Trip Home

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Our trip home (June 25-30) from the San Francisco area, driving across the country, was much more hurried than our trip out where we were crossing a state a day and stopping for an adventure or two in each state. There are far fewer pictures and only a few stories to relate.

Our route takes us a little north of our trip out. We head east on I80 and followed it all the way to Chicago. 

Our first path is through Sacramento and Reno where we had been on our trip out. Just outside of Sacramento we stopped in Auburn for a bit of "Gold Rush" touristing. This side of the mountains is green and forested. Past Reno you get into the dry Great Basin and big empty country.

Crossing Nevada on the I-80 has many more stops and lots more services than "Highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America" that we had taken driving west at the beginning of the month. It's an impressive highway all the way with lots of service stops. We needn't worry about a break down on any empty road. It's dry land, with modest mountains, and modest sized towns. There are some interesting towns along the way, if only for their names. Winnemucca, Wells and Oasis stand out as we cross this big empty country. 

We recall staying overnight in the casino town of West Wendover, Nevada on the border with Wendover, Utah. This was perhaps even weirder than Reno. The town is right against the Nevada border with bright lights, lots of casinos (e.g., "The Red Garter"), lots of gambling, drinking and general whoring around. Salt Lake City, where such goings on are very much frowned upon, is the largest nearby city and two hours away across very empty country — the Bonneville Salt Flats and the Great Salt Lake. We suspect the clientele at these casinos will be doing their penance at the Mormon Temple on another day. We arrived late, took a motel room and got our rest for the next days adventures.

We crossed the Bonneville Salt flats on a very long, very straight stretch of road. We stopped to expore the flats and later saw a bit of the Great Salt Lake. This is what the Great Basin is all about. Ringed by mountain ranges it really is a basin. Water to the east of the Continental Divide flows out through the Mississippi. To the west it flows out to the Pacific. Here it collects in this basin with nowhere to go. The Salt Flats, and the Salt Lake (it really is a Salt Lake), are the remains of the water that has collected here over the years. There's recreational boating on the lake. Oddly, we stopped at a tourist trap water slide kind of place on the lake which showed clear evidence that the water happened to be very high this year; a large Byzantine styled building was submerged in several feet of water!

We visited the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. I had a girlfriend in high school who lived with a Mormon family so I knew a little bit about the religion and customs. I recall going to a very long Sunday service with them one time and I remember the family doing a "pilgrimage" one summer to visit the Temple here in Salt Lake City. I also knew that you couldn't go into the Temple unless you are a Mormon. But I wonder how they test that? I never learned a secret handshake so we didn't even try to enter. The Mormon rules against intoxicants like coffee and alcohol meant I was never fond of the religion and we didn't stay long in the city. And please don't get me started on the Golden Plates!

From there it's up over a mountain range into the cowboy/cattle country of Wyoming. I recall seeing some cowboys on horseback tending their herds. The land as you descend quickly becomes dry desert country and we cross the Green River again with a stop in Cheyenne.  The country around Green River is impressive dry canyon country. Not as impressive as further south in Utah but quite pretty. Kate has an interesting story about Cheyenne.

We stopped to visit the university in Cheyenne. While visiting the student centre Kate used the ladies room. In the ladies room there were a row of cubicles, a row of sinks and, near the door, a large couch/bench. When Kate was washing up at the sinks a student arrived, tossed her purse/bag on the couch and went off to one of the rest room cubicles. She just left her bag on the couch! It's a very trusting environment. We wouldn't do that at home.

On through Nebraska where we follow the North Platte River with stops in Lincoln (for a statue of Lincoln) and Omaha (for the Joslyn Art Museum).

A jaunt across Iowa has us crossing the mighty Mississippi River at Davenport. Then we're near Chicago, across Michigan and on to home.

Photos scanned and blog notes created during the BadAss.II Covid-19 variant and the Russian invasion of Ukraine April & May 2022.