On The Road Again Part 1

With the bike back and all in fighting trim it was time to say good bye to Scott, Joanne and Lil and hit the road East. We motored out of Reno and headed to Fallon where the Naval Air Station is. Famous for training the US Navy’s Top Gun pilots. All liners were back in the gear this day, the first time since Patagonia. Heading down 95 we pulled over and rode down a gravel road to get a good photo shot of the valley from the top of a small hill. Nice spot to be. Annette was on the hill and I was sorting the bike when WHOOSH.


Above, three Navy F18 Tomcats roar past. Then it was down into the valley, then BOOM.

Hell, what was that? We had inadvertently ridden onto the Navy’s weapons testing zone and they just happened, right at that minute to be weapons testing.

The three roared in one at a time, dropped their bombs then pulled up into a steep climb. Each circle brought them around over our heads and you could feel them looking down on us wondering what those stupid bikers were up to down there. They just don’t know Kiwi Dust Devils. If you can survive Ford 7 you can survive a small bomb run or two.

Then it was into a Gatling cannon run onto the target. The whole area reverberated to the sounds of cannon fire. Sounded like a very fast sewing machine, and I mean fast, and loud.

All the time we were expecting a jeep or something to round the bend and tell us to get the hell out. But we weren’t going to leave our very own war birds display especially with the added bonus of a live firing show. Uncle Sam spent some money that day.

A fast getaway and we were past Lake Walker and onto Hawthorne. This area is the ammo depot for the US Army. What a sight to see. Thousands of bunkers and storage buildings covering hundreds of hectares, all for safe storage of munitions. Seems the last storage facility was near a town and it blew up and killed a few and demolished some of the town. Solution, move it into the middle of the desert. Check it out on Google Earth.

That night was spent in the old mining town of Tonopah at the Clown Motel. Don’t laugh, it was quite good in a funny sort of way. Wyatt Earp once owned a saloon here sometime back.

Death Valley was next and boy was it warm. All our liners were soon out. Even early spring and people were everywhere in shorts and tees, it was that warm. Spring break had brought everyone out and all camp grounds were full so no tenting here. Its hard to imagine how far you descend into the valley below sea level until you start to ride out of the area. We rode the entire length of the valley and were spoilt to see the whole area covered in the yellow spring wild flowers, magic. Then it was the long uphill grind out of the valley and onto Vegas for the night. Something you have to do once. We arrived early evening and wondered what all the fuss was about, but once it was dark and the lights came on. Wow.

We didn’t get in till after midnight, so that tells you something.

Once through the police check point we were over the Hoover Dam and on our way south. We moved off the main road and visited, by chance, the small mining town of Chloride. A wonderful wee place with a lot of history. The locals even put on a few gun fighting skits for the visitors, and it had to all happen at high noon.

Soon we hit the famous Route 66 and travelled through to Seligman, stopping at famous stops along the way. In Seligman we are spending a couple of nights to catch up on things. I am writing this in the historic Route 66 Motel in room 115 were Bobby Troup once slept. This whole Route is amazing and gives a good insight into small town America and life in the 50’s and 60’s. It also shows what happens to small towns when a new interstate motorway is built that takes the traffic lifeblood away.

Part Two of this blog will be just photos that cover this episode.