RFTW Day 4

Finally got to ride with just pants and a t-shirt and a vest. Talked to my brother the truck driver and he said traffic will be heavy heading into L A because of all the people heading back from Vegas on Sunday. We decided to get an early start to avoid the traffic. Lots of sun screen needed because there is not a cloud in the sky and we didn't expect any all the way to L A. It was already 70 at 8am and off we went. Saw Vegas for the first time and it is impressive to see the huge casinos. Nevada is a helmet state. You can buy fireworks there, gambling is legal as well as prostituion, but you gotta wear a helmet. People drive fast in Nevada. The posted speed limit in some places was 55 mph and we were going 70-75 and getting passed by most people. Harleys need premium gas and it is $4/gallon and more at every stop. One of the guys rides a Honda Valkyrie and has to stop every 100-120 miles for fuel. That makes for frequent stops which allows my right arm to get some rest. Now that we are out of the mountains I am leading and using my cruise control so today it didn't hurt, but it is still numb. Couldn't squeeze the nail clippers to trim my finger nails. The temp was rising steadily. I have an air temp gauge on my bike so I was watching it climb as the day grew longer. Going across the Mojave Desert it hit 100. But it's a dry heat. Ha! Traffic was heavy but not jammed up. Everyone is going faster than we are. With the cruise set at 75 mph we were still getting passed by everyone except truckers who must drive slower. The posted speed for trucks was 55 mph in many places and yet they were going much faster than that, but not as fast as us. I think some truckers are slowing down to save on fuel because diesel is so expensive. Talked to one trucker who said to make the most money he runs about 1200 rpms which translates to about 57 mph when he is hauling. Glad I am not a trucker. We got to HQ Hotel about 4pm and there were about 50 bikes here already. Most are from Texas it seems and are part of the advance team. Now we can rest for a couple of days and wash clothes and bikes and prepare to leave on Wednesday morning. I am part of the advance team as a fueler. Our job is to go ahead of the group and get things ready for the main group. We need to organize it because there will be 200 bikes to gas up and we need to do it in an orderly fashion.