Day 2 started off rough. My Denver Omelet was filled with egg shells. I under estimated how cold 55 degrees in the desert really is. Had to stop and put on a full face balaclava thingy. Then I was toasty.The first 20-30 miles out of Lee Vining was great. The road was like a roller coaster. Subtle turns, lots of dips, up and down. Fun to ride on... could keep the throttle wide open, no on coming traffic so you had both lanes to lazily ride in. Then... I noticed a big dust cloud ahead around a turn. Mr. Brooklyn Ace, took the turn too quick (or something busted) - he wrecked pretty bad. He is OK. Vespa is not.
20 miles later, I had an oncoming car spin out of control in a sharp turn. Almost took me out - I swerved into the shoulder as he spun by into the ditch behind me.
After that... smooth sailing all the way to Cedar City. No gas for 211 miles. We took the entire Extraterrestrial Highway which also snakes through Area 51. And for almost all of the highway, not a sign of life in every direction. I rubber banded the thumb lock on the throttle and laid back into the clothing bag, one hand on the controls - could have taken a nap all day.
All of today was open range... cows/bulls/horses all over the place, running around... a few on the road.
Any nervousness I may have had left about riding 70+ MPH on a scooter... is gone. After awhile, like a car... it doesn't even seem like your moving anymore. Just wind noise and a few adjustments now and then.
Caught up one some news, thanks to the XM Radio Uplink in the GPS. It didnt work out too well yesterday in the mountains, signal blocked too much. It was a nice change up from the music.
Tomorrow looks like pretty challenging terrain through the mountains... then 70 miles of dirt road, a ferry across Lake Powell then onward to Blanding.
I took a ride to Walmart tonight, bought a six pack of coors light (was pulled over to inspect the bottles, no open containers) - ordered a pizza and doing some laundry. Glad I upgraded hotels tonight to the new Marriott after a long day of riding.
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