I had entered Death Valley from the east, through Nevada. I left through the main western exit, via California highways 190 and 395. Mono Lake, visible in the distance, sits just over Tioga Pass from Yosemite National Park.
The lake has no outlets, and thus has very high levels of salt and alkalinity. It does have an active ecosystem, however, based on brine shrimp. Like the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, it is also prominently featured is geology text books and was a must see for me.
Just over 8,143-ft. Conway Summit is the turnoff for the ghost town of Bodie. Unfortunately, like Scotty's Castle, I arrived shortly after closing time.
I did get a pretty good zoom shot of many of the remaining buildings though. Will have to try again in October. Looks like an interesting place to snoop around.
Bodie's access road is mostly paved, but the last few miles are very scenic gravel, especially on the return trip, when the backside of the Sierra Nevadas is in full view.
Yosemite Valley lies on the other side of that ridge, but the road over the pass was still closed for the winter.
You may recall that I had been concerned about the three high passes along route 395 south of Reno. Primarily for that reason, I had opted for the desert route into Death Valley. I decided to take my chances on the way home, and so far things had gone well. Then I saw this wall of dark cloud at a gas station in Bridgeport, with one of those passes still remaining.
By the time I reached 7,519-ft. Devil's Gate Summit, however, the clouds were nowhere to be seen and it was all downhill to Reno! That IS snow on the top of the ridge behind me though.
Oops. Here come those clouds again! But they look much more friendly.
One hundred eighty miles later, I had passed my previous campsite at Honey Lake and made it on in to Susanville. "And you made it before dark," you exclaim in disbelief. No such luck. The darkness descended about an hour and a half before my arrival. I took this photo the next morning.
All loaded up and ready to go again. The Apple Inn turned out to be a great Mom and Pop stopover - simple, warm, clean, quiet, affordable. And the proprietor was even interested in my bike and trip stories. 'Continental Breakfast' consisted of 2 cellophane wrapped snacks of my choice from a large basket of assorted goodies. Honey Bun for now. Granola bar for later.
Only thing wrong with this stop, was that by the time I had checked in and unloaded, all the restaurants but fast food were closed. I went through the drive-through at McDonald's (a bit tricky to pull off, as you might imagine) and had a surprisingly great chicken sandwich back in my room.
Last order of business before departure was to air up a bit more for the freeway I'd be on later in the day. Yes, I have several ways of airing up a tire in the boonies, but slipping a few quarters into the machine is so much easier and quicker - usually. It took some doing to get the change shoved up into this one!
Susanville is a quaint little place - kind of on the border between the desert and the forest.
Just outside of town, I saw a deer get smacked by a car coming towards me. I was plenty far back, but the deer went tumbling across my lane and I was sure he was a goner. Then he jumped up and bounded away into the trees. I took the remaining 150 forested miles to the Interstate on high alert, and a bit slower than I might have.
It really is a different ride, going the opposite direction. I had completely missed this view of 14,162-ft. Mount Shasta on the way down, a few days before.
Ashland is a small Oregon town near Medford that I've often heard people talk about. It's famous for its Shakespeare festival, and for this elegant old hotel - among other things, I imagine. On this day, it made a nice little break from the freeway - and my last bit of new territory for the trip.
No, this photo is not at breakfast the next day. I actually did make it home before dark for a change. My wife was still away in Kansas City, so I called my buddy Dave and he was happy to share in a little post trip pizza celebration. He even listened to a few stories and seemed genuinely happy for me, even though he had not been able to go himself this time, and might have been just a tad bit jealous. Good friends are like that.
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