3500 Miles: Day Six

Day Six was Friday, June 16th. Based on the schedule I had when we left MA, this was to be the day we arrived in SF. That schedule was idiotic, though, in hindsight. If we'd driven a regular car, it would have been easy. Driving a big truck while towing a car slowed us down immensely. Our top speed usually peaked at around 65, whereas the speed limit in much of the west is 75, and we went hundreds of miles in the open desert or plains where we could've easily gone as fast as our car could carry us with no worries.

Our truck peaked around 65. Many days, I just wanted to keep it at 60 for most of the day, which was a challenge when there was any type of uphill to deal with.

So Day Six. We started in Rock Springs, Wyoming, near the Continental Divide. We quickly made it to Utah, our 14th state. Passing near Provo, we saw where some of the Olympics were held. The mountains were high enough for there still to be snow, which was a bit unnerving. Former Olympic towns are a bit sad, I think. They were famous for a couple of weeks, they build hotels, restaurants and sports structures, then everybody leaves and they're a former Olympic city.

Which brings us to Salt Lake City. To get to Salt Lake, which, I knew, was located in a fairly barren wasteland, we had to descend a mountain which, I didn't know, was not designed with big, tired rental trucks in mind. When we finally made it, Salt Lake City appeared big and dirty from the highway (though I've heard otherwise from people who live there). We kept going, stopping at the Salt Lake itself, which appeared big and less dirty from the highway. (I have pictures of this. I'll post them later.)

The rest of Utah was pretty much flat desert. We stopped for gas at a place called Skull Valley. It seemed Mormon-free. At the gas station, there was a group of bikers we'd pass and be passed by a couple of times. This was a strange occurence. Throughout each day, we'd see people pass us, then we'd pass them later on, maybe 4 or 5 hours later, as though they'd stopped for lunch and taken just a few minutes longer than us. I'm sure they recognized us. "Hey, there are those crazy people in the big yellow truck trailing the Taurus." "Is that a cat pressed up against the window?" "Do you think they have any beef jerky?"

We found out that you have to plan your stops in the desert. We missed an early lunch in Salt Lake, then had to keep going to Nevada before another opportunity (not involving a place with "Skull" in its name) arose. This, however, was a good thing.

Nevada brought with it casinos left and right, at every rest stop, seemingly, and we ate at an Arby's with a casino (yeah, no joke), which fulfilled two needs: I got to gamble a bit and I got to satisfy an infrequent desire for Arby's.

Day Six ended with more adventures in Nevada. Better adventures. Including a run-in with a cowboy, a movie with Jennifer Aniston, and a great local bbq spot. Oh, and better, non-Arby's-affiliated casinos. More later.