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Day 14 – Reno, Here We Come

This morning Marco went off to work on his motorcycle again. It’s quickly becoming a trend. He wakes up earlier to go try and fix his bike while Gomes and I sleep in a bit more and then try to get some content created. As Gomes and I strapped our gear to our bikes we met a guy who used to live in Jersey. We get his name, Mike Silva, and I immediately ask if he’s Portuguese. Gomes and I are surprised when he says he’s Italian. Mike is headed to Burning Man. He had done Burning Man a few years back but was taking his wife this year.

It was about noon when Gomes and I headed for the Walmart in town to purchase an extension cord and some ratchet straps as well as some other miscellaneous items.

  

The night before we had figured out that Marco’s battery wasn’t charging while riding so he’d leave it charging overnight and then we’d be good for about an hour or so of riding the next day. So with the battery charged and no luck finding a permanent fix while working on the bike, Marco meets us at Walmart. We head to Denny’s for brunch before we set back on the road. While consuming our food we plan the day. The plan is to ride for about an hour at a time and then stop in town to run a quick charge on the battery and set back out for another hour. We pretty much town hopped from Elko to Reno, which was fun and what I would originally loved to have done; had we unlimited time.
We make our first stop in Battle Mountain and Marco quickly charges the battery. We’re in town for about 45 minutes and then head out. Our second stop was in Winnemucca. While waiting here we were discussing timing and where we planned to stay for the night. I was adamant about pushing through to Reno. We left Winnemucca about an hour after arriving. 

Our third stop was in Lovelock. I must say, not what I expected. It was a fairly dead town. Marco finds an outlet outside a car wash and quickly plugs in. We wait for about 20 minutes at this stop and then head back out.

  
The sun was quickly falling and we make a dash to Reno and cross our fingers that the BMW won’t die before we get there. Our fourth and final stop for the night was our destination in Reno. We had finally made it. It was about 9pm and we were actually surprised when we first rolled in as Reno is a lot bigger and busier than we had expected. No complaints from me since at this point with all the troubles we’d been having I was just happy to reach civilization or somewhere where the bike could get looked at if needed.
We settle in and before calling it a night we decide that tomorrow we will make the dash into San Francisco, California and maybe have the bike checked there. Marco charges the battery and then we call it a night. Tomorrow we’re riding into Cali.

Published in 6 On Asphalt