Day 1 - Burns to Lakeview

Burns to Jct 395 isn't bad at all. I stopped at Riley's to rest for a few minutes about 2pm. The time zone changed back before burns, but I will keep local time until tomorrow morning. Hwy 395 sucked. Super straight, super boring, and I was getting extremely tired of riding as well. I probably pulled over every 20 minutes to recover for a few and take some pictures. The temps are warming up to 85 or so.

In the desert they call this a "lake", okay actually it's a (dry) Alkali Lake. I watched a massive "dust devil" probably 1000 feet high and 100 feet wide roll over it picking up tons of sand and dust and then go right across the highway about a mile in front of me. Glad I wasn't in it.

A few miles later was Abert Lake (alkali but with some water in it still). The road improved greatly as it wound around the Lake. While stopped at road construction at the end of Lake Abert, I noticed that my face was hot and getting sunburnt. It was only at this point that I thought to put on some sunscreen--too late.

I was exhausted and needed to get to Lakeview soon. I had read a sign about Oregon's only active geyser "Old Perpetual" at Lakeview that "spews steam 60 feet in the air every 90 seconds". What I saw was a complete and utter joke. Its a pipe in a pond that shot water 20 feet; it looked like a busted sprinkler head. What a waste of time that was.

In Lakeview the gas pump girl said that the geyser was "broke" cause they used all the steam to run their hot spring pools at the "resort" there. I found a place to get a beer and crashed for an hour from 4:15-5:15. Much better after resting. I needed to make it to at least Alturas and hopefully Susanville to find a hotel for the night.