We woke up early and as the sun rose further it got blindingly bright outside. We disconnected the truck from the camper and drove down the Bonneville Salt Flats access road. Eventually the road just ends and you are driving on the salt.
This is where you can go as fast as you want in any direction you want. The ground is completely flat. So we gunned it – the speedometer climbed up to 107 mph and then a speed limiter seemed to kick in, because the acceleration cut off quite suddenly. But anyway, racing across the desert at 107 mph with no one in sight was pretty cool.
The scenery was surreal:
After driving on the Salt Flats the wheel wells and undercarriage were caked in a thick layer of salt – probably not the best thing for avoiding corrosion. The local gas stations all have free hoses to rinse off the salt, so we took advantage of that.
Next, we backtracked a little into Wendover, Nevada to have breakfast at one of the many casinos ($2.99 breakfast specials!).
From here we took a road Northeast into Northern Utah where I wanted to see the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Along the way we passed a large rocket testing and production facility owned by ATK. They had a display out front. ATK built some of the space shuttle’s rockets, among many other things.
Down the road is the Golden Spike National Historic Site. This is the exact location where the first transcontinental railroad across the U.S. was completed in 1869. Two different companies started building from opposite coasts and the tracks met here, where a ceremonial gold spike was driven in to celebrate the huge accomplishment.
The original locomotives from the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad that participated in the golden spike ceremony are on display.
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| How it looks today. |
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| The original scene. |
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| I'm standing right at the golden spike's location. |
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| Inside one of the locomotives. |
Even though the track is no longer in use, it has been restored in this vicinity to give you an idea for what everything looked like back then. A mile or so away you can even drive on a small part of the original route.
From here we continued back Southeast in the direction of Salt Lake City. We wanted to see the Great Salt Lake and therefore decided to camp the night on Antelope Island, the largest island in the lake. A long causeway takes you out to it.
It starts out dry, but eventually the water slowly appears and deepens.
We secured a great campsite along a beach. The island is very scenic. The Great Salt Lake is known as America’s Dead Sea and is obviously extremely salty. I took a swim and floated with zero effort and it was bathtub-warm. A weird feeling – you get in the water, but you just won’t sink. Lying in the lake felt like I was on a floating mattress.
We had dinner at the “Island Buffalo Grill” along the beach and called it a night. Tomorrow: Salt Lake City.
Random Fact of the Day: Virtually all land speed records have been set at Bonneville. I think the current is somewhere upwards of 600 mph. As we left, a truck pulled up to prepare the area for a big annual event called “Speed Week” which starts next weekend.
