Day 2 – Steve : Ely, NV to Grand Junction Co

Well, I’ve finally made it to Colorado. First time which is pretty surprising. There was a trip many years ago to Colorado I was supposed to go, but I got on the bike and turned around and went home. I just had a bad feeling.

This time, I made it. I woke up early in Ely, NV as I had an 8:30 time for a cave tour at the Lehman Caves in Great Basin NP. I had to be there before 8:15 and I didn’t want to take the chance of being late. So I got up early again, checked out and headed out. I stopped by McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich and coffee.

I made it to the Lehman Caves by 8:00 a.m. to encounter the line protectors. There were multiple people yelling at anyone that walked up that the line was way in the back. Initially I ignored him, as I had pre bought a ticket, but eventually the head line master annoyed me enough I thanked him for caring about me, but I explained to him that I planned in advance, I already had a ticket, so his Will Call/Day of line didn’t pertain to me. I think he got the tone in my voice as I stood in the shade and ignored his line.

Anyway, the Ranger came out and said “Who has tickets. If you do I’ll let you in first to the line to the right. I locked eyes with the line master as I walked in and smiled the whole time. Unfortunately, I think he was able to get a slot.

Anyway, the caves were amazing and well worth the side trip.

After the caves I pointed in the direction of Grand Junction. To say, you eventually get tired of the straight long roads of Nevada and Eastern Utah is an understatement. As lunch time came around I found myself in rural Utah. Well, most of Utah is closed on Sundays so McDonalds was my option. So that was two meals of two meals at the arches.

Eventually, the landscape changed and I did the last slog on I70 into Colorado. I could see the two fires that are on my route for tomorrow, hopefully the roads are still open. If not, there are plenty of other options.

Did I mention it was hot. The truck was jumping around 102 and 104 in the afternoon, so I was extremely pleased with my truck the bike through the desert.

I arrived in Grand Junction around 4:30, checked in and asked the lady at the desk if it was possible to leave my truck here for the next day or so until I’m back here on Tuesday night. She smiled and said sure, here is a form to fill out.

I unloaded the bike with the fancy ramp, grabbed the stuff for the bike and then headed to a yummy dinner at a nice Italian place.

I’m not setting an alarm, as I have about a 6ish hour trek to meet up with Harv and Danger tomorrow. So even if I slept late, I would still be good to go. Odds are I will wake up early. Although I am in a different time zone.

Tomorrow: Ouray and the Million dollar highway. There is a possibility of the Imogene pass, but I’m pretty sure I’m just going to stick to the non-4×4 roads.