Hollister ID – Fernley NV
Wed Jun 26, 2024
(~896 miles)

When there is dust rising in a high column, it is the sign of chariots advancing.

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

 

The wind and dust made it harder than normal to fall completely asleep on the little picnic table I was stretched out on in southern Idaho. After 30 minutes of on/off dozing, I called it quits and roused myself to head back on the road. I knew that I might have to pull over again, but for now had to keep moving if I wasn’t going to fall asleep. Once I  made it to sunrise and felt sure I could make it through until tonight’s rest bonus, I’d allow myself a 5-Hour Energy for my morning caffeine boost.

I’d forgotten to set a “sleep” icon on my personal Spotwalla map, so a call came in from Char right as I was deciding to get up. As we chatted and I prepared to get going, I realized that I was missing my left glove. I started searching everywhere on the bike and around the entire parking lot, as well as all over my garments in case the velcro strap had just made it stick to something. Nothing. It was nowhere to be found and I was ticked off, because where the hell could it really be? It HAS to be here somewhere, I mean obviously I MUST have been wearing it when I arrived! This simply didn’t make any sense to me – did the wind blow it away? Did some nefarious glove-thief sneak up in the dark of night while I was dozing and snatch it from my motorcycle? Meanwhile, I’ve got a running commentary going to Char, bitching and moaning as I make wider search circles around the parking lot, the rally clock ticking away.

Well I can’t just search forever. I have another pair of slightly heavier gloves I can wear (at least one of them) for now. Still complaining puzzledly to Char (she’s a saint!) I got back on the road. At least this little episode had me feeling much more alert now, and daylight wasn’t too far off. As I tried to think back through my actions prior to my nap, I came to accept that I must have dropped the glove when stopping to re-insert my earplug at that Love’s stop in Heyburn off I-84 an hour or so ago. I’d apparently ridden the last half hour or so without the glove since I was probably checking for rest areas on my phone as I rode. The Great Glove Mystery was likely solved, but I was sad, nonetheless. Drama takes all forms on a rally. 🤪

Riding south on US 93 as the eastern sky gradually lightened, the dust and wind soon calmed. I crossed into the Nevada desert by the small community of Jackpot, which obviously is here for no other purpose than to provide gambling opportunities for neighboring Idahoans. After that, it’s pretty much 70 miles of wide open desert to get down to Wells on I-80, with just one stop at a wayside pulloff with a construction outhouse atop a small trailer that provided some relief. The gravel of this pulloff was much deeper than it looked and I only barely managed to save the bike from going down after coming in a bit too hot off the highway. I ended up having to duck-walk the bike through the inches deep gravel while burning the clutch to get over to the porta-potty and then back to the road.

Definitely sweating and feeling more awake now after that sketchy stop. And now I’m keeping a close eye on some sporty weather visible down the road.

Miraculously, the rain cloud seemed split over the highway and stayed that way as I rode through, getting just a couple light sprinkles  before emerging from the other side.

Continuing through Wells, route 93 took me south by another 140 miles of isolated Nevada landscape before reaching the city of Ely around 07:00. At this point, I’m running about 1:45 behind the schedule I’d set for myself back up in Swift Current, mostly due to the unscheduled (but necessary) rest stops overnight. I didn’t realize it at the time, probably because the time zone changes were too boggling to consider after little sleep, with Saskatchewan being on Central Standard Time and me now in Pacific Daylight Time, despite having come almost directly south… don’t math me!

Just outside city limits was my next armored bonus TCSEN (25 points) an M-4 Sherman tank. Not sure why it came out so blurry, but this is pretty much how I was feeling at the time anyway!

Just down the street, I pulled in to top off fuel and water. I remember the store clerk being quite friendly and talkative. I wanted coffee and a break off the bike at this point and remembered that there is a Denny’s right in downtown Ely on the ground floor of a local hotel/casino in a historic building on Main Street. Remembering the rallymaster’s extreme distaste for anything resembling a “hotel receipt”, I texted Nancy to see if this restaurant would be an acceptable stop for my meal bonus.

I received approval to proceed, but as I picked my way through the beginning of morning traffic, I realized that I didn’t really want to ride through downtown Ely if I could help it. Dealing with parking along Main St, etc. just seemed unappealing to me after all this wide open riding through the desert. I’d also heard service was super slow and inefficient at this particular location, while what I’m seeking is quick and impersonal. 😉 So I decided to push on for now and find a more appealing stop up the road a ways.

One of the email updates we’d received yesterday from the rally staff was regarding a change in the allowed time window for the rest bonus. The window was now 16:30 – 06:30 local time, to allow riders to rest during the hotter afternoon/evening hours. That was a huge (and very welcome) change to the rule, though there were only a couple nights left in which to take advantage of it. I didn’t think I’d be able to at this point, but I confirmed with Nancy that it was in effect for the remainder of the rally, just in case.

Exiting town southwest on US 6 for 20 miles or so, I turned due south again on NV 318 for an uninterrupted 100 miles more of lonely desert. Just past the semi-ghost town of Hiko, I hit the familiar intersection with NV 375, the “Extraterrestrial Highway”, which was my next big landmark. Whoo hoo! I’d just blasted down about 2/3’s of the way through Nevada north to south, and it was still morning!

The giant alien terrorizing the poor joshua trees and cows of the area wasn’t expecting LDX troop movement from Canada and I took down bonus AAREA for 6649 satisfying points! This is the first of the four bonus “group” I was targeting for this mission.

The big parking lot/entryway for this bonus is another deep pit of unstable gravel. Once again, I found myself carefully duck-walking and paddling my way carefully back to the safe pavement of the highway, under scrutiny from the herd of nervous-looking cows across the street. Now I headed west on the E.T. express! This is a gorgeous desert ride, very isolated, and one that I’d ridden before west-to-east during my 48/10 certification ride. I don’t believe I saw a single car the entire 100 mile length of the road this time, but I did spot a sleek Nubian spacecraft hanging around conducting surveillance, disguised as a cloud.

Despite the nice scenery and occasional free-range cow by the road to keep things interesting, it was VERY warm and it felt like I was baking inside my helmet, making me feel even more tired than I was. I should have stopped in at the Little A’Le’Inn Café in Rachel for my meal bonus (great spot!), but just wanted to keep pushing on at the time. I had Tonopah fixed in my mind as the place to secure both fuel and sustenance as efficiently as possible, and I didn’t want to stop twice. The ET highway ended at US 6 and from there, it was about another 40 hot miles in to Tonopah.

I was disappointed not to find any of the standard “sit-down” chain restaurants readily in sight along the main drag, so I braved a sketchy gravel driveway climb up from the highway to a small local restaurant called Strawberry Hill Diner. This was a great little joint with very friendly service and a decidedly sleepy local vibe at this time of the morning. However, the aircon left much to be desired. I ordered coffee and a turkey BLT while I caught up on my claim form and looked up hotels options for this evening.

The plan is to take my rest in Fernley after finally completing my two-day “Blast from Saskatchewan” and positioning myself for the next phase of my plan (which now seems seriously in doubt). Several hotels seemed to be fully booked already, so I was grateful to snag a room at the Comfort Suites, despite the price being almost double what I usually consider acceptable for a quick rally hotel rest. It was a no-brainer – I’d be willing to pay almost any price to get a comfortable air-conditioned bed to sleep in tonight!

I only managed to eat half the sandwich, despite how good it was. The lack of good AC precluded any desire to look at route calculations and made me want to get moving as soon as possible. I just have to focus on finishing the day and getting to the hotel for now. I was out at the bike and had my remaining Fire Support Cards ready and waiting once I’d taken the receipt photo and clocked out of the MEALH bonus.

I proceeded to claim the rotary RXGAM, armored TXTAS, and naval NXNCF fire support cards right in a row, setting my current strike force rating to (25, 25, 15) towards the next big alien bonus I’m heading towards in Gerlach, Nevada.

It was damn hot, standing there in the sun, fully geared and ready to go, snapping photos of the cards and submitting each one through the app. I went back inside to soak my cooling vest in the small bathroom sink and donned that under my jacket, looking forward to getting moving to feel some evaporative cooling. I got down the sketchy gravel driveway, but almost immediately remembered about fuel and pulled in to the nearby gas station to fill the tanks for this next leg of my little lap around Nevada.

There was more traffic now, as I followed US 6 another 40 miles or so to US 95 north, but plenty of passing zones. The heat bore down and I just grit this part of the ride out, battling fatigue and heat, passing through the small communities of Mina and Luning, then through the big army depot in Hawthorne. Walker lake is pretty as I remembered, but the day’s haze and lots of construction made it a bit of a slog, with few passing opportunities. Tick tock.

Ten more fixed-wing points would be needed to defeat the Gerlach alien, and luckily the town of Fallon has a naval air base, current home to the “Top Gun” fighter jet program. Sensing another Garmin disaster in the making as I approached the busy city center, I made a left turn on faith, trusting the grid layout of many typical western cities that I’d be able to get where I needed without cruising the very center of downtown Fallon. It worked, and I was shortly turning onto US 50 west of town and coming up on bonus FACFN (19 points) an A-7 Corsair jet.

Despite some line-painting work going on in the center lane, I was able to quickly cut over to the bonus and back out westbound without much delay. US 50 and 50-ALT brought me the remaining 25 miles into Fernley. I fueled up here for the final big out-and-back into the Black Rock Desert, then quickly got moving again, crossing I-80 into the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation and turning sharply on NV 447 to head into the mountains.

It’s a good 80 miles of desolate beautiful desert riding to get up to the small outpost community of Gerlach in northwestern Nevada. The speed limit is fairly high and reasonable, but the pavement is questionable and treacherous with frost heaves reminiscent of New England back roads, especially running with the broken shock. I found a steady pace to make good time across the reservation lands and then into the open desert.

I soon noticed a tall column of white smoke on the horizon as I neared my destination and wondered if there were currently any fires to be concerned about up here. However, as I approached the mining community of Empire, I remembered from the movie Nomadland that gypsum mining was a big thing out here. Sure enough, the run through Empire showed the towering clouds were gypsum dust from the processing plant being lifted  high into the atmosphere by the stiff desert winds along flat dry lake beds. The dust cloud was actually enveloping the entire area and road near the facility, but it’s much tougher to see when you’re inside it and up close.

Shortly after, I rounded the curve west and crossed the short causeway section over salt beds and railroad tracks, getting suddenly hit by stiff crosswinds that must be stirring up all the dust further back. Wow! It must have been to my back the entire time or I was being sheltered by the surrounding mountains. I cruised slowly into the small village itself, cutting my speed waaaay down out of respect for the folks that scratch a living out here and who have been very welcoming and supportive of the LD riding community over the past many years. I have two stops to make here, both on other side of “town”, so I continued straight through the tiny gathering of shacks, bungalows and RVs and out the other side on route 447.

Stunningly, my phone began to ring as I curved past the Black Rock Station BLM visitor center and it was Nancy. I couldn’t believe I somehow had a signal out here! Maybe the visitor center has some sort of booster equipment that I was catching that runs over satellite or something? The call quickly dropped, so I had to pull a uey and ride back a 200 yards or so to get the signal again and call her back. She was calling to make sure that I’d read a recent email sent out about the bonus up here. Apparently, the GPS coordinates had been leading riders down a private driveway and irritating the property owners, so she was trying to call anybody she saw heading this way to ensure we stick to the public roadway. Yup, OK, message received!

Proceeding another three miles or so up the highway, I finally arrived at the sign for Planet X Pottery, clear evidence that the aliens have established a base here in the desert! Without going down the driveway, I quickly snapped the photo of bonus AGERL for a very juicy 7873 points.

The gypsum clouds from nearby Empire remained visible this whole time just to the south, although more scattered and less impressive-looking than that towering tornadic-looking column from earlier. I stopped for a quick snap on the way back towards the village.

My second stop in Gerlach is at the IBA Memorial site, about a mile up CR 34 from the BLM outpost. It’s situated off the paved road via a short parallel gravel lane called Guru Road, along which are several art installations and sculpture gardens. The memorial is a nexus and pilgrimage site for the LD community, consisting of a landscaped rectangular bed of carved and painted flat stones bearing the names of famous (and infamous) LD riders who have passed on. There is also a post listing the names of every Iron Butt Rally winner back to the first running of that event.

It is the winner’s pillar that we need to photograph for use as a “special weapon”, worth (100, 100, 100) in hitpoints. Claiming this bonus GIBAM essentially allows the rider to claim any alien bonus he/she rides to next. My first visit here during the 48-10 ride was just past dawn and magical, but it seems to be a beautiful spot at just about any time of day.

Putt-putting my way back through Gerlach, I passed rider Dan Roth pulled over in front of a small shop, apparently trying to use his phone. I paused briefly, but he seemed OK and absorbed in his task, so I kept on. Once through town and headed back south, all I had to do now is grit my teeth, hang on, and think about my nice overpriced hotel room waiting ahead in Fernley. I knew I was tired, so arriving there safely was paramount in my mind. The 80 mile ride back seemed like it took forever now that I had accomplished all my bonus hunting for the day. I felt every single bump through the broken shock, feeling completely shattered with hardly any of the energy needed to stand on the pegs to easy the jouncy-jounce effect..

Pulling in to the Comfort Suites porte cochere, I clocked in to my rest bonus at 18:14. The hotel seem recently built or renovated, very nice and clean. Check-in was quick and they had no issue with me parking the bike right in front under the roof. After cleaning up, I now had to assess where things stood.

The whole point of this big two day push (Codename: From Swift Current) had been to complete the big swoop through Nevada in a timely manner such that I’d be positioned for picking up the two final big aliens in Utah and Wyoming tomorrow. I’d haul ass out US 50 straight across Nevada and into central Utah for a big one in Clawson (using my god-mode points from Gerlach), then ride up through the Salt Lake Valley assembling a final strike force for the final showstopper alien in Green River Wyoming. Combined with the Area 51 bonus near Hiko and Gerlach, that would have completed the set of four I’d hoped for since the checkpoint.

With the delays for resting, heavier traffic and construction after Tonopah, and the difficulty in making up much time on the road, I was now running some two hours behind my “Swift Current” mission schedule. And that, unfortunately, was two hours too many. Going east, I’d lose two hours for time zones, plus I had to take one more meal bonus and rest bonus before the rally ended. Even my most aggressive ride profile in Basecamp (which I couldn’t use) had me arriving at least 45 minutes after the rally ended. Forget about penalties. I would be DNF.

Based on the rally pace so far, I knew that making up that much time, even over 29 hours ride time, would be impossible. After spending a couple hours looking at this six ways to Sunday, I finally accepted that my chances of a podium finish were now just (gypsum) dust in the wind. There was still the big Wyoming alien bonus to pick up, of course, as well as any military bonuses that happened to be super convenient to my route. But basically, what I’m looking at now is a long one and a half day slog on I-80 back to Coralville.

So now, the question became: how much sleep can I treat myself to tonight. 😅 After some quick math, I decided to give myself a solid 4.5 hours of shuteye to recover from the big push I’d just done, even if it puts me over the six hour minimum. Following the more direct route, I should have plenty of time to arrive at the finish with hours to spare. I was dispirited of course, but just too tired to care much at this point. There are many miles remaining to ride safely between here and the finish, so that’s the focus now.