Started 30 minutes later than planned again. Went by McDonalds in Elko to get breakfast, and they screwed up the order, so I ended up having 1/4 of a hash brown and a cup of orange juice for breakfast. A light rain in Elko followed us out on I-80, changing in intensity slowly until we approached the mountains at the Nevada-Utah border - where it became torrential. The change in weather upon crossing the mountains was amazing - a black sky turned white (but still cloudy) and the rain vanished.
Bonneville: Leave only tire marks, take only trap speeds
The sky isn't the only thing to turn white when you cross the border - the ground does too. Brown dirt and scrub give way quite rapidly to white salt flats, and pretty soon you'll see signs for Bonneville. The Bonneville Salt Flats State Park is home to the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway, perhaps the most famous site for super-high-speed and speed-record racing in the USA (if not the world). Sadly, it had been raining on this side of the mountains too, and conditions were no good to head out onto the salt. We had to settle for walking around a bit on the salt, and taking pictures:
Salt Lake City: The City That Wasn't
The plan for the day was to head east from Elko along I-80, and meet with the rest of the family in Salt Lake City (where they had flown in). Except for the diversion to Bonneville, that was going swimmingly...until the intersection of I-80 and UT-36 near Tooele. At this point, the entire highway was shut down and directed off onto a side road. Earlier in the morning, there was a fatality accident on 80 in which a pickup truck hit a FedEx truck towing three trailers...carrying live ammunition. As put by KSL.com:
The collision caused both vehicles to catch fire. The Fed-Ex truck was transporting ammunition, which added an extra hazard to the scene.
UHP Sgt. Jeff Nigbur said, "Ammunition has been going off periodically due to a fire that started in the cab and moved back to the first trailer.
Instead of getting lunch in SLC as per the plan, we grabbed some food in Lake Point, and then took the long way around: UT-36 to UT-73 to I-15 -- around 75 miles for what should have been a 20 mile drive.
It turned out to be great. These two highways go through some very scenic terrain around Eagle Mountain. Near the intersection with 15, we had plenty of time to appreciate the scenery, as we ran into a traffic jam running about 5 miles. No accident this time - just a pair of stoplights and a bunch of road construction. Because of the long delay in getting to Salt Lake, we decided to meet up in Heber City, on the way to Vernal, instead.
US-189 and US-40: Heber City to Vernal
This pair of roads is one of the prettiest stretches of highway I've so far had the luck to drive (93 through Banff and Jasper is still #1 - but this is pretty scenic). They wind up and down through Wasatch Mountain State Park and the Uinta National Forest. In particular, the road runs over Starvation Reservoir, and the contrast between the brilliant blue water and the orange rock is amazing (sadly, the brightness of the water doesn't come out as well in the picture):
After another hour and a half or so, we arrived in Vernal, which turned out to be a much larger town than expected.
Tonight's dinner review: Don Pedro's Mexican Restaurant
This restaurant is located a bit outside the main strip of Vernal, and you'll probably think you're lost trying to get to it - there's a whole lot of nothing before you get to it. Once we got there, though, dinner was pretty good, and very well priced. For the second night in a row, there was more food than we could finish. It's not the best Mexican food I've had, but it'll certainly do, especially for a small town. The chips and salsa (and bean dip) were excellent, and I heard rave reviews of the fajitas. My enchiladas suizas were tasty and filling.
Verdict: 4 stars - food was tasty, service was prompt, and portions were generous and affordable. Do make sure you get directions before heading out, though.
Tomorrow: Vernal to Dinosaur to Cheyenne
Nice posts so far. Sweet pic of the car by Bonneville - the rain made it nice and shiny.
ReplyDeleteWooted today. Thought you should know.