One of my riding goals every year is to be a Tour of Honor rider and finisher. I've been riding this annual event since 2012, and for the first time, I was not a finisher in 2020. A lot of medical and pandemic-related issues conspired against me, I counted it a victory that I rode to one site in 2020, despite major back surgery in May.
I was also honored to be the ToH sponsor for California's 2021 memorials. I was able to ride and/or drive to all the locations, and document them for this season. I hope everyone has as much fun riding them, as I did finding them.
Nevada!
In January, I relocated permanently to Las Vegas - a big change we've been working towards for a few years. So naturally, an attempt at a trophy for Nevada was the plan for 2021.
The plan
When the locations published on March 31 at 9PM, I started a plan. A quick ride south to Goodsprings, then back north to Mesquite, and beyond. However, it was Cooooold! Most of Nevada was at or near freezing, without considering wind-chill factors.
Looking at the weather charts, I decided to head out at 4:30 AM.
NV5 - Goodsprings - 5:02 AM
The first location was NV5 - Goodsprings. The notes mentioned a little gravel. While the distance was small, it was a lot of golfball-sized rocks, ruts and a grade off the road to the cemetery. I also placed my 196 Chip at each memorial along the way. (Note - at the time of the ride, this was marked erroneously as 24 hours access - it is now Dawn to Dusk)
Nonetheless, a cool location to visit. Wrestling the Goldwing back on to the road made me glad it was cold. Is there a "hover-mode" option I can install?
Next stop -
NV7 Mesquite 6:41 AM
The morning sky was beginning to glow as I headed north to Mesquite. Unlike Goodsprings, this memorial was in a gas station, and made for a really cool photo
NV2 Beatty 9:17 AM
This location is a memorial to Fallen LEOs. I've traveled through Beatty many times, and it was cool to get off the main drag and see this at the police station in Beatty.
From here it was a long ride up US 95. Along the way I spotted wild mustangs and burros. (there were even Mustang and Bunny Ranches! 😂😂😂). Things were warming up for a beautiful riding day.
NV3 Carson City 2:21 PM
This was a tricky location for me. I made two mistakes. The first mistake was not printing out the photo page. The second was relying entirely on the app. When I arrived at the location, the app showed me an entirely different photo - so I just did my best. More on that later.
