ARRIVAL IN PARK
CITY
Brian and I had flown up to the Salt Lake City area for Jose and Margaret's wedding, which
was going to be held in Heber
City Park City
The weather was overcast and
drizzling when we arrived. I rented an Aveo because it was cheap, and was
able to pick it up at the airport. It was very easy to pick up the
easterly route towards Park
City Lincoln Highway (or
Interstate 80); the difficult part was getting up the mountains. I was
all the way over in the right hand lane, with the pedal pushed to the floor,
but still going at 40 mph. The change in elevation was very taxing for
the four hamsters under the hood. Once the road leveled out, the car
handled fine.
We located our hotel, which was on
the edge of the Olympic Village. I knew it’d be close to where some of
the events were held, but not as near as it was. I looked forward
comparing the venues which were used recently, with the ones in Lake Placid (which I was very familiar with). It
was late in the day when we arrived, and there wasn’t much time to explore the
Village. Many of the shops were nearing closing time, and food was a
little more important than sight-seeing. The rain was coming down a bit
harder once dinner was done, and it’d been a long day in transit. For
some reason, airline flights seem to sap my strength; it must be the artificial
air in that tin can. The day should be nicer tomorrow, and they’d be a chance
to check it out then.
A DRIVE ACROSS THE DESERT
The morning was clear, and we could
see the foliage was just starting to turn. It reminded us of the
mountains of New York ,
which neither of us had seen in years. One mountain off in the distance
had a clearance on one side, with a gigantic “PC” carved into the face.
I’m sure that was easily noticed during the Winter Games. Across
the road from the hotel was a fake moose painted odd colors. We’d seen it
the previous night, but I wasn’t able to get a shot of it then. Saratoga has a similar
thing with styles of horses displayed throughout the city.
Jose had touched base with us,
reported they were going to explore Salt
Lake City proper, and asked if we wanted to accompany.
We declined, as it didn’t sound like there’d by any museums on the target
list, just a lot of architecture. Buildings are nice, but I want to see
things which provide me a bit more mental stimulation.
Brian commented that he’d read the
Bonneville Speedway was just west of the city, and that would be a good thing
to do in the morning before it got too hot. With the idea of doing indoor
things in the later part of the day made sense to me. I looked at the AAA
Road Map I had, and the Speedway
wasn’t listed on it at all. West of Salt Lake City was the Great Salt Lake , and then some salt flats. Further
west was a huge expanse of desert which had nothing listed there than three
small towns. Brian thought that one of the towns was where’d find the Speedway . It seemed
pretty logical to me, so we headed out.
Once were clear of SLC proper, we
could noted the acid smell of the salt flats near the Lake .
There’s a refinery there too, which I recognized from The Stand
(the one that Trash Can Man blew up early in the movie), and SLC Punk.
The salt content of the Lake is so high,
that a car can be floated there. I would’ve liked to seen that done, but
not with a vehicle I was driving. With this region having much flatter
roads, the four hamsters under the Aveo’s hood responded much better, and we
were able to hit a good cruising speed of 70 mph on Interstate 80.
In the rear view mirror were the
mountains around SLC, and ahead was a huge flat desert, with the Rocky Mountains faintly visible in the distance.
Since there wasn’t much else to do (and didn’t have decent radio
reception), we just talked mostly gaming related things. For the most
part, the road was pretty straight, and the Rockies
in the distance never changed. The only things which showed we were
actually moving was the line of telephone poles we passed, which was on the
opposite side of the railroad tracks which paralleled the road. After a
few miles, there were no longer any wires connecting the poles. What
other indication do you want that you’re heading out into the middle of no
where?
We thought sooner our later we’d
see one of the town on the map. At one point, we passed a small railroad
crossing. It was a perpendicular dirt road that crossed the route we were
on, and ended a few yards on either side of what constituted the intersection.
We got the distinct impression we’d just passed through one of the towns,
or what remained of one. Brian looked out the windows to make sure there
weren’t any vultures circling the car. A short distance later, we passed
another similar intersection. That
pretty much confirmed our guess that we weren’t going to see any civilization
out here. Glad we didn’t have to stop for a piss.
I started keeping an eye on the
fuel level. We’d filled up before leaving, and the hamsters inside the
Aveo were pretty efficient when they weren’t being taxed. If there wasn’t
a filling station at the Speedway , then we might
have to drive into Nevada
to find gas. The map showed a town on the border where this route entered
the state. It seemed clear that we’d have enough to reach there, but the
question was how quickly we’d locate a gas station.
Far off in the distance we spotted
something. It looked like a tall narrow object with circles on it.
We wondered if it was some sort of cell phone repeater tower. Whatever it was, we’d be going past it soon
enough. As we got closer, the shape became more defined. It looked
like a purple cylinder with baseballs and tennis balls on it. Seeing mirages in the desert usually happen
after you started to become dehydrated, not when you’re sitting inside an air
conditioned vehicle. No, we weren’t seeing things. It was some
modern art sculpture sitting out here in the middle of no where.
It wasn’t too far from the edge of
the road, and a red Saturn was parked there.
Let’s stop and take a look. It’d break up the monotony of the
drive, and the passengers of the other car were all college-aged girls.
They were too busy frolicking in the damp salty mud to interact with us,
except for learning they were BYU students who driven out to see this
sculpture, which was known as the Tree of Utah. A plaque on the side gave
information about its origins. This 87
foot tall sculpture was created by Swedish artist Karl Momen, and was completed
in 1986. Any of the time I did artwork, I wanted it to be enjoyed by all,
not relegated to some roadside attraction in the middle of no man’s land. But Momen wanted it there, to “bring some
color to the stark landscape.”
The girls continued to play around,
so there wasn’t much reason for us to remain here, and we continued down the
road. In the west, the Rocky Mountains
had been slowly getting more pronounced as we traveled along, and soon were
looming in the distance. A little while after leaving the Tree of Utah,
we came upon a sign. Expecting it to say something about the Bonneville
Speedway, we were surprised to see it say we were “X number of miles” from the Nevada border.
We’d just been travelling through a flat landscape where we could see a
hundred miles in all directions, so where the hell was the Speedway ?
With the fuel gauge now at a
quarter-tank, seeing the signs for West Wendover ,
NV, was a welcome sight. We noted were the gas station was, as I figured
it’d make the most sense to fill-up before we headed back east. At the
visitor’s center, I had to make fun of the sign, as this was in Elko County
In addition to getting a tip of a
place to grab lunch, we got the information as to where the Bonneville Speedway
was. On the backside of the sign mentioned above was an arrow for a dirt
road to the Speedway .
Other than getting food (and some bottled beverages to bring back with
us), we chose not to remain in West Wendover
very long. I remember how Dad had mentioned seeing slot machines in every
restaurant they’d visited, and saw that trend continued. Don’t play the
slots with the money you planned on eating with.
After the Hamstermobile filled up,
we found the desired turn-off, and navigated our way out to the salt flats
which made up the Speedway .
It was easier, as we followed another car, and there were a few RVs
parked out here. I guess I expected some benches or some pavilion, as I
took the name “speedway” literally. Other than an informational sign to
note what had been done here, this section looked really no different than the
salty desert we’d just driven through. Was it interesting to see?
Yes. But my expectation had been set for something else. The
drive was nice, and the novelty of going to Nevada and back would make a good tale, but
I still think I would’ve preferred the Olympic venues.
Knowing how far it would take us to
get back made the return trip much easier. By the time we’d gotten back
to Park City
For current information on the places mentioned:
2002
Olympic Winter Games: http://www.olympic.org/salt-lake-city-2002-winter-olympics
Tree of Utah : http://www.utah.com/amusement/metaphor_tree.htm
Bonneville
Speedway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonneville_Speedway
### 30 ###
No comments:
Post a Comment