Day 4 - Wendover, Utah to Topaz Lodge, Nevada

What a beautiful ride! I left Wendover, Utah about 7 a.m. local time, a beautiful blue sky and crisp temps, which while a bit chilly are a welcome change after riding in the 90+ degree heat. This is today's route.

A relatively short day considering the last three :-) I reached my destination at about 2:00 pm local time.

Within about 30 minutes I moved to the Pacific time zone - my third time zone change. Yay, gained an hour!

It was a smooth day of riding. The temps ranged from 58 to 93, so there were a few changes of outerwear during the day. From jacket with liner and heavy gloves, with the grip and seat heaters on full blast, to a denim shirt and lightweight gloves. That's one of the things I love about riding... you get to feel all of the changes, rather than traveling in an enclosed space with a constant environment. I know, I'm weird...  Of course once I land for the day, I appreciate a car ride with a/c to get to dinner!

Here are the pictures from the day.

That long road seems daunting and inviting at the same time.

Mountains all around me, and a lot of desert between me and them.

I love these views. I try to imagine what's after the next curve.

And back to straight with no end in sight!

There are many of these little oases out in the desert.

I can't imagine what kind of engineering it takes to get
enough water to actually grow crops.

Oooh, what's this going to drop off to?

More lush, green crops. Amazing.

Not exactly a canopy, these trees have definitely seen their share
 of heat, wind, snow - you name it. Pretty neat lane through the landscape.

I love the puffy little clouds in the blue sky.

I missed capturing the full sign on the right - that's my favorite "twisties ahead" sign :)
It's funny how you ride on a long, straight road forever, and then there are little passes like this.

A neat little rushing river on the left.

You're seeing the straighter parts of the road. I was a bit busy in the really curvy stuff :)

Picture perfect landscape.

I'd love to know where this river comes from.
There must be a LOT of runoff from the mountains.

My first glimpse of Topaz Lake. Just WOW. The road I came in on is
behind those mountains on the left. I kind of made a big left u-turn
to Hwy 395, and there it was!

After getting checked in at the lodge and getting a much needed shower, 12 of us headed over to the cafe for dinner. These are the reprobates I travel so far to visit and ride with :)

I don't make a habit of having my phone out at dinner, I was looking for a
 particular photo to share. That was an Asian Chicken salad. It was absolutely delicious,
and it was GONE! And I finally found a couple of cold beers.

After dinner, a couple of us wandered over to the bar to take advantage of the free drink coupon you get every day at the Lodge. It was nice to sit and visit with old friends.

Sandy and I walked around to the back of the lodge to get a picture of the lake just before sunset. So pretty!

It was maybe 8:30 pm, and I was ready to relax and update the blog. However, my eyelids had a different idea, and I was asleep at 9. I left the curtains open in my room, figuring I would just wake up naturally with the sun. Nobody told me the sun comes up at 5:15 here! So I'm taking advantage of being up early to catch up the blog over a couple of cups of coffee. Now I need to get dressed and get down to the parking lot and clean my poor bike up. I'll take a picture before I do. It sure doesn't look like it does sitting in my garage at home!

We're taking a ride to South Lake Tahoe this morning for brunch. Of course we're taking the scenic route. I can't wait to explore some of these great roads! That's all for now, hopefully I'll be able to stay awake long enough tonight to post more pictures. Or not, this morning thing actually works better :)