|
I stayed up late last night creating web pages for Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We spent the night in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We can't quite figure out why part of the town is called Jackson and part is called Jackson Hole but we'll save that mystery for sometime when I'm really bored.
After three days of not having Internet service, I had forty-two messages waiting for me when I connected. It took a while just to respond to people who had written. I can tell that there are some people who don't quite understand why I'm bothering to keep this web page but the vast majority of friends and family think it's pretty cool.
We're driving through the desert from Salt Lake City to Nevada as I'm writing. Ann's trying to stay amused by finding some music on the radio. There's not much out here but military sites. I see lights up ahead. It may be Wendover, Nevada where all the wild people from Utah go to gamble and drink. Interstate 80 hasn't curved or twisted for fifty miles or more. As long as your vehicle drives straight you could put it on cruise control and take a snooze.
We left Salt Lake City as the sun was setting over the Lakeside Mountains. After the sun set it continued to be semi-light for another hour or so. We're getting good at riding into the sunset. Utah has a Rest Area at the state line even though there's a big town up ahead. They should have placed the Rest Area in the middle of the desert where people could have actually used the break.
Salt Lake City smells like salt water, amazingly enough. The area is stunningly beautiful with mountains to the east of the city, to the west of Salt Lake, and even in the middle of Salt Lake. They're doing a lot of road construction around Salt Lake City. No doubt they're preparing for the 2000 Winter Olympics.
It took us a long time to get moving this morning. Ann washed some clothes last night while I prepared the web page. (We're passing Bonneville Speedway on the right. Are these the Bonneville Salt Flats? I should check my geography.) We didn't hit the road until almost 11:30.
Our chosen path took us over Teton Pass, due west out of Jackson Hole. The mountain grade was steep, a 10% grade, but the view at the top looking back over Wyoming was inspiring.
Yes, those "lights up ahead" are indeed Wendover. The city shines like Las Vegas (okay, I'm exaggerating) but there's two huge hotel/casinos up ahead. They are brightly lit, one bathed with white light and the other with yellow light. Each is perhaps ten stories tall. Yet another sign, closer and brighter, blocks my view of the hotels. It's a Motel 6 sign! No, Libby, never again! I'm going first-class from now on - Super 8 all the way.
One more disjointed thought before I get back to our actual travels. Everyone should notice a significant decrease in the bug population next year as so many of the little suckers have met their untimely demise on our windshield. We're thinking of just replacing the windshield rather than attempting to clean it.
Anyway, we left Wyoming and drove west through Idaho towards Idaho Falls. From Idaho Falls we caught Interstate 15 and took that down through Salt Lake City. From (Continued on page 2)
|
|
