The Plan: Leave Glendale, AZ early Friday morning
& arrive in Las Vegas that afternoon. Leave Vegas early Saturday
morning and arrive in Baker, NV late that afternoon. Sunday explore the
Great Basin parks, caves and whatever else we can get into. Monday
morning head back to Vegas. Tuesday morning ride home to Glendale.
Reality: SO much better!
Friday, 9/21
Deb & I left Glendale a little ahead of schedule around
7:45 AM. The weather was perfect, sunny but cool. The extra time was
handy as we stopped to re-position my tour pack which had decided it was
tired of standing up and wanted to lie down. Another unexpected stop along
Carefree Highway to check on a biker, who had a blow out, put us just a tad
late meeting our other riding companion, Jo, in Wickenburg. After a hearty breakfast we were on the way
to Vegas, Baby!
Arriving in Vegas mid-afternoon, we checked into Chez Pen,
our affectionate name for the home of friends, Clara & Terry (aka Pig Pen). The Pens (names changed to protect the not so
innocent) are host & hostess extraordinaire. If you love motorcycles, their garage is to
die for. We spent the rest of the
afternoon visiting with Clara before hooking up with a Motor Maid from Tucson,
Theresa, and her husband.
Everyone converged on the home of Vegas Motor Maid, Trish,
for dinner. All I can say is when
she says “it’s only burgers and dogs” trust me, it ain’t just burgers and
dogs. We were treated to an amazing
spread of homemade burgers with more
trimmings than you could possibly imagine, yummy sausages, chips, gourmet
cookies, salad by Clara, wine for those who wished all topped off by homemade
cheesecake and coffee. When we had had
our fill, we rolled ourselves back to our respective beds for the night.
Saturday, 9/22
Kickstands up at 8:00.
Ten riders in two groups of 5 comprised of six Motor Maids, two
husbands, one boyfriend and one son. Can
you believe the 19 year-old son wants to hang out with this group of older
folks? Well, I can say that we all enjoy
having Bobby around; he’s a good kid and a good rider.
At the first gas stop we lost one husband who had to return
home due to bike problems and Jo (Motor Maid, AZ), who had another commitment
later in the day. We regrouped and
continued our trek along Hwy 93/Great Basin Hwy towards Alamo, NV.
In Alamo, we stopped at the local general store/gas station
to fill up and pick up sandwiches for our picnic lunches for later down the
road. The store reminded me of the
grocery stores in the town where I grew up.
Seriously, when was the last time you stepped on the mat for the store
to open? The sandwiches were made to
order and the coffee was hot.
Back on the road for another hour until we reached Kershaw-Ryan State
Park, NV, our planned lunch stop. Wow,
what a jewel this turned out to be, the place was beautiful with a wading pool,
a ramada, lovely landscaping and best of all, EMPTY! We were amazed that on this perfect weather
Saturday, there were no other people in the park. What a treat!
The ranger at the gate even brought up horse shoes and a volley ball for
us. 
One Motor Maid decided that her boot bound tootsies could
use a dip in the wading pool. Unfortunately, she didn’t anticipate the slippery
bottom of the pool. Oops! Her face has been blurred to avoid embarrassment, be WE know who you are. When we finished our lunch and recharged
ourselves with the beautiful park we were back on the road to Miller Point near
Cathedral Gorge.
Cathedral
Gorge State Park surrounds Cathedral Gorge (duh!) a narrow valley that has
been worn into incredible scenes by the centuries of erosion. The name was
taken from the cathedral like spires.
Miller Point is just north of the park entrance and offers an excellent
view of the gorge.
After a quick gas stop in Pioche involving a little offroading for one husband and a gravelly U-turn for some of us, our group bid
farewell to the son and the boyfriend who needed to return home. The remainder of our group continued on to
Baker, NV and the Silver Jack Inn.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
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