Fernley, NV to Powell, WY featuring Yellowstone National Park: DAY 1 -- Fernley to Pocatello

     We left Saturday morning 8-15-2009 from our home in Fernley, Nevada. Our plan was to ride through Yellowstone National Park to visit my brother and his wife, Shane & Lisa, who just moved to Powell, Wyoming. The weather was cool and mostly sunny for our first day of riding, nice!

Starting out in the early morning sun!

     Our first stop was not far along; in Fallon, NV we stopped for breakfast at Jerry's, a chain diner: I had yummy oatmeal. We got a bit delayed there, because a motorcycle enthusiast spotted the GS and struck up a conversation with Mike about motorcycles, and motorcycle travel. We told him about the incredible Ted Simon (http://www.jupitalia.com/); and suggested Simon's books about travelling around the world on a motorcycle: Jupiter's Travels; Riding High, and Dreaming of Jupiter. When we travel people frequently want to chat about the GS, it's kind of fun. One of these days I'll have my own baby blue F650GS to chat about.

     After that we made miles, cutting over to Interstate 80 and riding through Lovelock, Imlay, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, & Carlin. At a truck stop near Rye Patch Reservoir we saw the unusual sight of someone walking their three goats, one with a missing left-rear foot, by driving their truck next to them. We didn't stop in Imlay to visit Thunder Mountain Monument because it is close to home, we've explored it before, and we had miles to make. Anyone who hasn't stopped there, should though, it is incredibly interesting. It was constructed by hand by Frank Van Zandt (Chief Thunder) out of found objects as a monument to the Native American People in the 1970s.

     We stopped in Elko for lunch and discovered the most awesome Cornish pasty restaurant. It's called B.J. Bull Cornish Pasties and Fruit Pies. Though we've been through Elko many times we've never noticed the place before, even though it has been there since the 80s. I don't think we'll ever go through Elko again without stopping. Pasties (pronounced with a soft a sound) are a pastry filled with meat and potatoes. It is designed to be portable, easily carried and eaten with your hands. They are British in origin but were popular in Nevada mining towns due to their portability. B.J. Bull's logo says "The Original Portable Mining Food." The manager, Jordon, was very friendly and we had an interesting conversation with him over the blare of the American Movie Classics channel playing on the TV in the corner. They have several different flavors of pasties; we ordered a beef and mushrooms pasty and a chicken and rice pasty and split them between us. The Mushroom one was so delicious. I love mushrooms! The chicken and rice was also super-tasty and is a lighter choice. Even though we were full to the brim I insisted we have rhubarb pie, as advertised over the entranceway. We got a strawberry rhubarb pie and Jordon scooped us up a pile of ice-cream to go with; and thus began our excessive amount of pie eating on this trip.

     Another great thing in Elko are the old motel & casino signs. Take the business route exit off I-80 (Idaho Street) to make sure you don't miss them.

     From Elko we hopped back on I-80 until Wells, Nevada. Wells is a must stop for travelers; drive to the old downtown and see the crumbled buildings that were ruined in a 6.0 earthquake in 2008. Riding across Nevada I was inspired by the Alkali basins to put Tom Russell on my I-Pod so I could hear "Alkali". At Wells we took Highway 93 up to Jackpot, "Eldorado Dude!" made famous by the fantastic motorcycle journey movie Roadside Prophets. What you haven't seen it? You must put it to the top of your Netflix queue right now! John Doe and Adam Horovitz search for Eldorado on their bikes and meet up with a host of interesting folks along the way such as: Arlo Guthrie, Timothy Leary, David Carradine, and John Cusack ("Free food for the poor!").

     We crossed over into Idaho and up to Twin Falls. We didn't stop at Shoshone Falls, again because we've been there before and had many miles to do, but I thoroughly recommend stopping there to travelers. It is very beautiful. From Twin Falls we took Hwy 30 through Burley to Interstate 86/Hwy 30, passing by Minidoka National Historic Site, a World War II Japanese Internment site. That's on my list to do one of these days, but I suspect one should devote most of a day to it. Another stop I would like to make sometime is near there, Massacre Rocks State Park, where the overland emigrants stopped to rest and wrote their names upon "Register Rock."

     We ended our day around sunset at Pocatello, Idaho where my Aunt and Uncle kindly gave us shelter for the night, along with yummy food (including more pie!) and a fantastic shower (always important on a motorcycle trip.)

Day 1 Map:

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[Photos are hosted on http://www.flickr.com/, check it out!]