Day 2: Winnemucca, NV --> Pocatello, Idaho

By the Numbers:

• Total miles: 420
• Total miles for trip: 875
• Time on bike: 8 AM
• Time off bike: 5:30 PM
• Stops: about 8
• Conversations about bike: 3

Route: I-80 East to Wells, NV. North on US 93 to Twin Falls, ID. East on I-84/86 to Pocatello.

Started out today feeling a bit nervous about the aforementioned ooze, as well as a big dose of uncertainty about what I was doing and where I was going. That said, however, I was happy to be on the bike. Took awhile to check out of the Motel 6; despite the fact that Marge's nametag said she had been working there since 1981, turning in my key turned into a 10 minute ordeal. In the parking lot, an old couple walking past started talking to me as I put my gear on, asking me where I was from, where I was going, etc. Actually, it was just the husband doing the talking, a pattern that would hold throughout the trip. When I said I was headed to NY, he said, "Why the hell do you want to leave California?" Amen, brother. But not everyone shares our view.

I-80 was a lot cooler in the morning, and a lot less crowded. The first 20 minutes were pure exhilaration. My idea was to make Wells, then have a late breakfast. It was only 170 miles from Winnemucca, no big deal. Unfortunately, body part after body part resumed aching in ways old and new. How is it that my big toe hurts? I tried keeping my elbows bent and wrists loose, but that meant tensing up my lower body. Try keeping your legs tense for an hour. To relieve the strain on my legs, I could tense my upper body, but you see the problem. Total relaxation on the bike is not achievable. But by far the sharpest pain was in my forehead, where the force of the wind, combined with a fairly big head and an apparently slightly undersized helmet, resulted in a 1 inch X 2 inch pressure point that could only be relieved by removing the helmet. I recognize the pain, though...where have I felt it before? Here? Or maybe here? No, no, it's definitely more familiar than that.

These colors don't run...from bugs

I flirted with the idea of stopping off in Battle Mountain, which had proudly advertised on several billboards as being "The Armpit of America." Apparently, when the Washington Post bestowed this title upon Battle Mountain, residents saw opportunity. I just saw an armpit, so I pressed on to Elko...which turned into a relative paradise, as there was a Starbuck's in a casino, and further, the Starbuck's had internet access.

Forehead better, I said goodbye to I-80 (not really...it's just a road, after all) and got onto US 93, a fast, straight, and well-paved two-lane road. Turns out, however, that this road isn't all that pretty for a lot of motorists: last year, the stretch of US 93 from the Nevada border to Twin Falls had among the most fatalities of any road in the region. Of course, as the newspaper I read at lunch pointed out, the high fatality rate could be linked to the fact that people in this area generally don't like to wear their seatbelts.

US 93, a most dangerous place.

Still, this news gave me pause (motorcycles don't have seatbelts either), and decided that I should take the relatively safer Interstate 84/86 east as far as it would take me that day. This meant staying on US 93 for a few more miles, as it crossed over the Snake River and one of the more infamous gorges in motorcycle history. Apparently, the ramp is still there, somewhere.

Twin Falls is gorges.

The stretch run of about 110 miles from Twin Falls to Pocatello was fairly uneventful. Too tired to be interested in much besides making it to the hotel, I have no pictures or interesting memories from this afternoon. I can say, however, that Idaho, for all of its gentle quirkiness or just plain dumb thinking, is a pretty state. I am not surprised at all that it is something of a resort destination for the people with real money.

I stayed at the Ramada Inn.