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JANUARY 2019 • BACKROADS
I
am prone to hit the road, solo. I have driven four wheels across America from coast to coast. Each time, I spent nights camping, hiking, crashing on couches and staying in hostels. Last year, I found myself longing for a solo trip. To mix things up, I decided to take on the country on two wheels. I took a sabbatical from New England to live with a friend in the Sierras. While there, I bought my first motorcycle to get around. By mid-August I needed to get ‘us’ back to Massachusetts. So, I decided to make it a road trip to visit friends, family and ride solo. On a cool, misty morning in the Sierras I headed out for the first leg of my 27-day solo ride across the United States on my 2017 Honda Rebel 500 ABS. It’s a small bike, but it’s bigger than what Robert Selig rode in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance with his son on the back. So, it would suffice. From Pollock Pines, I cut east over the Sierras via Mormon Emigrant Trail. This route beat the crowds on Highway 50. It climbed quickly then floated along the mountaintops before it descended to Carson Pass. On Carson Pass, I was rewarded with fresh pavement and birdseye views of Silver Lake and Caples Lake. As I headed into Nevada, the terrain transitioned from mountains to green valley to desert brush. Nevada is sizeable – 320 miles from east to west and 490 miles from north to south. My route - Carson City to Austin to Rachel to Panaca – kept me in Nevada for 538-miles. I start out eastbound from Carson City on the Lincoln Highway, which is also known as “The Loneliest Highway in America.” Here, the highway didn’t feel lonely at all. It was crowded with strip malls, chain restaurants, desert casinos, suburban homes, and rumbling 18-wheelers. But as I entered the Dice Valley salt basin, the crowds dissipated, and the desert opened. I was enthralled with the quality of Nevada’s highways. Although they baked in sun and dust, they were perfect. The tar was smooth, and the painted stripes were meticulously painted. Soon the valley transformed from high desert covered in sage brush to the arid Toiyabe Mountains. Save for the periodic low flying F/A-18 Hornets from Naval Air Station Fallon, traffic on the Loneliest Highway diminished and the road got pretty lonely as I closed in on Austin.
Solo on the Blue Highway California to Massachusetts words and images: Kimi Ceridon