Bonneville salt flats etc

[motoguzziman]

On Friday evening, I had a new post all ready to submit - then the motel WiFi went down!

Eureka was a nice town - very small with a lot of mining history and, being one of the biggest gold mine towns, even today, it has a lot of wealth. Which is great, because a lot of money is ploughed back into the town and some of the buildings are beautifully restored - especially the Court House and the Opera House. Very friendly folk too. Next day we rode the 70-ish miles to the next town on HW 50, Ely. The weather was dull and dark clouds threatened more rain

Ely is a town whose heartbeat is the clunk of slot machines. The Nevada Motel was fairly big and had a nice restaurant with good, inexpensive food and free coffee all day. Hundreds of one-armed-bandits and poker tables.

We booked into a motel for two nights and went to explore. Once again, lots of history - mining again and some lovely murals representative of the town's history decorated many walls in the town.

I love the way this barber shop has decorated the dodgy-looking wiring and meters

The Pony Express used to run through Ely

We found a proper old-fashioned soda fountain and malt bar too

Then the sole fell off my 29 year old hiking boots! Zamberlan (Italian, of course).

They have trodden hundreds of Lake District, Peak District and Snowdonia miles these boots have. I hobbled to a sports shop but they didn't have anything suitable, so the only alternative was to visit the hardware shop for some silicone sealant

Mgman put the boot under the yellow railway ?plank? (can't think of the right name) and, next day it seemed fine.

Now, this is cheating. We had a little passport that you get stamped in each of the five towns along the 'Loneliest Road In America'. When we left HW 375 (The Extraterrestrial) we had the choice of turning west to travel to the beginning of the Loneliest, or to turn east and be on our way. As that would have meant 300 miles there and back to the beginning, we decided to go east. But I still got the book stamped in Eureka and now I went into the Chamber of Commerce to get the Ely stamp. The friendly lady asked about our trip and when I said we had come via HW375 and the Smoky Valley, she said those roads were in fact much lonelier than HW50 and she would stamp the book with all the towns so we could get the certificate for 'Surviving The Loneliest Road'. Very kind of her, but as said, cheatin'

Saturday morning we packed the bike, had a decent breakfast and set off again - but first, we went to visit the old Railway Station; The Nevada Northern Railway was established in 1903 and has now been designated the title, National Historic Landmark. It is America's best preserved short line and complete rail facility.

It was so interesting, we spent nearly two hours watching the old steam train getting steam up and loading passengers - you could ride with the driver (for a fee) or ride the caboose

Ate this point, I will have to apologise for my jerky videos; I do have a tripod and have used it occasionally, but often, I can't get to it - or, mostly, I am on the back of the bike traveling at around 80mph. So, I am sorry the vids are so bad, but will include some simply to give you an idea of what something was like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYJwwgxsvJE

Here's the train getting ready to leave the station. The sounds alone are worth it..

 

[motoguzziman]

Continued....

A little later than planned, we left Ely. The plan was to go to Great Basin National Park, 68 miles to the east.

The road left the town behind and we kept our eyes peeled for the row of 7 charcoal ovens that were just out of town. No sign of them. I figured we had missed the sign to the side road.

At around 60 miles, we began to wonder why we still hadn't seen a sign for Great Basin. At 70 miles, we came to a choice of road - 96 or 96 Alternate. Most worrying was the sign giving a distance to Salt Lake City (220 miles). Shee-it. We've done it again. But how? we couldn't figure it out (some navigators, eh?)

We pulled over and got the map out. Yup, we were heading north, not east. It was about 73 miles back to Ely and then 68 to Great Basin. F*** it, we'll go to Salt Lake. Always trying to find something positive in our 'creative' detours, I said I had always wanted to see the salt flats and, anyway, 'isn't that where that Bonneville speed thing is?'

It was about 96 miles to Wendover, Nevada and then we were back in Utah.
A few miles along I-80 and the salt flats were either side of us - brilliant white and totally flat. Beautiful.

We outran a train! (video very shaky at 88mph)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ZBKizEcMw

There was a rest area right next to the Bonneville Salt Flats, so we pulled in there

The 186 mile ride along I-80 was fast, scenic and really enjoyable

Just before entering Salt lake City, we turned off on HW 196.

After filling up for the third time today, we continued south and the ride just got better and better. Lovely gently-rolling hills with high craggy mountains all around us in the distance. Mostly agricultural land with the very occasional homesteads.

We had to cross Johnson's Pass to get to HW36. That was a ride up and down a sharply-curving road with some precarious bends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfeL4pMAmRs
(the speed limit is 20mph on much of the road and remember we are a bit overloaded)

Then it was back down to the farmland. And one of the Pony Express crossings

In Vernon we came to a quaint gas station/cafe/store/hunting/fishing place.

The lady inside told me just to let her know how many gallons we put into the tank. One point six gallons, I told her. She worked out the price on a little calculator.

The local farmers were very interested in our strange accents and chatted away ten to the dozen

They told us the nearest town with a motel was Delta - 75 miles south.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I went outside and saw the mud on this 4-wheel. And the lack of doors!

And this T-shirt was good

By now, it was getting late - we had crossed back into mountain time again, so we lost an hour. The deer and antelope and free-range cattle were beginning to appear. A case of peeled eyes again

At around 8pm, we came to Delta. Filled up for the final time that day and asked the gas station staff where we might find a motel.

Outside, while we drank coffee, two Harleys pulled in. We got chatting and, to our great surprise, one of the guys was English - from Poole in Dorset, but now living in Australia and over here visiting American friends.

Small world, innit?

Finally, we pulled in to a very nice 'mom and pop' motel. Room with fridge and microwave, excellent WiFi (not always the case) and a lovely lawn with recliners and a BBQ.

Once the bike was unpacked, we walked back to the gas station, bought some beers and drank them in the garden with a glorious sunset - surrounded by mountains turning pink and purple in the dusk.

Feeling very relaxed and contented; having had a fabulous ride of 442 miles and not a twinge of ass-ache = now we are settled into the long rides.
We decided to stay here for three nights - catch up on washing and mail.

Caio for now