Salt Lake City (Airport)
No, we're not taking a flight home from here. We decided to get through SLC so we didn't have to worry about traffic in the morning. We'll just have an easy drive from the west side of SLC over to Nevada and then home.
Left Murdo this morning on a clear, frosty day with the crescent moon rising over the prairie. We could have continued driving south on 83 to I-80, but instead opted to drive over to Rapid City and then take diagonal route from there over to I-25 to Caspar and then southwest to Rawlins, WY.
Pretty drive and not much traffic with less interstate driving. Drove through the south portion of the Black Hills. My understanding is that they were called the Black Hills because of the trees which make the hills appear black and it was quite a contrast to the prairie which the original travelers had been travelling through. All rolling prairie and beautiful countryside. You can almost see forever! Between Caspar and Rawlins, we passed by Independence Rock, so named because it was on or about the fourth of July when wagon trains on the Oregon Trail should hit that point in their trip from St Louis to the West. Hard to fathom a trip from St Louis to California/Oregon taking from April to September.
Herds of antelope along the way in Wyoming - funny they don't seem to be that prolific elsewhere, only in Wyoming. The only other wildlife we saw were road kill (skunks and possums - their defense of scent and playing dead doesn't work on the interstates!).After we hit I-80 in Rawlins, it was just head west on I-80 through Wyoming and into Utah. Some awesome sandstone formations along the way.
One of the more interesting aspects of our travels in Utah was the trip down the canyon from Park City area to SLC. Steep canyon which goes for miles down a huge pass in the Wasatch Mountains. At one point as were going down on the interstate, there were two trains on the opposite side of the canyon - one going down and the other coming up - on two different levels. Just one more example of the hard work involved in building the trans-continental railroad. Sometime, we'll have to drive up to the spot (I think it's in Provo) where they put the golden spike and the two work parties met - one from the east (mostly Irish) and the other from the west (mostly Chinese).
Drafted this last night and am sending it out on April 2nd. Didn't want any April Fool's comments! We gain another hour today as we pass into the Pacific Time Zone. Always fools you into thinking it's a shorter drive :-).
Left Murdo this morning on a clear, frosty day with the crescent moon rising over the prairie. We could have continued driving south on 83 to I-80, but instead opted to drive over to Rapid City and then take diagonal route from there over to I-25 to Caspar and then southwest to Rawlins, WY.
Pretty drive and not much traffic with less interstate driving. Drove through the south portion of the Black Hills. My understanding is that they were called the Black Hills because of the trees which make the hills appear black and it was quite a contrast to the prairie which the original travelers had been travelling through. All rolling prairie and beautiful countryside. You can almost see forever! Between Caspar and Rawlins, we passed by Independence Rock, so named because it was on or about the fourth of July when wagon trains on the Oregon Trail should hit that point in their trip from St Louis to the West. Hard to fathom a trip from St Louis to California/Oregon taking from April to September.
Herds of antelope along the way in Wyoming - funny they don't seem to be that prolific elsewhere, only in Wyoming. The only other wildlife we saw were road kill (skunks and possums - their defense of scent and playing dead doesn't work on the interstates!).After we hit I-80 in Rawlins, it was just head west on I-80 through Wyoming and into Utah. Some awesome sandstone formations along the way.
One of the more interesting aspects of our travels in Utah was the trip down the canyon from Park City area to SLC. Steep canyon which goes for miles down a huge pass in the Wasatch Mountains. At one point as were going down on the interstate, there were two trains on the opposite side of the canyon - one going down and the other coming up - on two different levels. Just one more example of the hard work involved in building the trans-continental railroad. Sometime, we'll have to drive up to the spot (I think it's in Provo) where they put the golden spike and the two work parties met - one from the east (mostly Irish) and the other from the west (mostly Chinese).
Drafted this last night and am sending it out on April 2nd. Didn't want any April Fool's comments! We gain another hour today as we pass into the Pacific Time Zone. Always fools you into thinking it's a shorter drive :-).
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