MN to CA Day 3: White Sands of Salt Lake and a Storm in Nevada

Friday, August 29, 2003. 535 miles in 10.5 hours

See the Photo gallery for a lot more photos of this trip.

 

Up and on the move in Rock Springs, Wyoming, at the crack of 11. It takes a while to get this crew out of a motel! Practically down the block from our motel – now, this is a rude awakening. Sam is wondering what is so interesting about a run down building, but he is just beginning to grasp the meaning, and Bob can only stare in horror. “Why are you slowing down?!? Get us out of here!”

Anyone notice a stylistic trend on the part of the photographer yet? I call it the “back of Bob’s head motif”, or BOBHM, for short, and I warn you that there is more coming.

Another favorite on this trip is the lookout over the Red Rock canyon east of Salt Lake City, where the Mormons tried to hold off the Federal Army. When there, you can see how they lasted so long from those high cliffs. And it gets hot!! It was well over 90 degrees this day, and we still had the flats to cross.

The desert and salt flats west of Salt Lake City is a very strange place. Just down off the shoulder is a miles-long stretch of “graphitti” in stones, made by people with too much time on their hands. We stopped to see a strange roadside attraction (see photo gallery), and some of the graphitti, but they didn’t translate to digital film in that light. Plus we could see a storm brewing, and I would prefer to avoid yet another desert storm, if I could.

We stopped for gas at the last stop in Utah, and continued west into the sparse mountains of Nevada. After missing the effects of the storms all around us, our luck finally ran out. It started raining and I noticed the the bike bouncing around in the mirrors, so I stopped at a nearly deserted town to check it out. The wind nearly ripped the door off when I opened it, and it felt like winter in my shorts and T-shirt. With us going 70, and the wind coming at us at about 50 – well, you do the math. I got back in and drove around the boarded up station to find some wind shelter, tested the ropes and cables, and moved on. But, I was a little sleepy and pulled over in a rest stop at the top of a long hill and napped a bit. Thankfully, the rain stopped soon and I called ahead for a motel in Winnemucca and pressed on.

Continue on to Day 4 …