August 26, 2008 - Elko, NV to Salt Lake City

Note: Photos for this day have not yet been posted.

Finishing up in Elko
This was my final day in Nevada. I took some photos of downtown Elko. I visited the Western Folklore Museum, which was almost around the corner from the hotel. The museum primarily focused on ranching families in the Nevada and California area. One thing that I found particularly interesting was that they had what looked like an old television set. It was far from old because there was a panel where you could select videos to play. The picture quality was excellent. The exterior of the television set may have been old but that was just a facade. Inside, everything was modern.

I had to get to Utah the next day. I had a reservation in Salt Lake City. I wanted to see some of western Utah along the way. In particular, I wanted to see the Bonneville Salt Flats. But, I decided one last look at Lemoille Canyon couldn't hurt. It was about 30 minutes away from Elko (and Elko is along I-80). But, I decided I just needed to see the end of the canyon.

Lamoille Canyon again
Once I got there, I found I was so close to the end when I visited the day before. Too bad I didn't just keep going. I got a number of photos of the area. I also got some photos of the spots I had seen yesterday but from the perspective of leaving the park.

Back roads to I-80
At the end of the park, I used the GPS to get to I-80. It took me through back roads. These provided gorgeous scenery. Most were unpaved. Many did not even have road signs. Some were county roads according to the GPS while others had specific names. Sometimes, the stones were so bad that I could only go 10mph. Typically, no speed limit was posted. The stones took care of that.

At one point, the GPS took me down a road which seemed quite narrow. It passed through a ranch style gate which was open. At a certain point, another ranch gate was present. It was open, but next to it was a "No Trespassing" This was not indicating that the lands surrounding the road were private; it was identifying the road itself as private. I had already driven about nine miles on this road. So, I turned around and went back. The GPS pointed out another, longer route out to a main highway which eventually connected to I-80. As I got closer, I saw mountains but did not see any kind of highway. I wondered if the GPS was giving me the correct route or if I might just come to a dead end. As I got closer, I finally found that there was a "hidden" state highway. The highway was at 70mph.

Wells, NV
My first stop along I-80 was Wells, NV. Since I needed more postcards, I knew I could get them in Wells. I stopped at a different travel center from the one I had stopped at on Sunday. They did not have any postcards. I went to a travel center across the street and found some.

I didn't have a street address for the Bonneville Salt Flats. The points of interest in the GPS works for the overall area, but it typically won't work when your specific point of interest is close to 100 miles away. I didn't realize there was a municipality in Utah called Bonneville. But, I knew there was a border city named West Wendover, NV. I set that as my next destination on the GPS.

Montello, NV
I saw an exit for a place called Montello, NV. This is the last name of a former co-worker. Unfortunately, I was running out of time and it was too far north for me to visit the area.

West Wendover, NV
As I approached West Wendover, NV (note there is a Wendover, UT), the scenery along I-80 became even more beautiful. There were really nice rock formations. I also noticed what looked like snow all over the ground. However, being that the temperature was in the 80s, I knew this was not snow. It had to be salt.

As I got off the interstate and drove into West Wendover, I noticed the much larger casinos. I also saw "Wendover Will," a large neon cowboy statue that welcomed people to West Wendover. I later looked at one of my postcards and found the neon statue featured on it along with other scenes from Nevada. The statue not only welcomes people to West Wendover, but it also welcomes people to Nevada itself.

Getting out of West Wendover was interesting. The GPS told me to turn left. I ended up driving into a trailer park development. The GPS kept giving me incorrect instructions. Finally, I got myself out of the development on my own and found my way back to I-80.

Bonneville Salt Flats
I crossed the Utah border. I crossed into the Mountain Time Zone and lost an hour. I got off the interstate at exit 4. As I drove along to the Bonneville Salt Flats, I noticed the ground on either side of the road was covered in salt with a layer of mud below it. Signs asked people not to park along these areas because they were trying to preserve the salt flats.

Finally, I got to the Bonneville Salt Flats State Park. This is one that has no admission fee. The road serves as a parking lot at this point. I walked around quite a bit simply being amazed at the salt along the ground. In a way it looks just like a snow fall. However, this salt won't melt. It does get discolored and dirty if you walk on it, but that is to be expected. See the photos.

There is an international speedway in the park. People can drive on the salt at speeds over 100 mph legally. The area where driving is allowed has been packed down so hard.

A man was there with his motorcycle. He had been sitting there for quite a while just taking in the area. He invited me to drive my car out on the salt flats. He explained how flat it is and the amazing feeling it is to drive fast out there. I declined since this was a rental car. I agreed not to take it offroad. An agreement is an agreement. Furthermore, if anything happened out there and I needed roadside assistance, I'd be caught. Still, my primary reason for declining was because I agreed not to do it at the time I signed the lease.

In talking further, I found the motorcyclist is from Ireland. He is on a six month trip. He came here with his motorcycle. He flew into Toronto, Canada. He drove all the way up to northern Alaska on his bike. He will eventually go all the way to the southern tip of South America. He plans to be there on December 22nd. He plans to get to Mexico by September 10th. He makes my simple cross country trip seem like nothing. I wouldn't dare drive to Alaska from here by car. But this person did it through Canada on a motorcycle no less.

Another man showed up. He was a college student heading from Oregon to Iowa. He is taking journalism and suggested the motorcyclist consider writing a book about his travels. The motorcyclist is blogging the trip and handed cards to both of us. He said he would evaluate his writing to see if it's worthy of print once he has completed the trip.

Both of them urged me to go out on the salt flats. The college student said he planned to do some 360s with his car. He invited me to ride in his car since I didn't want to bring my car out there. I politely declined, saying I had to get to Salt Lake City for the night. It was a two hour ride and I did want to get going. The college student promised it would be short if I rode with him. While I'm sure he was perfectly okay, I just didn't want to get in the car of a complete stranger. Also, I really wasn't ready to sit in a car while someone did a 360.

I took photos of both of them driving out on the flats. The motorcyclist went out there standing on the pedals of his bike. The college student did several 360s. I made a quick phone call. After finishing up, I was about to leave when I noticed the motorcyclist. He went right past me and went down the road still standing on the pedals. That's quite risky.

Salt everywhere
As I drove further along I-80, I noticed the salt on the ground stretched for miles and miles. It just looked so amazing because before that day, this is something I've never seen before. On a side note, I should also point out that Utah is one of the only states where I have seen interstate signs warning against drowsy driving.


At some points, I-80 runs along the Great Salt Lake. In some cases, I noticed a thick layer of salt along the edges of the water. This two was absolutely amazing.

Turning in the rental car...or maybe not
I had to turn in the rental car. It was over the 3,000 miles (which is when I'm supposed to turn it in). I also wanted to get away from the CA plate. While it's perfectly fine in places like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, etc., it's not as good when I go further east. Salt Lake City has a large airport. I expected I would be able to get a new car at any point.

The Hotel
I stayed at the Quality Inn Airport in Salt Lake City. This hotel was only a couple of miles from the airport. It was a really busy place. Even late at night I had to wait in a long line to check in. It's got a hotel price (though I was paying with points so that didn't matter to me) for a motel feel. The parking lot is out front and there are several buildings connected together. This involves long walks, lugging lots of stuff. The room was okay but the walk and the busyness were not. I planned to stay in Salt Lake City for another night but decided a different hotel might be best for the second night.