Nancy Webb...Pat Bonetar

With only 300 miles to ride today, I didn't have to leave early, so I didn't pack last night. I had parked the bike in the parking garage area so it would be in the shade and less likely for a homeless guy to pee on it. When I went to bring it across the street to load it, the battery was sluggish to get going. Well, he's been sitting for almost three days. No problem. I rolled him right up on the sidewalk, got loaded, and pulled back into the parking garage to check out at 09:00.

When I got back to the bike, he wouldn't start. Dead battery 😭. So I unloaded everything, took off all of my gear, dumped everything with the bellhop, and took the bus to Las Vegas HD. I got there right at 10:00 when they opened, and they could fix it, but didn't have anyone to tow. So, I got back on the bus, called Harley Roadside Assistance, and got back to hotel about 15 minutes before the truck showed up. The two guys (one training) were great and let me ride with them back to LVHD.

They knew I was trying to get out of town, so they replaced the battery pretty quick. I was back to Circus Circus, loaded up, and ready to roll at 14:30. The only good thing about it was had I left at 09:30, I would've hit a really bad traffic jam on I-15 through the mountains. As it happened, traffic was smooth sailing all the way.

Vegas tried to keep me from leaving, but Cali didn't seem to want me there because by the time I got to Barstow, the winds were an average or 40 mph with gusts up to 50 😱. Plus, I was in the Mojave Desert, which made the wind like sandpaper at times. I made it 35 miles past Barstow and pulled down an exit ramp shoulder, where I was going to put the bike on the jiffy stand to check my phone for a place to rest/shelter. But the wind was blowing so hard that although I got stopped, I didn't dare take my hands off the bars or my feet off the ground, not even to put down the stand.

So I took off, got back on CA-58, put my hazards on, and tried to keep it between the lines. Only a few miles later, there was a sign for a Pilot, so I exited, but couldn't see which way to turn because of the sand. I guessed left and got lucky.

By now it was about 17:30, so I ate a sandwich in the attached Subway while I checked the weather. The winds weren't going to let up significantly until 22:00, and I wasn't about to wait that long to go just another 100 miles. At 18:00, I was nodding bye to another biker I chatted with briefly and getting back on 58.

Sixty miles later, I was getting really tired and now really cold. I hit Tehachapi, climbing to around 4,000 feet and the temperature dropped quickly. My crappy GPS weather app said it was 59°F, but it felt a lot colder. I considered stopping to put on more layers when I realized I wasn't leaning sideways any more. The cold distracted me from the wind, which began to diminish as I continued through the pass. By the time I had dropped down into the green, lush valley, the wind was gone and I was warm again.

I just made it to the Bakersfield hotel and am beat. Early night tonight.

Oh yeah, I rolled over 100,000 miles on Willie yesterday, but didn't get a picture until later 😭. Stupid wind.

So long [for now], and thanks for all the fish! ✌️

Day 79 mileage: 317.4 (total 19146.0)
HD Dealerships: 0 (total 186)
National Parks: 0 (total 35 in 18 states)
10 Rides for 2022: 0 (total 5 of 10)
MCGTTX Stops: 0 (total 23 of 50)En savoir plus