As you can see, things are very dry, very arid, with little vegetation of any kind.
About halfway between Ely and Delta is the Nevada-Utah state line and the only gas for the entire distance between the two cities. The gas station/convenience store is interesting. The gas station and convenience store part of the enterprise sits on the Utah side of the border, and the slot machines are on the Nevada side of the border, with the border running right through the store. I didn't try my luck, though.
So, I'm getting close to Delta, actually about a mile west of the little settlement of Hinkley, when all of a sudden the bike starts to feel real "loose" and doesn't want to track in a straight line. Not good if you've only got two wheels under you. See if you can tell what the problem was:
Well, if you look really closely, you can just see that the rear tire is flat as a fritter. I tried to re-inflate it and even put fix-a-flat in it, but then I realized that air was coming out of the inner tube around the base of the valve stem. Fortunately, this didn't happen 50 miles down the road, and I had cell phone coverage, so I called the Roadside Assistance number for my HOG membership, and they arranged to have me picked up and taken to the nearest Harley dealership, which was about 100 miles north in Provo. We got there about 4:15 and, fortunately, the service department jumped right on things and had me out the door in about 90 minutes. So...instead of spending the night in southern Utah, I'm in northern Utah.
But, everything's fine, no lasting damage to me or the bike, and I'll be headed to Flagstaff tomorrow and then on to Phoenix on Thursday.
Miles today (only counting miles the bike actually ran!):153
Total: 4,857