No Man's Ride - Day 2

Day Two – Carson City, NV to Baker, NV

JR & Helli gathered their strength and managed to part ways with the rest of the MAD crew; while sad to see them stay the group must push on. The girls gear up and head out on US 50, dubbed as the “Loneliest Road in America” by Life Magazine in July 1986. While the stretch of US 50 through Nevada is vast, expansive, and impressively desolate, it is also uniquely beautiful. Distant mountain ranges jaunt out of the horizon like broken glass. The road was long, hot, and completely wide open. Lee Cole and his faithful stallion (M109) now named tomtom broke from the group early and often. At some point AeLeah found that the SVS had no problem drafting tomtom and eventually passing tomtom. The Lee & AeLeah duo zoomed from stop to stop allowing themselves plenty of time for resting up while waiting for the rest of the crew.

The folks in Fernley, NV warned of sizable crickets on the roadway up near Austin, NV. Warnings heeded, heading east bound toward Austin NV. Approaching Austin for lunch there were some insects of great mass littering the roadway, but nothing that isn’t easily squished by a motorcycle tire or effortlessly avoided by a swerve. The MAD MAPS crew pulled into the International Café for a bite and more news of the Mormon crickets. The buggers are 2.5 to 3 inches long and don’t let vertical surfaces get in their way. Back on the road and a bit uneasy about the approaching cricket carnage that supposedly blankets the roadway. The road winds up and over a small pass and in the distance where the road meets the horizon, the surface of the road is noticeably red. The smell assaults the senses; the smell of cricket carnage is like that of soggy organic decay baking in a 450 degree oven. Lucky for the riders, the monster crickets don’t jump, they more or less scamper. The roadway dotted with wiggling, scampering crickets. The MAD MAPS girls don’t skip a beat. Heads up, throttles open they fly past the carnage happy to leave the Mormon Crickets of Austin NV far behind them.

AeLeah and Lee Cole pulled off at a casino to wait for the rest of the gang. The group reconvened and gathered their strength for the last 70 miles of day 2. AeLeah and Lee Cole rolled out first and the rest of the crew gabbed for a bit. By the time the B-crew hit Baker it was near dusk and the town had closed up for the night, save a singe bar. We met Rob Pemble and Brick (part two sag crew) at “Whispering Elms Campground” on the doorway to the Great Basin National Park. We parked the bikes and headed to the bar for a round of fun and then a round of relaxation. This is officially the MAD Crew at Max capacity; the 5 lovely ladies and 4 in the support crew.