At this point, shortly less than a month after starting this trip, I really was getting a little exhausted with sightseeing. If I had someone with me, it might be different. It was fun for the brief time Dan was with me. This feeling of exhaustion and being oversaturated with sightseeing happened about one month into my 2008 cross country trip, and it happened in Utah that time as well.
I needed to keep moving one way or another. This hotel was expensive, and the big Choice Hotels promotion was over. I could no longer earn huge amounts of points by paying for stays. It was now time to start using all those points I had earned. I had two choices. I could head east along I-70 and backtrack the way I had come through Utah when heading west. I could see Capitol Reef National Park today, and then see Canyonlands National Park the next day. Capitol Reef was four hours from Hurricane, UT (where I was currently located) and then another three hours to Green River, UT for the next hotel. The Green River hotel required a high number of points but I was willing to pay it. The other consideration was church. Green River, UT had a mission church with no web site of its own and a claim (on another web site) that it had a Mass on Saturday evening at 6pm. Would I realistically get to it on time after exploring a park that was a ways off the interstate? Probably not. The other option was for a church in Moab, UT, which had one Sunday Mass at 9am. Moab was an hour from Green River. I'd have to be out of the hotel by 7:45 at the latest to make sure I got to church on time. If I missed the 9am Mass, there were no other options.
In addition to the church concern, there was another concern. After driving all the way through Utah on I-70, the next state on that road is Colorado. The hotels along I-70 in Colorado were not only expensive, but required a lot of points for a free night. That did not sit well; I wanted to be able to reasonably dole out points, not squander a significant number for a single night merely because of the location.
Considering all of this, I decided to head north instead of east. I chose to go to Salt Lake City. There was a decent hotel there which I had stayed at two years ago and which required a minimal amount of points. Catholic churches were readily available in Salt Lake City. Furthermore, it allowed me to visit Wyoming, which is one of my absolute favorite states in the country. I had been all the way across northern Wyoming in my 2008 trip, so I wanted to drive across southern Wyoming on this one.
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This would be like a zig zag trip. I was just off I-80 when I stayed in Elko, Nevada. Then I went further south to see the state parks. I then went north into Utah to see Zion National Park. Now I was going further north back to the I-80 corridor. In a few days, I would be zig zagging again by going to Wichita, Kansas. Wichita is further south of the I-70 corridor. Here is a map of the zig zag...
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Most of the drive involved I-15. The scenery in the south was beautiful. I enjoyed just watching it as I continued north. I-15 connects to I-70. As I got near I-70, I noticed everything had clouded over. It is possible that this is how it was at Capitol Reef National Park, in which case pictures would have been lousy anyway.
As I continued further north, the red rock formations gave way to darker colors. Mountains had more and more snow covering. In one case, there was a scene of snow capped mountains that looked like it came right out of the movies. It almost looked like a fake background. But it was beautiful. It looked like something you might see in the opening of a Paramount movie.
As I continued further north, I saw a sign which I had to read multiple times to make sure I got it right. The speed limit read 80. I had read that the only place that allowed 80mph speeds was Texas, and even then only in limited places and only during the day. (Although Montana is rumored to have no speed limit, their speed limit of 75mph is well posted on all interstates. Non-interstate roads in Montana are up to 70mph.) Utah having an 80 mph speed limit was something new to me. A smaller sign below the speed sign indicated this was a test for the next 17 miles. I continued to keep my cruise control at 70. This car goes through gas like crazy at 75mph so I was definitely not going to do 80. I didn't see too many other cars suddenly picking up speed either.
As I moved further north, the speed went back to 75. But once or twice again, I entered another 80mph test area.
As I got closer to Salt Lake City, the sky was completely overcast. Occasionally there was light snow. The mountains had more and more snow covering them. When I got into the vicinity of Salt Lake City, there was a traffic jam. I wasn't used to this as the last traffic jam I had experienced was in San Francisco. The Salt Lake City traffic jam seemed to go on forever. I really expected I was not going to make the 5pm Mass on Saturday evening. I really wanted to go Saturday because I had a seven hour drive planned for Wyoming on Sunday. I began to assume I would not make it and think negatively. I needed more faith in God. Ultimately, the traffic moved. I managed to get to the church about two minutes before Mass started. Even then, the parking lot was full. I had to park in a neighborhood street and run to the church as fast as I could. I still managed to get in just before the procession.
After Mass ended, I had dinner (Subway as usual) and then went to the hotel. Salt Lake City is not as obnoxious with red light cameras on literally every intersection like Las Vegas. Also, it seemed they were far more generous with their yellow light timing. Getting to the hotel, it was finally nice to be able to have a rest before getting ready for my big seven hour drive in Wyoming.
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