Category Archives: 2011 – Trains Highways and SLC

It was sad to leave Mandy and Earl and Salt Lake City, but onward we went. Today was a day full of steam engines and the Loneliest Road in America. I traveled this way before on Scoot 66 and loved it so much, I just had to share it.

On some roads, it doesn’t much matter which way you travel them, but on US Route 50 across Utah and Nevada, it does. In 2008, I took the road east. This year, I took it west. Now I feel like I’ve truly traveled the road and that I only saw half of it until we took this trip.

It would be hard to pick a favorite day from this mini vacation, but this day provided a lot. We traveled 710 miles, which seems like WAY too many to do in a day, but on roads like this, it’s all about the driving. Sure, I would have loved to have more time to see things and do things, but we didn’t have the time and still came away with an amazing run.

Anyway, please follow along with us…

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICS!

The third day of the trip was kind of a day off. We decided to spend it with Mandy and Earl in SLC and ended up only traveling 267 miles. That was due to a trip back to the Golden Spike, but mostly to see the Spiral Jetty, which is close by.

The drive there is boring, but we made it fun with talk of Mormons and general fun. I pretty well was in my happy place at the Golden Spike Park, as they had two working steam locomotives that replicated the two engines at the original Golden Spike ceremony in 1869 when the Transcontinental Railroad was finished on this very spot. Heck yes!

The Spiral Jetty is more of a Smartz thing, but I really really dig it too. You’ll have to see the pics to really see what I’m talking about.

We ended the day with some amazing vegan food.

Salt Lake City is probably my second favorite city ever. And if it weren’t for their stupid winters, I’d move there.

Favorite thing said this day was said by Mandy to Earl… “Why are you so cute, Earl. Makin’ me love you. Stupid Earl.”

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THE PICS.

After a quick stop at Snake River Canyon (Snake River is probably my favorite river ever), we spend much of the day on the old Transcontinental Railroad bed running from very near the Nevada/Utah border to Promontory, Utah where they drove in the Golden Spike in 1869.

There was a possible fuel emergency, a mapping problem, a getting lost problem and a weird thing where we couldn’t find a road, so when to Nevada and then back to Utah and then back to Nevada and then back to Utah all in an attempt to find the road. Which we did.

The story of the day will unfold as you look at the pictures and read the narration. Just a word of caution, there are nearly 200 pictures for this day. You have to be really into Utah or me to get through them.

So let’s begin…

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICS!

Last week, around Tuesday, Smartz said to me, “hey, let’s go somewhere.” Naturally, since I like going somewhere, I agreed. We batted around an idea or two and then settled upon Salt Lake City. We’d have to take a much-needed long weekend, but since work wasn’t so busy, we’d probably have to take time off anyway.

The plan was to camp. And camp we did, one night. In Salt Lake City live friends Mandy and Earl. We could stay with them for two nights and then camp on the last night and then home. It would have to be a whirlwind of a trip. It would probably be over 2,500 miles in just five days and one those days would be in Salt Lake City.

But, throwing caution, reason, logic and good sense to the wind, we decided that it might be fun. I had a few ideas in mind, including US Route 50 though Nevada and the old Transcontinental Railroad bed 90 west to the Golden Spike (you get to drive on the actual railroad bed that was made in 1869!).

We decided that we’d leave Thursday after skipping out of work early. It wasn’t much time to prepare, but we threw the tent in the car on Wednesday night and were on the road on Thursday.

It was great to be on the open road again, even if it was mostly the interstate for the first day. As you’ll see in the pics, there was a stop or two along the way, but the most fun was after the first day.

Nevertheless, here are some fun pics from the first day of Trains, Highways and Salt Lake City.

Click Here To See The Pics! — You can click on the small pics and then follow the narration on the right. You’ll see.