The main attraction at the Park were the Lehman Caves, an underground wonderland of stalagmites and stalactites. We managed to tag onto a tour just after we arrived. The caves were well laid out with good paths and lighting. The special thing about these caves were the ":shield" formations which were discs of limestone that sometimes had overflows that made them look like seaweed. The shields were formed very slowly by the seeping of water and evaporation in an ever spreading flat plate and were very unusual
Shield Formations in the Lehman Caves
We had lunch in the café and found out there was a big railway museum in Ely, which was the next town, but we really didn't have the time to stop there. We rode across the plains and mountains of Utah and Nevada on Hwy 50 - "the loneliest highway in America" so you can imagine how deserted the landscape was. But Alan and I thought this is where Australia has it over America, the Nullarbor Plain or the west Coast of WA is way more lonely than Hwy 50! It was getting hotter and the sun was sinking in the West and shining in our eyes. At one place Rafe stopped and pointed out a huge sand dune made by the wind between the mountains. You could see the tiny dune buggies driving up and down the slopes.
Dune Buggies on a Desert Sand Dune
We had a few short sharp rain showers to keep us busy taking our rain gear on and off again. We reached a town called Fallon and found more traffic lights on one stretch of road than we had seen on the whole trip. We were definitely back in suburbia. We rode up into the hills near Carson City to a town called Virginia City. It had been an old mining town and had many well preserved old buildings and was used as a location for TV and movies. Rafe wanted to take us to a saloon called quaintly The Bucket of Blood! There was a rock-a-billy band playing and we had a welcome beer.
Alan and Rafe outside the Bucket of Blood in Virginia City
We left Virginia City on the final leg of our trip down into the valley and then up over Mt Rose to Lake Tahoe. Rafe was like a Greek bus driver - he rode faster the closer he was to home! We both took off up the mountain and gave the Harleys a good thrashing. We stopped at the top of the pass to celebrate our ride and wait for Alan and I noticed that Rafe's bike was making some bad wheezing noises. It turned out that Rafe's bike was damaged trying to stay ahead of me and he eventually decided to trade it in on a new one. "Ol' Blue" had had its day! We rode into the garage together after 562 miles from Beaver.
Morag and Dianne were in the kitchen preparing some pasta for dinner and tucked in but soon were in bed after 2,700 miles in 9 days and some fantastic scenery with some great blokes. All in all a memorable trip - thanks Rafe!
Rafe and Dianne our Superb Hosts!
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