Jim Skeans and his wife Susan

My wife, Susan and I made the trip on our Harleys from our home here in NJ to Tahoe 
and then down through the mountains, over to the coast and down to LA last June-July. 
NV was a highlight.  We started out from our home on the afternoon of June 23rd 
and pulled into Lake Tahoe in the early afternoon of July 3rd.  
We flew back home from LAX on the 9th after tuning our bikes over
to the guys at Bartels Harley-Davidson for shipping back to NJ.
Not a drop of rain the whole trip!!  

Anyway as I remember the longest distance between gas stations was 110 miles
and it could have been the stretch between Austin and Fallon. Not a problem
as I tested my road king before leaving NJ and the tank went empty at 218
miles and my wife's softtail deluxe gets the same mileage as the road king
so both bikes are on the same fill-up schedule. In every instance where the
distance between gas stations was significant there were signs by the road
warning to fill up now.

I know on the whole trip the longest I ran between fill-ups was 130 to 140
something like that and it was my decision to wait that long (looking for 94
octane).  Once out of the "main street of America" section of route 50 and
into the "loneliest road in America" section we filled up every 100 miles or
so just for comfort.

You are in for a great ride. I now wish we had spent more time in Nevada
areas such as "Sand Mountain", the ghost towns and places like that. By the
way if we had been low on gas around "Sand Mountain" I am sure we could have
borrowed some as the place was an RV city!

When you fill up in Austin don't forget to pay for your gas.  We came into
Austin on the long stretch from Ely and just could not wait for an ice
cream.  As I filled up we were so excited talking about the stretch of road
we had just completed and what kind of ice cream we were going to have I
simply forgot to "pay inside" (all along the trip it was always pay at the
pump.) We went directly to the ice cream parlor and it was only a few
moments until the local law enforcement came inquiring as to the ownership
of those Harley's parked out front.

It was an interesting transition for me from thinking he was a Harley
enthusiast to realizing his interest was in my lawlessness (I am not a very
good thief as it turns out).  He was very cordial and even offered to wait
until we were ready to leave before escorting me back to the gas station to
pay for our "looted gas".  We staged the attached picture to commemorate the
occasion.  We received a post card from the lovely lady who runs the ice
cream-general-store-restaurant where we were apprehended letting us know
that we have since become legend in Austin as the "gas stealing motorcycle
gang". But, all is forgiven and we are welcome back anytime.

We are planning a rerun soon and I can't wait!
Regards,  Jim Skeans
jimskeans@jimskeans.com