the stretch of route 50 that runs through Nevada is known as the loneliest road in America, and it seems like a misnomer while you're riding it-- there's plenty of traffic, and it's a breathtaking piece of the country. The name fits, however, when you've got a leaky rear tire and you're 20 miles out of Ely, Nevada, and everyone keeps passing you by.
Rod went ahead to Ely to check for motorcycle stores who mIght have the right size inner tube, although they were closed on a Sunday night. For some reason I decided not to bring my tire-changing equipment.
I asked myself what Shepherd would have done, and the answer seems obvious. He'd fill the tire with twigs and scrub brush, eat a rattlesnake for dinner, and sleep by the railroad bridge.
I got the tire to hold a little air, then limped it into Ely on the sand next to the road.
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ah, I drove a stretch of 50 during my transcontinental trip in my old bmw 2002 in '93...but I took 6 from Ely across Nevada...scrub, cactus and occasional cattle, and not much else. Nearly ran out of gas but was lucky to get to a gas station with an alien head painted on its sign, and paid twice the market rate for regular gas. Fueled up, hydrated (no a/c in the car) and hit Yosemete by nightfall. It was if I drove up a mountain and entered the Garden of Eden. Magical.
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