From Battle Mountain to Wendover, NV was I-80. Like most freeways, dull, boring. There were two summits, one at 6100 ft., the next at 6900 ft. It seems like road workers like to put their cones starting down out at the bottom of any long uphill grade even if the work is on the other side of the summit or at the top of the summit. Why? I surmise that it is because they can. And yes, both summits were “work zones” with little to no work in sight being done.
There were several wildlife crossing bridges and a sign that said “Major Deer Crossing Ahead.” I’m sorry they weren’t a general, but major was better than private.
Also before the trip, I had to replace my 7-pin connector that hooks the trailer electrically to the truck. It hadn’t worked when I moved from Tulelake to CC. No electric brakes. Scary and hard on the truck’s brakes. I couldn’t find anyone in town who could do it in time, so I did it myself. I followed the colors on the connector and it appeared everything was good. Well, until I hit the brakes and everything went ga-ga. Brakes showing on all the time except when I hit the brakes. No turn signals, one taillight on both the trailer and the truck whenever the connector was plugged in.
Somewhere between Battle Mountain and Ely, suddenly all became right with the world and the connector. Turn signals worked and instead of constant indication of the electric brakes being on, a number appeared only when I used the brakes. And the lights are no longer random. I have no idea what happened, but this gift horse can keep his mouth shut. Back to the travels.
I arrived in Wendover late morning and decided that getting gas and food could wait until the morning. This is one of the occasions when I wish I had someone to share the driving and the commentary on the huge snow-covered mountains I thought we might have to scale. With all the different conditions in the areas on both sides of the road, it would have been nice to talk with someone else (besides myself) about everything. Although it seems as if Nevada should be flat, or almost flat, it is certainly not at all flat. Lots of folds in the earth and mountains made for an interesting ride. At least, it kept me awake.
Did I mention the wind? Right now, sitting in a campground, my trailer, still hitched to the truck and with no jacks, is rocking and rolling. The wind is also very noisy. Time to think about relaxing and unwinding, if possible. I hope I don’t have the problem I had last night. Every time I closed my eyes, I would see that horrible mesa and road again and thought I was going to go over the side. Not at all restful.
So, why no jacks? While I was in CC, they rusted enough to make getting them off the ground darn near impossible. It took three cans of rust fighter and a week of effort to get 3 of them working enough that I could get them up with my drill and socket. The fourth one fought all my efforts to raise it and a strong neighbor used a manual socket to raise it. The way things are, it might take too long in the mornings to get going if they decide the cold (low 20’s) is not yet acceptable.
Arriving in Wendover, at the top of the hill you could see the blinding white Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Only right now there is a lake in the middle of the salt field. Not good for speed records but maybe good for boat racing. There is apparently a hill nearby from where you can see the curvature of the earth. Since I am not a flat-earther, I don’t need to go there. I know the earth is round or the cats would have shoved everything off already.
An aside, here. I have driven I-80 many times, but never pulling a trailer. I don’t remember the road being so up and down, but in a regular car and no trailer, it is a whole lot easier keeping the speed where it should be. Thank the gods of Detroit for cruise control.
So, to paraphrase a song, there was “salt to the left of me, more salt to the right and I’m stuck in the middle of a long, straight, flat, two lanes going east for 45 miles of unrelenting flat land painted salt white.” Fortunately, it was somewhat cloudy, so no bright sun on all the white to blind you. There is an art installation on the west bound direction.
After 25 miles of this the Utah DOT put up three huge yellow signs telling you not to drive drowsy. After the unrelenting monotony, you are either drowsy, comatose, or dead. I’m not sure which refers to me. Hope you have a self-driving vehicle.
After a mile of the big yellow signs, there is always time for distraction. Time for a speed check. The sign says 80mph equals 45 seconds per mile and they are giving you 5 miles to make sure you aren’t speeding. But who could tell. It is so boring, you think you are standing still. You look at your speedometer and realize you are doing 85. The road just never seems to end, and then all of a sudden you are in the midst of heavy traffic in beautiful Salt Lake City.
There are two ways to get to Heber City: I-80 through SLC, to Hwy 40 or go 25 miles south to Orem, through Provo Canyon and thence to Heber City. I was last at Heber City in 2014 when I started my RV traveling adventure, working at Deer Valley for the winter. It has changed dramatically since my original time here.
The reason I went the long way was, many decades ago, I took I-80 to Wyoming from California in a sports car. Some smart-ass road designer apparently hadn’t ever noticed anything other than souped-up muscle cars, because the road goes UP. No gentle angle, just UP. For a few miles. UP with only a few gentle curves. UP. I won’t ever go that way again. Once you get to Hwy 40 on I-80 the road becomes a relatively sane road again. But attempting that road is like (worse than) the Grapevine in So. California, only steeper and not as curvy. Not fun pulling a trailer. I have usually found an easier (although longer) path to get to So. California if I absolutely must get there.
Saw some interesting billboards along I-215. The one I loved (/s) the best showed a newborn baby with the caption “my heart started beating 18 days after conception.” There were several billboards along I-215 that emphasized how much they prefer fetuses over the women who are forced to carry them. I gave them the appropriate Bronx cheer to celebrate how much they hated my gender. I’m lucky I never had to worry about the issue when I was younger. I had my tubes tied instead.
Reached Heber City in good order, as I had remembered from the previous occasion. The trip through Orem was as crowded as I remembered. The trip up the hill was as I remembered. The whole city (town?) of Heber City was an entirely different animal. Too many people. Too many cars. And it looked like a big city, lots of businesses, and less open space.
Got a place at an RV park underneath the dam, (well, just a few feet away from the base of the dam) that holds back the water that has created Jardenelle Lake. In 2014 it was one of the sites for employees of Deer Valley to stay while working the winter season. Totally changed. Has it really been almost 10 years since I have been back to Heber City? For the first time since I started this odyssey, I actually ate a real meal (of sorts). I stopped and got a meal from Panda Express.
Woke up in the morning and listened to the pleasing sounds of rain on the metal roof of my trailer. When I looked outside, my first thought was “that cloud is hiding the snow-topped mountain from me.” The second thought, once the cloud went away is “there wasn’t snow on that other mountain yesterday.” Just what I need, snow.
Another aside. When I first started traveling, in 2014, the joke between a friend and I was that everywhere I stopped, it rained. I almost didn’t know how to hitch and unhitch the trailer on a dry, sunny day, because every time I performed either of those tasks, it rained. When I left on Monday, April 29, as I was hitching, it was raining. I didn’t realize that the old magic was returning.
So I waited as long as I could before I left Heber City, hoping that any snow that did fall might really be just rain in different colors. Almost worked. Hwy 40 started out (for about a mile) with just a few raindrops. Just enough to smear bug guts all over the windshield from previous days’ travels. Then I started noticing the white stuff higher up covering trees, ground, and bushes. The road was also headed up. A highway sign indicated that snow tires or chains are required to be carried until March 31. I thought I was safe, since it was now MAY 3. Utah should be warm and dry, not the ridiculous 20 or 30 and snowy as was announced.
More up and more snow getting closer to the road. Finally, reached Daniels Summit at 8000 feet and more snow at and below the road (in ditches on the side). Fortunately, the road itself was not too bad and when the sun hit the surface of the road, steam came off the pavement. Going down, the snow retreated slowly from the level of the road until all of a sudden, it disappeared (the snow, not the road).
The rest of the trip to Vernal was lots of not too severe ups (for the most part) with passing lanes so I didn’t hold up any traffic. I was able to maintain a relatively rapid pace faster than California allows towed vehicles. There are a couple of nice little towns along the road, out there in the middle of almost nowhere.
But the wind!! I believe I have spoken about how awful the wind can be. More tired arms, hands, and neck.
Vernal is a nice town. It is close to Dinosaur Land National Monument, so there is a lot of dino-themed stuff happening. The Blind Frog Ranch tour has been cancelled because of dangerous (potentially) trespassers, BLM and other Federal regulations and probably some desire to film the series without a bunch of stupid tourists photo bombing all the action.
There are a bunch of things to do and see around here, so I’ve started planning out my days off, even though right now I don’t know what days they will be. Besides Dino land, there is Flaming Gorge NM, several lakes and a couple of small towns to explore. It promises to be a busy summer.
I almost forgot. Steinaker is a designated Dark Sky place, so every once in a while there is star gazing time with telescopes on-site. Dino land is also Dark Sky, so they have star gazing every Wednesday and Friday.
Today, I took my time getting to Steinaker and for once enjoyed the drive. Some modest ups and downs, under an incredible blue sky, unsullied with clouds, smog, haze, or rain. Not too warm, not too cold. The first view of the lake was stunning, High water, gentle wind ripples and deep blue. Got set up and found out that it is going to be high 20’s to low 30’s for the next couple of days as the daily low temps. High temps are high 50’s to low 60’s. Right now Utah is not living up to the hype about being too hot. Sometime later it will, I have been informed.
So, let’s see. Getting hitched up and unhitching: Back strain, shoulder strain, check. Driving: Tensed muscles, tired arms, hand cramps, tense neck muscles, sitting in one position for 268 miles each day, check. Stopping to get gas allowed my leg muscles and back to figure out how to work again. I think I have undone some of the excellent work my chiropractor accomplished. I’m hoping the pain will go away as quickly as possible.
As I drove along, I was happy I lived in a more advanced (Democratic) era than my mother. When she was my age (and even younger), women were not allowed to have credit cards in their own names. Only their husbands could have credit cards and would put their wives on as additional signers. After reading about what some of the so-called Republican leaders want to do to women’s rights, I am glad that I can pick up and go when and where I want without having some man tell me what I could and could not do. I only hope that the young women with whom I work (some of them Mormons) will have the same freedom that I currently do. But this is Utah. Maybe they don’t want to be free.