s a far cry from this fairy tale world up here!! (Thought I heard the captain mention something about the Davis Strait).
At 6.45pm we’re back overland again and among completely snow covered peaks and valleys with beautiful glaciers carved through them. Not sure where we are! but I’d better stop looking out of the window as the passengers are invited to take part in a quiz with champagne prizes. 8.00pm Put my clock back to Vancouver time 12 midday, and at 12.45 we are over another large sea mass of floating ice and the captain mentions Great Slave Lake, Yellowknife, the N.W.T. and the Mackenzie River. Quiz questions were, what will be the time at the half-way stage? and what is the average age of the crew?. Tea served at 1.00pm. Sandwiches, cake and coffee (a hot towel to freshen up came after each meal), now over Peace River and heading for the Rockies. Visibility still good so my luck is holding. The wastelands of snow and ice have disappeared and replaced by the farming land of Alberta which looks fairly flat. 1.30pm Cloudy now which is unfortunate because I believe we are over the Rockies, although I do think I got a short glimpse of them.
And so to a touchdown at Vancouver 3.00pm. The approach was over water with a good view of Vancouver Island and the city. An enquiry told me there was nowhere I could leave my bike overnight while waiting for the ongoing flight to San Francisco next morning. So, it looks as if it’s going to be a night in the airport!
Monday 7th May
Vancouver
A restless night, but I was able to lay down on a bench seat that was upholstered, one or two others doing the same thing. Roused myself at 6am, washed and checked in by 7. The bike went through no charge. Just enjoying a coffee now before boarding, the morning is overcast and there’s been rain during the night. The plan at the moment is to fix the bike when I get to San Francisco and start out for Nevada, leaving the visit to the city until my return, that way I get a 1 ⁄2 day extra. That old feeling of uncertainty and the need to get the miles in is already beginning to creep in!!.
Boarded at 9.am and took off spot on time – 9.15. Sat next to Abe Worsely a bike rider from Vancouver who was on a 3 week trip down the coast to L.A. and over to Flagstaff by train. Cloud obscured most of the view which was just as well because we talked most of the journey. I found out that Frisco Airport was not in Oakland as I thought but was in fact just a couple of miles from San Bruno, where I will try and find a guy named Jimmy Clark who I’d been told by a friend would accommodate me whilst I prepared for my journey, he lives there. Didn’t do very well getting out of the airport and found myself on a freeway already! Got to Jimmy’s, he wasn’t at home but his father-in-law arrived and I was invited in (a complete stranger). And it all happened! We collected the empty bike box from the airport, went to Frisco on a sight seeing tour, a seafood supper in Pompei’s on Fishermans Wharf, all as a guest of Jimmy and Mary Clark. Their daughters name was Christine and the old man was Bill. Slept soundly on the settee till 6am.
Tuesday 8th May
San Francisco
So this is it, Up Up and away! Had breakfast with the family and Jimmy drove me over Bay Bridge to Berkley after queuing for gas in Frisco due to a strike My mess kit and other odds and ends had been left in Jimmys garage so I bought one in the Missing Link bike shop in Berkley and enquired for route directions. They were most helpful and I was off at 10am up through the Redwoods and Skyline drive to God knows where! Took a wrong turn and met a biker who rode with me and took a lot of trouble to route me to Walnut Creek off the freeway. He took me to a ‘DELI’ for lunch and said “don’t often get the opportunity to host a gentleman from England”. After setting me on the right road for Pittsburg and Antioch via Mt. Diablo Ave and Kirker Pass he returned home. It was my lucky day, already I would have been in a mess without him! Got on better after dinner and rode in to Stockton via Brentwood at 6pm. Unsure of the route I enquired at a garage and a guy took me through the city to Eight Mile Drive on his way home, by truck!
Now on the 88 headed for Jackson which I never thought I would ever see for days! This day was bright and warm and sunny all day and I decided to ride until dusk, managed to reach Clements and a meal. Made my bed (a sleeping bag) on the back porch of what looked like a derelict house at 9.30pm, but at 11pm I noticed movement in the house, so it was time I shifted before I was discovered!
Wednesday May 9th
Clements California
Up at 6 to do 25 miles to Jackson and into the Sierra Nevadas’, got going after a cereal breakfast. Very cold but a brilliant sunrise and clear blue skies. Rode into Jackson at 8.30 for hot cakes and coffee. Stripped off for a days good riding, quite warm. After 10 miles I found I was on R49 and my heart sank (I was going the wrong way!). Rode back to Makelume Hill and hitched a lift back to Jackson (8 miles). Just as I was leaving Jackson again (going the right way!) a Mexican asked me for directions to Reno and I got a lift in his pick-up to the 88. He was on holiday with his wife ,and was a marathon runner (52 years old). I stayed with them up into the Sierra Nevada and it was a good job I did, the climbing would have been too slow to get me to Tahoe tonight. It climbed to 7,800 feet amongst snow, very cold and that 50mls would’ve set me back a lot.
Dropped off at the junction of the 89 and I rode into Myers up Luther Pass for lunch. Spoke to two chaps whilst lunching on the steps of a grocery store and one said he was a chimney sweep and asked me to stay the night at his place. He lives on the lakeside at Tahoe and that is where I am now under a clear blue sky and sun, writing my diary Had to put more clothes back on at Myers I was really shivering! I don’t think the tight schedule of this trip is going to work out, things are just not going right, except just when I am ready to give up, something seems to turn up that overcomes the problem. It snowed here yesterday and it would not even have been possible to ride, In California it was wet, so it seems I am so far missing the bad weather, but not too optimistic about tomorrow. I was met at the door by Gina the chimney sweeps wife (he’s not home yet!) and was made welcome! Intriguing house like Ace Rogers back in Oregon in 1976. Bob Childs my host arrived home later,and with two children Justin and Zachary. I suppered with the family and slept on a sofa.
Thursday May 10th
Lake Tahoe California
Up at 6.30am, packed and after a oatmeal breakfast was away by 8.30 leaving Justin watching the cartoons on TV. The interior of this log cabin is “unique” a huge cable drum turned on its side serves as a dining table whilst above hangs a cartwheel used as a light fitting. The bedrooms are on open balconys above, looking down to the ground floor. I was sorry to leave this delightful place and wonderful people situated amidst the tree lined shores of Lake Tahoe ringed by snow capped mountains. Headed out on R50 to Nevada and the desert crossing under bright blue skies but very cold.
After crossing the State Line it was on to Glenbrook then a climb and a 9 mile descent to Carson City, a large sprawling town. Carried on to Dayton for hotcakes, a little warmer now so I was soon into shorts again, altitude 4,300 feet and peaks all around but the road just undulating at the moment. If it stays like that I might make Frenchman tonight! Silver Springs was just a bar and a few shacks but I had food, so buying chocolate milk I sat outside to eat. Spoke to a hiker on the road and had my hat blown off by a miniature whirlwind whilst talking to him. On to Fallon and the Oasis of Nevada, it was certainly more green and fertile than the last 25 miles of desert. It then gave way to real desert and salt flats, quite hot now at 5 o’clock so applied a little sun screen. Just one long drag and a fast descent has brought me to Frenchman which is a bar cafe and filling station. At least I got a meal which I really was in need of. Spoke to two Navy lads outside who offered me a Coke and a salesman from Reno who gave me his business card.
Back just outside Fallon a driver of a VW caravette flagged me down, her name was Judy with her daughter who made a practice of speaking to bikers passing through. Had to turn down the offer to stay the night saying I must make Frenchman. It looks like a night out in the desert tonight. The Cafe owner said I could shake down in the yard where there was a discarded cot mattress dumped there. I had a real good rest, apart from the noise of Navy bombers training overhead and a compressor running all night.
Friday May 11th
Frenchman Nevada
By the early hours it was cold so I was up at 5.50am and after a cereal breakfast got going by 6.30. Stopped after 5 minutes to put on gloves then under clear blue skies it was a long hard slog in low gears, although it didn’t look that hard. It was hot, so off with the track suit and gloves within an hour and after another 27 miles a stop at Cold Springs for hot cakes and pure honey managed to get me over two passes 50 miles to Austin with no truck stops only a Mars bar at New pass summit then lunch outside the Sheriffs office in the shade of a tree.
Snow was still melting off the roofs from a snowstorm yesterday. and I set off from Austin to tackle a real hard climb away from a old ‘one horse town’. Frontier is 12 miles, away and it looks as if I’ll get no further today. It’s 70 miles to Eureka and it’s already 3 o’clock. Speaking to a local he told me there was a campground down the road so maybe I’ll make that. Had a meal and I set off at 3.30, the campground came after Hickson summit. At 4.30 and still time to ride on hoping to find another about 18 miles away.but it was only a rest area so decided to press on for Eureka. Not going too bad now and no passes!
Arrived in Eureka at 8 o’clock and 146 miles covered, what a day! A quick pie and coffee and a scout round for a shakedown. Eureka looks a bit more alive, plenty of lights,bars,cafes,motels,and gaming clubs in the main street, but well broken down at the back. Found a derelict junk yard and made my bed under an old lean-to and flopped out too tired to write the diary.
Saturday May 12th
Eureka Nevada
FA Cup Final Day! A restless night, the local dogs barked incescently. Up at 6am and away by 6.30, cold again,all clothes on and gloves. 77 miles to do this morning and Antelope, and Robinson passes all at 7,000 feet or more to cope with and not a truck stop to be found. Made it into Ely by 1 o’clock but it was a hard morning! Ely was a large mountain city. I stocked up with milk, bread and oranges and lunched at side of the road and set off again, what is ahead I just don’t know! A KAO campground came first and I treated myself to my first choc ice (1pt) and the first wash of the day. Climbing Antelope Pass gave me the opportunity to attend to the call of nature and apply Lanolin to the seat of the shorts and scoff a Mars bar as well!
The afternoon heat was terrific but the sunscreen is a help. On to Majors Place! for a Coke and 17 miles further on was another, so that looks as though that will do for today. The ride out of the plateau was some drag, I was hardly moving. but with 124 miles covered it wasn’t surprising. Saw my first ‘rattlesnake’ today and got near enough to take a picture. I stopped later when I came to a truck stop and the chance of a meal of hamburger, coffee,and two Cokes. Caught up with my diary at last! and I must write a card to Helen tomorrow. The proprietor tells me there was an English biker here recently who has ridden the world age 77, I might bump into him soon! He also told me of a log cabin down the road I could kip in after he declined to let me sleep on his porch,so I headed off in the dark. Not able to find it I had to lie down among the scrub under some bushes by the side of the road at the top of the pass (must keep my eye open for the rattlers!)