We are sad to leave Utah. We could easily have spent another week here.
Bob invents a Utah State ad: "Utah has everything from A to Z - Arches to Zion". Think he'll make his fortune selling it to the state?
We want to come back some day. There is endless beauty here and so many things we could have done if the weather had been a little cooler:
Take the 100 mile loop to the other side of the LaSalle Mountains
Drive River Road (Rt. 128) along the Colorado River
Rent a jeep - go further into Potash. See potash manufacturing plant.
See the remaining Arches which had hikes too long to do in the heat.
Explore the road in Dead Horse Point that lead to the potash beds.
PARADISE #2 - UTAH!
Although desolate, our current drive is endlessly fascinating. All the rocks remind us of giant chunks of chocolate sliced in half, or chocolate layered tortes. Who wouldn't want to hang around that imagery for another week?!
Driving West on I-70, mini canyons abound, with washes running through them, now dry. In NM they would be called "arroyos", in Israel "wadis".
Ranches seem to have their own exits off the Interstate, but the ranch names are not mentioned, and they cannot be seen from the road. Personally, I can't imagine surviving that degree of isolation.
To prevent rock slides falling into the road, the state sometimes puts what looks like cattle fences diagonally across the rock face, or else places the largest piece of chain link fence you have ever seen.
Climbing over 7000 feet elevation, our bag of Apple Chips nearly bursts from the pressure. We can hear the plastic crackling.
On the hill down I-70, 12 miles from I -89 N., there are two tunnels blasted into the mountainside, for an old road that we can see below. A little piece of history, one of many, passing before our eyes as we drive. We often visualize the rugged pioneers either building or traversing such scenes in the mid- 19th century. That road was probably used right up until the Interstate was built.
We eat lunch at Mom's Cafe' in Salina, UT. Her scones are actually fried dough. Mashed potato gravy is sausage gravy. Perhaps this will be the trend as we proceed West.
As we are driving, we see lots of double tanker trucks. The second tank is always smaller. They must have a total length requirement for flammable substances. The UPS trucks we see are sometimes triple trailers, though.
Beautiful green fields are interlaced with golden grass, interspersed with more scrubby desert. There are dust devils 30 feet high dancing around. When they cross the road, they are ghostly and scary, and somehow manage to pick up extra speed as they whirl across asphalt.
On our arrival in Baker, NV, we find a cool little store and restaurant a block from our campground. It is called The Electrolux Cafe'. Hanging from the ceiling are sculptures made from old Electrolux vacuums, like the one my Mom used to have in our house in Cincinnati.
They have a very eclectic collection of food in their case - soy milk, organic yogurt, homemade granola and hiking bars, gourmet cheeses, and other things I haven't seen since we hit the West.
The cafe' is also a motel, with 3 rooms, and they show free movies every night.
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