White Rose's Adventures

Hoover Dam, Vegas, Bike Wreck, Mammoth Lakes

After getting my bike fixed at the Kingman, AZ Harley shop we rode up to Hoover Dam. We stopped at the gift shop to grab a couple of post cards for Bert and Jon to mail to Taylor and Josh and for me to mail to Danny. The lady in the shop remarked about how hot it was and that we were lucky we had not been there earlier. She said is was 5 degrees hotter just a couple of hours before we got there. It was 120 while we were there.

I have been across Hover Dam twice in a big truck before 9/11 happened. After that, commercial vehicles were not allowed to cross it. They have been working on building a bridge so that big trucks don’t have to go into California and then up to Los Vegas. I can’t wait for them to complete the bridge, it is going to have a great view on the dam when it is done.

There is something about having an A & W Rootbeer Float when the temperatures are soaring above 100 degrees. Bert was in the lead and just had to stop when he saw the place. Of course, brothers and sisters, no matter how old they are will torment each other when given the chance.

As we rode into Los Vegas the traffic started getting heavy. We jumped off the interstate and hit the surface streets. It wasn’t much better there. At a stop light, with my left wrist hurting bad enough I was almost in tears, Bert and I did a switch-a roo again. He took over my bike, Jon took his and I climbed on the back of Dad’s. Hot, hungry and me hurting, we made our way to the Harley Cafe down on the strip!

After grabbing dinner, we asked the parking guy where was a good place to stay. He pointed us to the Gold Strike in North Vegas (Old Vegas) and to the biker bar “Hogs & Heifers.” Jon having turned 18 just a couple of weeks earlier ment that he could not enter the bar. So he and Bert struck out on their own.

Of course I had to check out the biker bar. The guy that told us about it said it was this bar, well the one in NYC, that Coyote Ugly got the idea of dancing on the bar from. Being the great Aunt that I am, I could not let Jon miss out on the experience, so I took pictures of the girls dancing on the bar. Not wanting the girls to think I was some kind of weirdo, I told my waitress about my brother and nephew wandering around Vegas. When I did, she just had to send Jon a message.

(I HAVE A PICTURE OF THE MESSAGE, BUT WILL HAVE TO ADD IT LATER)

We got up the next morning and headed up US95. Then grabbed hwy 266 to hwy 168.

I let Bert take over my bike for a while and the ride was going well and we were all enjoying it, despite the heat. We saw some gravel in several of the curves and Dad and I commented that we hoped Jon and Bert were taking it easy up in front of us. They had been hitting the curves pretty hard even though I didn’t like it with the trailer hooked to the back on my bike.

Then as I watched Bert go around a curve, he disappeared and dust flew! I have to say my heart skipped beat or just stopped for a few seconds as I started yelling to Dad, “Bert is down! Bert is down!” I think I was off the back of Dad’s bike before he got it stopped when we reached him. The fact that Bert was already standing up did not make me feel better. Many times I have seen people seriously injured and not know it. Bert said he was alright and it took a few minuets for that to sink in. An off-duty NV Highway Patrol officer was headed the other way and saw Bert go down and stopped. He helped us pick my bike up.

Not only can you see that the crash bar bent the floorboard straight up as it was bent back, there is a hole in the lid of my saddle bag.

As you can see the rock was not a small one. I had to open the saddle bag to get it out. Yes, I still have it. I think I am going to mount it some way and give it to Bert for Christmas. LOL!

I do have to give Bert credit. After we sat the bike up, bent the crash bar back out and adjusted what we needed to for it to be ridden, he rode it the 6 miles off the mountain to the nearest town, Big Tree, before letting me take it back over.  At the time, he looked like he only had a little road rash on his side and right wrist. But a few days later he had this BIG bruise.

We did what we could to make the bike as comfortable as we could for riding. I called my insurance company, told them we were going on with the trip and they could have someone look at the bike when I got to Arkansas to my boyfriends house.

We rode over to US395 and headed north. The Sierra Nevada Mountains are really pretty. The plan for the day had been to reach Lake Tahoe. With Bert’s wreck and being a bit sore, we decided to stop in Mammoth Lakes for the night.

Tags: Harley, Honda, Motorcycles