Sept 2019 motorcycle ride to Pahrump, Nevada

I'm opening this evening with these pictures.  Back in September, we got on the Gold Wing the day after Labor Day and rode to Pahrump, Nevada.  Almost 2 years ago, I got a membership to the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, located near Pahrump.  As part of my membership, there are several courses I can take for free as many times I want to.  After attending in 2018, I got Jan a membership and after a lot of coaxing, I convinced her to take the 4 day defensive handgun course with me.

Part of the adventure of attending is getting there.  We try to take at least one trip every summer on the Gold Wing and this was our 2nd trip.  The first was when we went to the St Louis area in June for a Blue Knights Conference.  

I like to get an early start so we can get to our overnight stop before it's too late.  By early, I'm talking 7 to 7:30 AM.  For us that's early.  Kind of hard to imagine being on vacation and starting out that early, but c'mon, we're burnin' daylight, boys!!  We try for about 500 miles a day, but after this trip we decided we are going to try to cat back to about 450 miles a day.

Our goal that Tuesday was Dalhart, Texas.  In 2018 I got to Dalhart about 6 PM after riding through rain until after I was past Hutchison, Kansas.  I figured that even though we were doubled up we'd be at Dalhart by 6 PM.

I had looked at the forecast in advance, but it ended up being a lot warmer than what the forecast called for.  We made a couple of extra stops and took more time than usual.  We ended up stopping for supper about 75 miles from Dalhart and by the time we were on the road again it was close to sundown.  Temperature cooled down to under 90 and except for killing a lot of bugs with the windshield, it was more pleasant than the earlier heat. 

Getting started in the morning, it had cooled off enough to put on the leather jackets.  Topped off with gas and headed out.  People say I-80 in Nebraska is boring; so is Hwy 54 from Dalhart to Tucumcari, New Mexico.  The Flying J was our first stop where we topped off with gas and grabbed some coffee.  Jan also tried on a new hat....

 

Back on the road with a goal of stopping in Tucumcari for lunch.  Daniel Herrerra, who was a catcher with the Lincoln Salt Dogs, is from Albuquerque.  While traveling with the Salt Dogs during the summer I talked to Daniel quite a bit.  I told him we would be going through Albuquerque about lunch time and asked him for his recommendations for lunch.  He told me about a Mexican place called Annie's, so that was our lunchtime destination. 

 We stopped at Cline's Corner to top off with gas and look around the huge souvenir shop but didn't buy anything.  After a cold drink from our cooler we were back on the road.  I liked this but didn't buy it....

                                           

We got to Annie's in time for the noon rush.  The place was almost full but we didn't have long to wait.  Daniel was right, the food there is great.  I recommend it if you're in Albuquerque looking for somewhere to eat.

Back on the road, we topped off with gas at the new Love's Travel Stop on the west edge of Albuquerque.  Every time we go through Albuquerque there's new stuff being built on that side of town.  I didn't mention it, but I-40 roughly follows the path of the old Route 66, the Mother Road.  It's sad because all the little souvenir places, cafes, motels, etc are all gone now, victims of the interstate highway system.  There are places that some of the ruins are still visible, and there are places you can still get off I-40 and ride/drive parts of Route 66.

Before getting to Albuquerque, we stopped to take a break at the Continental divide.  Some great scenery there, I made sure I got a couple of pictures.  If you look closely at the pictures, the altitude is over 7,000 feet; higher than the "Mile High City," Denver, Colorado.

Got to Holbrook, Arizona in good time, having made a reservation at the Days Inn earlier in the day.  Got the Gold Wing parked and suitcases out of the trailer.  Hot shower sure felt great after 499 miles this day.  After showering, we walked around the parking lot and got a few pictures.  Also saw a pickup that was pulling an enclosed trailer in the parking lot.  Had license plates from Wahoo, Nebraska.  At breakfast the next morning we talked to the couple that it belonged to.  The 3rd day would be a bit shorter, just 397 miles.  The only heavy traffic we should hit would be around Las Vegas.

 

Got a decent start on Thursday morning and stopped at Flagstaff for gas and coffee.  It wasn't real hot yet what with we were in a higher elevation.  I was sure that we wouldn't stop for gas before we got to Kingman.  I stopped at the Shell on the north side of I-40 at Seligman in 2018 and both gas and diesel were $4 a gallon.  No different this year; We used the restrooms and grabbed drinks out of the cooler on the trailer and away we went.

Before we got to Kingman, the DOT road signs were saying that our exit was closed due to an accident.  Sure enough, the exit was shut down, and that was the way we wanted to go without going 75 miles out of our way.  I got to the next exit and turned around, going back to the exit I wanted.  It was open to eastbound traffic.  However, northbound traffic on Hwy 93 out of Kingman was closed due to a bad accident on the north edge of Kingman.  The trooper we talked to didn't know for sure when the highway would open up again.

Being lunchtime, we decided to look around for food.  We started south into town but stopped at a small shop that had motorcycle paraphernalia.  Looked around there for a while and ended up buying a big furry seat cover that covered the entire seat of the bike, both driver and passenger.  By the time we were done there, traffic was moving slowly.  We topped off with gas and grabbed Subway at the same place.  Once we got back on the highway, traffic was moving almost normally, except near the crash sight.  Wreckers were getting ready to move the involved vehicles away.  As we went by, we could see that an ambulance ran into the back of a flatbed trailer.  Always makes a person think about how it may have happened - the highway there is 2 lanes in each direction....

No more incidents and we made it into Las Vegas through what they call "normal" traffic.  Topped off with gas and headed for Pahrump, 50 miles away on Hwy 160.  There had been road construction in 2018 and this was still going on now.  We got to our room just outside of Pahrump, unloaded the luggage and showered, then off to look for supper.  The next day we were supposed to be at Front Sight at 6:30 AM to check in and have our weapons inspected.  The next 4 days would be pretty intense as we would shoot 700 rounds in that time. 

    

Censorship????

I can look at Facebook but was put in Facebook jail for 7 days because I shared the election comment!!  Facebook said this was hate speech and goes against "Community Standards."  I can't post, like posts, make comments or use Messenger!!  I don't think Facebook has anything to do with these blog posts, so I hope I don't get censored here, too!

I am sure everybody is getting real tired of only hearing or seeing this coronavirus on every news outlet they turn to.  I know I am.  I am limiting myself to not watching any news.  I spent a good part of today watching Roy Rogers movies on YouTube.

I grew up watching Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Gene Aurty, Audie Murphy, John Wayne and other cowboy stars.  If only my kids and grandkids could have grown up watching them.  Roy Rogers was a mainstay for me.  Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Pat Brady, Roy's horse Trigger and German Shepard Bullet came to the Nebraska State Fair in 1958 and my family got to go!  The old wooden grandstands were packed and I got to see my hero up close!

My parents took us to California on vacation in August 1960,  We left Crete, Nebraska on Sunday evening & Dad & Mom drove all night to get to Dalhart, Texas where we stopped at a café for breakfast.  I remember having pancakes.  Dad's Studebaker didn't have air conditioning so we rode with the windows down as the day warmed up   When we got to Tucumcari, New Mexico, we turned west and followed the Mother Road, Route 66.

I remember that Mom packed a picnic basket and we stopped near Santa Rosa for lunch.  There was a rest area near a lake and I remember there being small lizards running around.  Keep in mind this was before there was an interstate so we were on a two lane highway the entire trip.  We went through the painted desert and the petrified forest.  Today the interstate bypasses these and unless a traveler specifically wants to go there, they will never see these places.  I also remember all of the little souviner shops, cafes and motels along the way.  Most of these died after the interstate was finished.

 After a week of driving we ended up in San Diego where Dad had a cousin and an aunt.  We went to the beach the evening we got there and again at least once during the day.  Dad took my brother and I to the Belmont Park amusement park where we took a ride on a huge wooden roller coaster called the Giant Dipper.  We were there at night and when the roller coaster came out of a dark tunnel, it climbed and climbed.  As it reached the top, I could see the Pacific Ocean on my right and Mission Bay on my left.

I thought sure that somewhere along the way I would catch a glimpse of Roy Rogers but if he was around I never saw him.  Through my 8 year old eyes, California had to be the coolest place on earth.  Unfortunately, I returned about 16 months ago and my view and opinion has changed.  Enough said.

We still have no idea when our dirt track racing season will start.  Since the weather is either too cold or too wet or both, I've been spending a few hours a day trying to get everything organized so when we finally get to go racing we will be ready.  We have a little ceramic heater that I put in the trailer.  I can close the trailer door and plug it in and the heater will keep it pleasant enough that I can work in there.  Slowly getting things organized in there.

 


Really hate all the delays in getting this race season started.  We just hope that when things start to return to normal we will have time to go racing.  I found this picture from Beatrice Speedway last season.

Tyler also has a sport mod that he wants to sell   It's IMCA legal, a 2001 Larkins with a 602 crate motor with about 10 nights on it, has a 1973-1977 front stub under it, underslung rear, complete turn key less rear gear for $4,500 firm.  This is the only picture I have of it.  This would make somebody a good starter car.

How do you run a (successful) race track?

I've thought about putting this on the Beatrice Speedway portion of dirtdrivers.com but it would probably be deleted.  I'll put it here first so if it is deleted it won't be lost.

I know there are a lot of other entertainment venues available these days than race tracks.  Real racers and fans are very loyal to racing.  When I first started going to the dirt track in the early 1970's, you had to get to the track an hour before hot laps to even get a seat in the grandstands.  As race fans, we went to a race at the Adams County fairgrounds on Hastings, Nebraska on a Sunday afternoon, then drove to Omaha's Sunset Speedway to see a race that evening.

After I started helping Al Humphrey on his late model in 1975, we went racing on Friday evening at either Red Cloud, Nebraska's Speed Bowl or Hastings, Nebraska on Friday, Mid-Continent Raceway on Saturday and either Lexington, Nebraska or Midwest Speedway in Lincoln, Nebraska on Sunday,  Later on, we would go to Eagle, Nebraska on Friday and Sunset Speedway on Sunday.

I moved away from Grand Island late in the summer of 1988 and ended up in Beatrice in November of 1989.  As long as I stayed away from the race track it did not bother me too much.  However, Beatrice Speedway had a large following at that time and I couldn't stay away.  On my days off and when I worked day shift, I hung out with a local late model racer, Johnny Saathoff.  He raced at Eagle on Friday, Mid-Continent on Saturday and Sunset on Sunday.  He also raced the NASCAR Busch All-Star Tour.  Everywhere we went, there were good car counts and the grandstands were packed.  When I wasn't able to go with Johnny, I would go to Beatrice Speedway.  Once again, you had to get there an hour before hot laps to get a seat as the grandstands were always full.

Fast forward to 1998.  My stepson, Jason Rosenthal and I bought a used "factory stock" and began racing at Beatrice.  The grandstands were still full and the car counts were great.  A whild back I found an old program and saw there were 52 factory stocks that year.  I know that not all were always at the track at the same time, but I also remember when there was a C Feature, B Feature and A Feature in the factory stocks.  Races at Beatrice at that time were on Saturdays.  Al Langdale was the track promoter.  You could like him or hate him but we had a good car count and grandstands were full.  Record numbers of the famous Beatrice Speedway gizzards were sold and it was said that thousands of dollars worth of beer was sold every race night.

Nobody can control the weather, no matter what the climate change zealots say.  I remember times we got to the track and part way into the show it rained.  Sometimes we could wait it out and the track could be re-worked and the show was finished.  Other times we loaded up and had to get pulled out of the pits by a tractor.

There started to be a big push to get the races over by 10 PM.  I understand people being tired of sitting in the grandstands, but if you have large car counts the races will take longer to finish.  If you buy or rent a home near a race track that has been there for over 50 years, you should expect that things could get noisy on race nights.  If you don't like it, don't buy or rent across the street from a race track.  Al Langdale left his position as promoter and since then there have been several promoters, but in my opinion none as successful as Al Langdale was in terms of putting cars on the track and butts in the grandstand.  Of course, as time has gone on, the cost of admission and concessions has gone up.  Pit passes have gone up and the cost of putting a race car on the track has gone up drastically.  Purses paid out to the drivers have not gone up for years, and car owners that don't have sponsors putting up a lot of money are leaving the sport.

Beatrice Speedway is actually run by the Gage County Fair Board.  In addition to having had a seemingly revolving door of promoters, a few years ago they hired Toby Kruse to be promoter.  However, Toby is also promoter for some Iowa tracks and he was only at Beatrice for Spring Nationals, the Gage County Fair and Octoberfest.  I am not sure what his current official capacity is, but his name was still on the registration form for Spring Nationals this year.

Moving right along, late in 2019, Beatrice Speedway advertised for a Marketing Director.  This person was to solicit track sponsorships as well as help put people in the grandstands and increase car counts.  Beatrice Speedway posted this opening on their website as well as their Facebook page.  In early January they announced that Chris Brown was hired to fill this position.  Within a short time, the Facebook page was filling up with questions posed to fans with many replies.  It looked to most people that were following the Beatrice Speedway Facebook page that there was some new enthusiasm coming to the races.  There were more posts in less than 2 months than there had been in 3 years prior to Chris coming on board.

However, this didn't last long.  Even though the Fair Board, and ultimately Beatrice Speedway, tried to not let the public know, Chris Brown was released from his position as Marketing Director.  Going to both the Beatrice Speedway website and the Facebook page, there has been no mention of this.  As a matter of fact, all mention of a marketing director and the hiring of Chris Brown has been deleted from the website as well as the Speedway's web page.  Chris made a statement on his own Facebook page that I am quoting here:

"I just wanted to say a few things;

I was so excited about the interactions I had online and in person. The passion is strong and that makes me happy. Together we accomplished a spark capable of turning into a healthy fire.

I was NOT hired as a consultant, even though some of the tasks on my plate would also fall on the plate of a consulting role, that was not my position.

I was critical of the board in an attempt to create a bridge between the hard feelings I encountered and the speedway. This was a strategy we didn't discuss beforehand, I simply acted on instinct. I operated our social media platform under my vision, with each and every post by design, no matter how random they may have seemed. I communicated as my own voice and not as the voice of the board.

The board did what they needed to do when visions and communication styles do not mesh, and that is to part ways. I appreciate the opportunity as I learned a lot in a very short period of time. It only makes me more hungry to give back to the sport I love so much.

You should go to the races, it's what we love and you still have a great place to do it. Although we were really going to have some fun together this year, that'll just have to wait for another time or another place. I'll be looking for other ways to help the racing community and my shop door is always open, Chris - 763-226-0725"  

For many years I have heard people say that the Fair Board does not want the track to succeed.  If that is true, they need to be replaced.  If it is not true, the people on the Fair Board need to step up and either do the work to keep Beatrice Speedway successful or turn the reins over to  someone who will.

Many of us are waiting for all this crazy Corona virus crap to get over with so we can get back to racing.  For myself, it's either Busch Light or Fireball, depending on what the weather is.  Most race tracks have decided to close for a while.  However, the last I checked, Marshalltown, Iowa is still planning to go ahead with their $5,000 to win King of the Hill on April 9th & 10th.  If I can figure out a way to spirit Tyler away from the shop for that time, maybe we will venture out if it does not cancel.

Ready to race but nowhere to race at; Beatrice Spring Nationals, Nebraska Dirt Crown; coronavirus scam???

Sure has been a long time since I've been on here.  Too long, as I almost completely forgot about it.  Maybe I will be able to keep up a bit more.

A lot has happened in the five years since I retired.  I've driven a charter bus for Windstar Lines as far west as San Diego and Pismo Beach, California to Marquez, Texas; New Orleans, Orlando and Washington, D.C.  Last summer I took the Lincoln Salt Dogs baseball team to most of their away games including a trip to Winnipeg for a 3-game series.  People talk about how boring it is to drive across Nebraska on I-80.  They need to drive I-29 north to Winnipeg.  Don't forget that when you cross into Canada you are driving in KPH, not MPH.

My calendar for this spring was starting to get filled up, but now my bus trips in the immediate future have cancelled.  The entire country is going ape-shit crazy about the coronavirus.  Old people are supposed to stay at home; no gatherings anywhere of over 10 people, and stay at least 6 feet away from other people.

If this weather would warm up and consistently stay that way I would do some serious traveling on 2 wheels.  Watching the forecast right now, it's will be in the 60's on Thursday but winter will return on Friday.  Winter storm warning for the western part of Nebraska and we could get thunderstorms tomorrow, then 60 next day and 30 the day after that.

The dirt track racing season was scheduled to kick off last weekend with the Beatrice Spring Nationals,  Mother Nature won that race.  With a threatening forecast for Friday and Saturday, track officials decided to move everything to Thursday and Friday in order to try to get the show in.  However, Mother Nature wouldn't have anything to do with that and the races were off as the forecast got even worse.  Thursday was cold and windy and Friday afternoon the snow came.  The track announced the races would be this weekend, March 19th - 21st.  However, with a return to winter and the nationwide coronavirus panic, the races have been cancelled/postponed indefinitely.

There was also a new 4-night, 4-track series, the Nebraska Dirt Crown, scheduled to kick off March 26th.  The series was to start at U.S. 30 near Columbus on Thursday, March 26th.  The next evening the tour was to go the I-80 Speedway off I-80 at the 420 Exit; Saturday evening was to be at Beatrice and Sunday afternoon at Thayer County Speedway at Deshler.  Classes running would be IMCA modifieds, sport mods, stock cars and hobby stocks.  Yesterday, the series was cancelled with a note that they may try to put the series on later in the season.  With the coronavirus panic spreading, the promoters had no choice but to cancel for the time being.

I guess in our neck of the woods this isn't all bad since the weather looks like it would have been less than favorable.

NASCAR cancelled the races at Atlanta last weekend and Homestead, Florida this weekend as well as Texas next week.  Who knows when things will get back to normal??

When the local race season finally starts, we should be ready to go.  We got a different open trailer at the end of last season and I am still trying to get it organized.  This extra time should help us be more prepared when the season finally starts.

In the meantime, we scheduled a motorcycle trip to Williamsburg in July.  Even though it's a few months away, I have been making plans and looking at routes and places to stay on the way there and back.  Our Blue Knights chapter is also co-hosting the Fall Midwest Regional Conference at Hot Springs, South Dakota in September.

We rode to Pahrump, Nevada in September to take a 4-day Defensive Handgun Course at the Frontsight Firearms Training Institute.  Pahrump is about 50 miles southwest of Las Vegas.  We rode as far as Dalhart, Texas the first day out and Holbrook, Arizona the second day.  We both agreed that 500 miles a day on the Gold Wing is a little on the "too far" side for us and we will try to cut back to 450 miles a day in the future.