| Salt Lake City, Utah to Lovelock, Nevada | |
| Day's Route Overview:
This is the reverse of the route I took two years ago. I
thought at that time that I-80 across Nevada must be the longest,
most boring road in the world. I will either confirm or refute
that this trip. I've been on some pretty strong rivals for
that honor |
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Starting out: Trip / Odometer / Time: 97.0 / 44,696 / 7:10 AM PDT |
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It was not too bad, all in all. But, today was hot. Starting out was nice, but by the time I reached Wendover it had already reached the low 90's When I got to Winnemucca, I sat drinking a lemonade and watched the outdoor sign go from 101 to 105 degrees in a matter of ten minutes. There are a lot of fires going on in Utah and Nevada. There are tremendous clouds of smoky haze that waifs over the road in various places. Sometimes quite thick. It's a good thing that I did change my route and not go through Las Vegas. According to the local news, I-15 was shut down because of the fires. That may have had me standing in the middle of the highway in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to go for many, many hours. Speaking of smells, we were talking about the smoke, I was
trucking through one of these hazy places smelling the smoke when I
thought I detected the smell of urine. This persisted for a
mile or two. Then a thought struck me, the truck ahead of me
by about a quarter mile looked normal enough, but when I pulled up
along side, it was carrying a large number of live hogs. "To
market, to market, to I had come across this phenomenon in the Dakotas, but at least
there they give you a sporting chance by having a distinct
appearance to the back of the truck. Mechanisms and doors to
on and off load the swine. This trailer looked like an
ordinary van from the rear. Not fair! |
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| There is no real place to stop between
Salt Lake City and
Wendover, Utah and
West Wendover, Nevada.
This is a distance of 120 miles. The Wendovers are a pair of
cities that span the Utah Nevada border. On one side are
casinos, on the other are the local businesses and parking lots. Wendover comes in a close second to remote Nebraska for the highest gasoline prices for this trip. I paid $3.629 for premium. Just before Wendover are the Bonneville Salt Flats. That's right, the place where they do all the land speed records. Through the salt flats, I-80 is dead straight for a distance of about 50 miles. This stretch is so straight that if you lined up cars bumper to bumper in both lanes, you could shoot a cannon ball down the white line and not hit anyone. That is except for the guy from New York who would open his car door and get out to see what the hang up was. |
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| At the Nevada welcome center, a rest stop, it is
really desolate. The signs in this photo are hard to read, but the one on the left warns of scorpions and snakes. The one on the right says "Pet Area". I guess this is for people who really don't like their pooch. |
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| At another rest stop, under the roof
there is a place where evidence of birds has accumulated. I looked up and there was the nest of a mud dauber with 5 little guys sticking their heads out. The mother did flit in and delivered a tidbit or two, but departed so quickly I could not get a photo of her. |
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| Today was a day to just ride and put the miles behind me so there are not all that many photos that are interesting. | |
| I was planning on stopping at
Winnemucca, Nevada,
but it was still pretty early in the day. So I went another 70
miles or so to
Lovelock. This will make tomorrow's trek home a
bit shorter. I rode almost all the way through town when I spotted the Lovelock Inn. It looks quaint and advertises that they have free wireless internet. It turns out to be really nice. Clean and friendly. It looks like it is maybe vintage late 40's or early 50's. Notice that the place to hang clothes is actually a closet with a door and everything. The lady at the front desk told me to park Lola on the front porch. She says it's kind of a ritual for all the riders who stay here. I put down a newspaper under Lola. She drools a bit in her sleep. I guess she must have learned that from me. Across the street about 150 yards away, is a main line railroad track. About every half hour or so a train goes by. This is not unpleasant to me. All I can figure is that it reminds me of my very young days in Omaha, Nebraska. We weren't near the tracks then, but the trains can be heard across the city at night laying in bed resisting the sandman. Is I am writing this, the sound of a train going by arose. Strangely, there were no sounds of the locomotives. I looked out the window curtains and we are having a dry rain squall. Just like a thunder shower, but there is no precipitation. Just the dark clouds overhead and the strong winds. No lightening yet. The news channels warned that the weather was right for dry lightning storms exacerbating the fire conditions. Glad Lola and I are safely tucked away for the night. |
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Done for the day: Trip / Odometer / Time: 71.8 / 45,129 / 4:20 PM |
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ABC Letters: States: Nevada Day's Totals: 433 miles, 9 hours 10 minutes |
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Updated: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 05:57:40 PM