As mentioned yesterday, since we had a long ride ahead of us we were anxious to get on the road and out of the motel so we skipped our normal breakfast and took off. Early start or not, once we make it out of the mountains of Tonopah and get closer to Beatty, NV the temperature keeps steadily climbing reaching 100F shortly after we leave Beatty.
US highway 95 is the main route between Las Vegas and Reno so it is correspondingly busy. Lots of passing maneuvers in both lanes, and some quite hair-raising, with cars ending up in our lane with way too little safety margin. No spacing out on this road, we have to pay attention. The last 30 miles into Las Vegas sees us fighting wind again so we are happy to stop for gas and a snack when we are on the outskirts of Las Vegas.
It’s barely 11:00 and we both already need refills on our water bladder. After one 1.5 liter bottle disappears in my CamelBak I go back into the store to buy another one for Diane. By now it’s 104F and we are hanging out in the shade having our snack. Time to get back on the road and take the 215 beltway loop around Las Vegas.
City traffic is dense and stressful with people cutting over multiple lanes at once. I watch the temperature climb. At one point we hit 111F just as we enter Henderson, NV! Crazy. Even with plenty of water that’s just plain uncomfortable in full riding gear. We both commented later that we sighed with relief when the temps dropped back to 102F. More crazy and stressful driving around Hoover Dam as we followed US-93 down to our destination, Kingman, AZ.
The original plan was to camp at the KOA but, once again, storm clouds formed just ahead of us. We were tired and didn’t feel like pitching the tent and racing the storm. I splurged on a room at Motel 6 after checking out the room before paying ;-). We treated ourselves to dinner at a Thai restaurant up the street plus cake and pie from the diner across the parking lot from the motel. It was a long day of riding but we were glad to be that much closer to home.
Todays route.
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- I was going to slow :-(. Diane leaving me in the dust
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- gas stop along US 95
