Las Vegas Trip

April 14, 2000

I love my bike trips; I take quite a few every year.  Most are just regular trips without much fanfare but some turn into stories.  These stories invariably find their way onto my web site, well many do...

A few months ago, my wife told me she was going to attend a show in Las Vegas in April and asked if I wanted to meet her there.  I thought about it awhile (about 5 seconds) and decided it was a good opportunity to ride.  The only real concern I had was the weather - Colorado's heaviest snow fall comes in March and April.  So, just in case, I planned an alternative route to somewhere else.

Thursday afternoon, April 13th, I headed out.  The day was clear and warm (about 75) and traffic was surprisingly light.  Lisa asked me to give her a call at my first gas stop.  I did when I arrived in Walsenberg.  Here was my first little challenge (they got bigger).  When I went to get the water bottle in the trunk I discovered that I had not securely fastened the top and the water had all leaked out - the electric cord for the heating gear was all wet as were my cloths.  Not a real problem I thought so I finished filling the tank and headed out.

As I started up Wolf Creek Pass along highway 160, the temperature began to rapidly drop.  In fact it dropped to under 50.  Since I didn't want to get a cold, I pulled out the electric vest and gloves and hooked them up.  As the temperature continued to drop (low 40s) I noticed that I was getting colder.  In short, the electric gear wasn't working.  I pulled over to see if it was my gear or the cigarette lighter and found that the cigarette lighter wasn't working.  As I continued towards Durango (getting colder) and the Sun began to dip, I noticed that the speedometer wasn't lighted.  That was my clue that the problem with the heating gear was related, e.g., a blown fuse.  Unfortunately, I needed more light to work on that problem so had to tough it out to Durango.  By the time I arrived there, the temperature was in the high 30s (my bike has an outside temperature gauge built in).   I fixed the fuse and was on my way towards my campsite in Cortez, Colorado, just North-East of Arizona.

The next day, Friday, I headed out under clear skies and the promise (according to the Weather Channel - you know, those guys and gals who are never accurate when you need them to be...) of warm weather in the 70s.  Well, that was kinda, sorta correct... The temperatures reached the 60s for part of the day and the rest of the time it was in the 50s (with one bad exception which I'll get to later).

After leaving Colorado, I entered Arizona for a short spell and then turned up into Utah.  I traveled through Glen Canyon as well as a few other forests and national parks.  The winds threw me around a bit (gusts up to 45 according to the weather channel on my bike) and I encountered a brief sleet storm but nothing that was too bad except the wind was killing my gas mileage and I had no real desire to stop and take pictures.

From the time I put on my rain gear in preparation for either a rain storm or sleet, I seemed to just barely miss both except for the five minutes I was in sleet in the morning.   In late afternoon, as I was heading down highway 12, I began to encounter snow.   This wasn't a problem as the temperature was in the low 50s and it soon petered out within another five minutes.  Again, while the weather wasn't what was predicted, it wasn't too bad.  Famous last words...  The last leg of my trip to Cedar City was over a summit on highway 14.  The signs warned that the road was closed between February and March.  It also stated that there were steep inclines and declines along the route.  And... I saw those nasty black clouds ahead.  But... still I didn't worry as the temperature was still in the low 50s.  Well... that changed rather quickly.  The snow began to fall and it began to fall hard.  As the snow was falling so was the temperature (my gauge eventually told me the temperature was 18).   The snow began to stick on the ground and at the worst, it was about 5-6" deep.  Now I've been in this depth of snow on many occasions so wasn't too worried (yeah, right).  I was travelling about 5 MPH and hoping to make it to Cedar City in one piece.  Near the summit, I saw another sign that warned travelers of the possibility that high winds coupled with blowing snow might create drifts on the road.   Well, the entire mountain was covered in snow, old packed snow.  I doubted that drifts would be able to accumulate before I was past although the wind was blowing quite hard.  Wrong again... I encountered a drift across the road that was about 12" deep; I hit this drift within 100 YD. of reading the sign (I had a lot of time to read the sign since I wasn't travelling much faster than a kid on skates...).  After that, my worry factor began to increase and I actually thought about bagging it for the night.  Fortunately, I couldn't find any place and I knew that if I stopped the Vegas trip was dead.  Sooo, I continued.  Fortunately, there were no more drifts and the snow stopped within two miles down the road.  As I continued down from the mountain, the sky was still ominous but the roads were dry and I made it to the campground in one piece.  I did, however, decide not to pitch the tent and stay in a cabin instead.  Lucky me... it started raining shortly thereafter.

The next day, Saturday, was again bright and clear.  The radio said the temperature was 39 (the bike said it was 30 and I trust the bike).  I packed up my gear and headed out.  When I got to the freeway, I cranked up the throttle and let 'er rip.  As I accelerated I noticed that the sound coming from the pipes was somewhat louder than normal, like about 300dB louder!  I was supposed to meet Lisa in Vegas and I wanted to get some pictures of Hoover Dam so I toughed it out till I got to Mesquite, Nevada, about 90 miles away.  There I stopped at the local Denny's and, keeping the engine going, walked around the bike searching for the source of the 'straight-pipe' sound.  I found it - the muffler had come completely off of the pipes.  Needless-to-say, I was a little pissed but decided to eat breakfast and then worry about the pipes.  After breakfast I made a close inspection of the muffler and pipe and decided that the muffler wasn't actually damaged.  I took all the bags off, pulled out my tool kit, and refitted the muffler to the pipe then retightened the band.   I wonder if Harley didn't tighten this down when they were doing the work after the accident? I doubt it.

Anyway, I made it to Las Vegas with time to spare and a couple of stories... The return trip was a bit quicker and without all the "challenges."

Live to Ride,
Ride to Live