Best Laid Plans = Getting Lost in the desert?

June 10^th, 2026

Woke up at 8am this morning, was dragging though as I stayed up way too later last night working on various things and still did not get much done. 

I think my idea of editing up a video each night is not going to be reality, will have to see, but may end up just taking a day off every few days and hammering out the previous day’s videos?

I will however try to get the blog updated each night.

Back to the morning.  I took a nice shower and then sat around trying to figure out where I wanted to try making it today, looking at various hotels and such to get ideas on where I could stop along the route and the maximum distance I would think about.

I am trying to keep hotel costs down, and found that all the places in northern Utah are just way too high (many over $200 a night), so decided to try a new route instead of going up to Salt Lake City.

I found that places in Nevada were much cheaper, so plotted a route that would at best get me to Twin Falls, Idaho via eastern Nevada.

I found what I wanted and several spots along the way to stop if I could not make the full distance.

Then I finished up my packing, having re-organized the bags last night, and loaded the bike up.

Geared up and as I was leaving, I had a short conversation with the owner again, and she asked to take a photo in front of the hotel sign, something she likes to do with the motorcycle riding guests.

She recommended a gas station down the street that had good hot food options as well.

I rode the 2 blocks down the road, fueled up the bike and then went inside to look around.

They had a little deli style counter selling mostly fried foods, and I settled on the little Tornados (soft shell with various fillings).  Bought two, as I thought they were packed individually, but turned out each pouch had two inside, so at 4 of them for breakfast and had some water.  I bought 2 more liters of water to refill my hydration pack.

Once done, we got on the bike and headed over to US50 to head west.

The ride was nice, bit cool, but would warm up as the day went on.

Went up over a few small passes, nothing too high and then had to wait a short time for a 1-way road construction area, but eventually made it to I-15. 

I had told Google Maps to avoid highways, which typically routes you around the US Interstates.

The route tried to get me to turn onto a local road, but that road did not exist…and I figured for the 15 miles, I would just use the I-15 anyway, save time.

I did notice later an access road I could have gotten onto and that was where it was planning to take me, but I also noticed that road was probably closed as they were doing a controlled burn of the hillside along that road.  So good thing I did not find the other road and ended up getting blocked.

Pulled off the interstate onto a small feeder road that would get me to US50 again.

Once on that road it was a long flat and mostly boring ride until we reached Delta, Utah.

I stopped here for fuel as I was down half a tank and things were getting more desolate and less towns as I head west, so needed to get a full tank.

Just past town, maps instructed me to turn onto a local county road instead of staying on US50 to Ely which was the next main town I was expecting to hit.

I figured it was just taking a shortcut around a longer loop in the highway; it has done this many times on local county roads for previous trips I have taken.

The roads were really nice, and mostly farm areas, but eventually found myself out near what appeared to be some kind of power generating plant.

The next road was a long flat and straight section going to the horizon, so figured that was where I would catch up with US50 again?

About 30 miles in, the map said to turn again, and this time the road was gravel.  As I was so far along already, I though it would be easier to just use the gravel section instead of backtracking, and that was part of the plan anyway to explore, just wasn’t planning a long gravel stretch today.

But soon I saw sign saying next road was 44 miles away and was not sure I wanted to be on dirt that long, but the road was not too bad and was making good time and speed, so stayed the course.

Eerily I did not see another car the entire time I was heading out this way once I passed the power plant, should have seen that as a sign.

The road eventually became much rougher, and much looser gravel, and had to slow way down at times to keep upright.

Eventually came down toward the end of the route and only then did a car pass me going the other way, and a bit later a car came up behind me and passed me.

Once I reached the end of the route, there was another 8-mile stretch, also gravel, and very bad shape.

That road ended with a 5-mile stretch to a town, so was hopeful there would be another county road or highway, but nope, just more gravel, this time for 23 miles, and very rough at the start, was barely able to go 20 mph in many places.

Eventually that road dropped me into another town, where I again was disappointed to find more gravel leaving.

At this town I stopped, deleted the route and had Google Maps route it again, this time allowing highways, just to find the quickest route back to a real road.

While it was some amazing scenery, and a good challenge, I was getting tired, the winds were pretty high, and the loose roads with the heavy load on the bike had put me on the edge of going down at least a dozen times, was ready for it to end.

But was still another 20 miles till I reached the next road, this one actually tarmac, though a big rough still.

Finally reached ALT US93 and took that north to East Wendover, Nevada.

But while it was nice to be back on pavement, the winds were blowing like a hurricane, had to be at least 35-40mph steady with some stronger gusts.  Took lots of effort to stay on the road at times.

Once I reached East Wendover, I was almost out of fuel, so stopped to top up the tank and then since I was very hungry by now (it being about 3:00pm and I ate breakfast at 10:30).

I went next door to Burger King and had a quick meal, again using my gift card to save money.

Now I had to get onto I-80 and head west for about an hour.  Figured I would keep the speed back a bit to preserve fuel range, but make good time.

Nope.  Winds were blowing so hard I had a hard time keeping it at 65 mph, and was a real joy when the large trucks passed me, only for me to pass them soon after on a large hill as we kept climbing, which also made the temperatures fall.

I stopped on top of the big pass at the rest area there to put on another layer as it was down to 77 degrees, but the wind chill from moving in these high winds made it much cooler.

Headed down the pass, which was a wind tunnel blowing right into my face and once down the winds just picked up and blew me all over the road.

After an hour we reached US93 north.  Only 60 miles to go and we would be at the Idaho border.  As I lost so much time with the desert detour, compounded by the slower going due to high winds, I decided to stop at the border town for the night as there were several hotel/casinos there with cheaper rooms, so knew I could find something without needing a reservation.

The ride up was the longest hour of my life.  The winds were relentless, the traffic coming southbound was heavy, so kept getting blown off the road by the wind pressure of the passing trucks and then battered the other direction again by the normal winds.

The temps were also falling, going from about 75 when I left the interstate down to 63 before I reached the town of Jackpot, Nevada.

I was tired, cold, and mentally exhausted as well.

Pulled into the first place, The Four Jacks Hotel and Casino.  9.5 hours on the road, 365 miles covered!

They had rooms thankfully for $60 a night.  Got a room, which of course was about that farthest walk from where my bike was parked that you could do.  Had to make 4 trips to get all the gear off the bike and into the room.

I then made a phone call and did some sorting, and cleaned all the bags as everything has a light coating of white dust.

I checked the maps and there is a Loves truck stop across the road, so walked over to buy a gallon of water to refill my hydration pack since I nearly drained it on the ride today (it is a 3-liter pack).

I also bought some tea to drink in the room tonight since I am trying to stop drinking soda again, though still buying teas with sugar in them at time (like tonight).

Once back in the room, I changed out of the bike gear into street clothes and then walked down into the casino (basically a bar with about a dozen slots in it) and went to the restaurant onsite.

I stood there for about 5 minutes while the staff were cleaning tables and generally ignoring me.  Two guys in front of me just went and sat down on their own.

Once the tables were done, the one girl sat me and brought over a menu and flatware.

I pulled out the laptop and started downloading footage from the phone and the GoPro card while waiting for them to come take my order.

I managed to get 50 GB of data transferred, and even organized the files on the drive better, all while I sat there with no drink, and a menu on the edge of the table.   They kept seating other people, and cleaning other tables, but neither person came to take my order.

The guys who sat themselves had their food arrive, and when the lady who sat down 5 minutes after me had her food arrive, I decided they could screw themselves and packed up and left.

I was not that hungry, and would have cost me about $25 to eat there, so just saved some money.

I decided to come back to the room, and plot out the options for tomorrow, though I am going to stick to the interstates now, I just need to get to the Canada border so I can start exploring for real, the stuff here in the US I can do another trip.

Then I put a few things onto the charger, but again, there are no power outlets in these older hotels, the few they have are in use by lights or TV and usually buried behind furniture as well.  Only the bather has open outlets.

I put my phone and the GoPro batteries on, and will put the laptop on once I am done with this blog entry.

Probably just watch some TV and go to bed early, see if I can get a quicker start tomorrow and make good enough time that I can get a video done tomorrow night?

Catch ya down the road!

Today's Route: