Getting ready for the morning ride in Bishop.

Heading from Bishop up to Carson City, still on Rte 395, it was smooth sailing with a steady grade up to 8000 feet... surprisingly painless on such a big, wide road. We climbed up to Mono Lake and then from there up to Antelope Valley, and on to Carson Valley.

Mono Lake

The best pass name... Dead Man's Pass... not the highest I traversed, just the best named...

Dead Man's Summit in CA

It was a spectacularly beautiful day for riding in one of the most spectacular parts of the United States... the border between Nevada and California between Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. Massive mountains, crystal clear mountain lakes, wide noisy creeks; and the smell of pines everywhere.

Pausing at a creek in Antelope Valley

Of course, it was fairly well touristed too, being August and prime viewing months. There were hundreds of motorcyclists out on the roads as well as a million SUVs hauling everything you can imagine for playing on a mountain lake!

With the heavier traffic, I was careful to cruise slowly and let people by whenever possible. On the steep grade (but good wide road) of US Route 50 between Carson City and Lake Tahoe, everyone passed me except one giant yellow double truck hauling a backhoe on the second car. I managed to stay with him!

And coming down, I took US Route 28 to Incline Village, and it is certainly one of the nicer bike roads in the US... 30 miles of lovely curves to lean into as Lake Tahoe cruises into view...

Lake Tahoe

Finally, I rode up into the tiny town of Loyalton to find out how far it was to the next big town (Susanville). The lady at the store told me 80 miles... so I stayed at the Golden West Motel, Saloon, Restaurant and General Store for the night!

MPG figures: I filled up again in the town of Bridgeport (a town, with, as far as I could tell, neithe a bridge nor a port anywhere to be found...)

#2 Diesel... 1.82 gallons at 540 miles... subtracting the previous distance of 228.33 that leaves me with 311.77 miles between fillups and 171.3 mpg... my best yet and perhaps the best for the trip... since not long after filling up at Bridgeport, I encountered both heavy grades and construction... and wind!

Looks like I won't get biodiesel again until Bend, OR... not many people seem to carry it in Nevada or California!

Total mileage: 692 miles... I'm covering more distance that I had planned because it really isn't very hard... with such beautiful weather!

And my rear end, while sore, stood up better than I expected today... here's hoping it gets easier from here on out!

For my evening's entertainment I'll check the bike over, top up on oils etc if needed, then head for the Golden West Saloon downstairs to see what the locals are up to...