Finding gas stations for a road trip

[seralat]

Panacea to Tonopah, NV, is 200+ miles with no gas unless you know to take a detour south about 10 miles at the junction of Highways 93 and 375. So it sometimes pays to do research on where gas is and isn't available if you don't have a big tank or carry extra fuel.

 

[Cincinnatus]

Just curious, how many carry an extra fuel container(s) on long road trips?

Came in VERY handy (ok, essential) for one of my road-buds on the way back from Hawthorne this year.

Without that gas, they would have been stranded for at least 45 minutes while a gas run was made.

 

[team1813]

Panacea to Tonopah, NV, is 200+ miles with no gas unless you know to take a detour south about 10 miles at the junction of Highways 93 and 375. So it sometimes pays to do research on where gas is and isn't available if you don't have a big tank or carry extra fuel.

Clearly Tonopah must be the official "middle of nowhere" as I had 94 miles of no gas from Beatty to Tonopah, and then about 80 miles to get gas in Benton from Tonopah.

 

[boney]

Clearly Tonopah must be the official "middle of nowhere" as I had 94 miles of no gas from Beatty to Tonopah, and then about 80 miles to get gas in Benton from Tonopah.

Don't forget the 170 miles to Eli on 6.arty

 

[team1813]

Don't forget the 170 miles to Eli on 6.arty

yea, I google mapped that route. Looks pretty uninteresting, although, I'd like to do it sometime.

While boring as hell and desolate. I kind like riding the 95 and 6 and being out there alone. While in Tonopah, I ran into some guys that trailered their bikes from Virginia just to ride that part of the country.

I think next summer I'm gonna hit up Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. Weather should be more enjoyable anyway.

 

[smm]

I've been from New Mexico to North Dakota to British Columbia, and all points in between, at least once, on bikes with as little as 120 mile range. Since they got gas in Rachel, Nv in the late 90's, there really is nowhere on paved roads you need to worry about gas.

Tonopah to Ely, 160 paved miles, no services. Just saying...

 

[reidconti]

Up in northern BC, when my GPS was always telling me "300 miles to the next gas", you'd be amazed at how many gas stations you run across.

I do remember the 3 of us booking past a gas station, having only done 40 or 50 miles since our last fill-up, and then passing a blue sign saying "Next Gas 160km" ... I laughed to myself, as all 3 of us cut the throttle, all 3 heads dropped, looking at how many miles we had gone, trying to convert km to miles, and trying to figure out if we could make it that many (converted) miles.

Of course, after we filled up, it turned out there *was* a gas station a lot sooner than 160km.

The first rule of thumb is: if you have a doubt in your mind, fill up...

The other rule of thumb is: ... there is always gas where you don't expect it.

 

[Marcoose]

OP, try myscenicdrives.com.

You can set your "daily" trips to hours and minutes that correspond to the number miles you can get out of a tank. Disregard the overnight stops, of course. You can also add destinations and scenic stops.

Not 100% of what you're looking for, but perhaps 70%.

Otherwise, planning a trip these days is child's play. That's why God invented Google.

 

[thedub]

Never.

And this is a source of pride, apparently? Explain.

 

[Cincinnatus]

Oh, snap...

 

[killfile]

Tonopah to Ely, 160 paved miles, no services. Just saying...

This is one of only two spots I've ever really had a problem with gas, and I've ridden in 49 of the 50 states.

Don't over plan your trip, just deal with each day, worry about gas on those days.

oh, the only other place I had a gas issue was around the Badlands, but we found a little town of trailers that had a gas just in time.

 

[Kewl Breeze]

Having crossed country east west and south north and never using a gps, planned map or anything other than road signs I never ran out of gas but I did cut it close several times. The only times I cut it close was similar to reidconti's post above where I filled up, rode about 70 miles, passed a station and then got into mountainy areas with long stretches until next station ... which I coasted into on fumes. When you get into mountainous regions you might want to fill up quicker than usual as those sometimes seem to have the longer stretches between gas.