We started early this morning with a 7 am start time. I’m not sure everyone had enough coffee (I certainly didn’t have enough of my green tea) but we rolled out almost on time from June Lake.
First stop was gas down the road but I had to stop and get a picture of this massive boulder just on the outside of town.
A few turns later and I was struck by the beauty of June Lake itself.
Here’s a pano that you can click on to get the full effect.
Getting back on Hwy 395b for a bit we headed up towards Mono Lake. We took the Mono Lake Basin Rd (Hwy 120) for a while around the lower portion of the lake. Great views and a wonderful roller coaster ride!
120 got us out to Benton Hot Springs and ultimately Highway 6.
Just down the street we found an old 21 window sitting in a side yard. Sadly, it was beyond hope.
Further down Hwy 6, as we pulled into Tonopah we found this motel. I hear it’s overly decorated with clowns everywhere. How does anyone expect to stay in business with that as a theme?
Seriously! What’s next? The Cockroach Cafe?
Highway 6 is straight and boring but it leads to Nevada State Route 375 (which is also straight and boring)
The roads go on and on… and it’s enough to make you rummy. Until you come over a little rise to find a cow in the middle of the road! No need for coffee when that happens!
But the absolute best part of this part of the trip is stopping in the little town of Rachel, Nevada.
Why? Because Nevada State Route 375 is actually called the “Extraterrestrial Highway” and although we did not get abducted or have an encounter of the third kind – we want to believe and the best place to do that is in Rachel, Nevada at the Little Ale’Inn!
As the temperature was hitting around 104 we were happy they welcomed us in!
One thing I will be mentioning in my Yelp review though is the long wait for the bathroom. I had to wait behind 3 others before getting my turn. More stalls, eh?
We couldn’t leave without posing in front of the highway sign. You can hardly read it now with all the stickers. (Here’s what it used to look like)
Being the deviants that we are – we had to add to the stickers on the sign. Luckily I had Greta to help get a Dancing Bear up on the sign.
Can you see it?
Hint: It’s to the left of “Carry Your Cup”.
Moving on it was Hwy 375 to 93. We shot down Hwy 93 (missing Vegas) until we hit Highway 15.
Once on 15 we scooted in a rapid fashion to get to Mesquite just in time to buy a bottle of Vodka. Liquor laws are funny out here. You just can’t buy alcohol any time you feel like it.
Vodka in hand, it was an easy ride into Hurricane, on to Hwy 9 and into Zion.
It’s after 1 AM in the morning. We had a great dinner, a couple of martinis, and some great conversation around the fire pit.
Tomorrow: We’ll probably do some hiking (The Narrows) and maybe tour the park on our bikes.
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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