Day 10 Viva Las Vegas Part 2

My internal clock went off at 5:30 AM again. No alarm clock needed. After a quick shower I walked across the street to buy some coffee for Tom and I since the motel didn’t offer a free continental breakfast. When I first checked the temperature it was 50 degrees and sunny and when we pulled out at 7:30 it was 54 and quickly warmed into the mid 60’s. Before we left we did our TCLOCS and noticed our tire pressures were down. We needed gas and some air.
Before we left we got the map out to check our route. To get to Yosemite, which was the plan, we would have to backtrack quite far north. So we changed the plan and decided to head directly east to Death Valley NP.
First, we headed south on 101 and picked up 58 east. I was leading and I was so anxious to get riding this morning I completely forgot about the gas stop. We were about 4 miles outside of town and about to get into some really nice roads when we saw a sign that said next gas, 85 miles. We were aware that there would be times when fuel stops would be far apart so we turned around and went back into town to fill the tanks and get some air.
We felt energized after a good night’s rest and with the smell of beautiful fresh air we took 58 east into Bakersfield. This rode wound down through canyons and valleys, and eventually led back into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There were lots of high speed turns and big rollers that were very comfortable to handle.
We picked up 178 east to 385 north. I knew we were in for a big temperature change when we started to see people caring umbrellas and it wasn’t raining. Then we saw our first cactus plants. We made a right hand turn at 190. This is the road through Death Valley NP. We climbed 2 mountains to about 8000 feet before descending to the bottom of the valley twice. The temperature at the top of the mountain was 85 degrees. When we reached the valley floor which was 213 feet below sea level it was 106. The scenery was literally out of this world. It looked like the landscape you saw from the lunar landing. We climbed back out of the valley and headed east to Las Vegas on 160. We traveled over the top of one last mountain range and as we were descending , there in the distance, in the middle of the dessert was the emerald city of Las Vegas. It was an amazing sight to see from 25 miles away.
We pulled in about 7:30 and got one of the nicest rooms of the trip on the main strip for $44. The valet helped us with our bags, camping gear and all, but we parked the bikes ourselves. After a quick shower we hit the strip for some dinner and some drinks at the Bellagio and then a little gambling before we called it a late night. BTW,,,Some of my sister inlaws luck rubbed off me and I took them for some of their money and quadrupled mine.
Life is good.

Total miles: 499 Butt factor: 1