We enjoyed our time in Utah, but we had another moving day. As we journeyed out of Utah and into Nevada, we wanted to tally a few of the differences we found between these two neighboring states.
After three days at a no-hook-up camp site in Utah, our solar and battery were still going strong. In fact, it was so strong that we used our electric induction plate (rather than gas stove) to cook breakfast. That brought our battery to its lowest reading thus far--84%. There's also a reading that estimates approximately how long you will have battery power if the current situation continues. The monitor indicated that we would have power for "infinity." Nice!
During our drives around Salt Lake City, we found out that I-80 east of the city was rather steep. So we opted for the less steep (but a little out of the way) drive down Highway 189--also known as the Provo Canyon Highway.
Utah had the beautiful Wasatch mountain range of the Rocky Mountains, so that was one difference between Utah and mountain-less Nevada. It was fun to get one more peek of the highest mountains of Utah as we made our exit drive. We also drove by Bridal Veil Falls, which was so crowded on a Sunday afternoon. We can report that it was empty on a Monday at 10:30.
While traffic was light on Monday through the canyon, it was heavy when we turned north onto I-15 and drove from Provo to Salt Lake City. We wish we could stick around four more days in Utah to celebrate "The Days of '47." We've heard that this city has a great celebration to commemorate the day in 1847 when Joseph Smith determined "this is the place!" They even made a public park where he said those words in 1847. The park was named, "This is the Place Park."
We also got glimpses of the long trucks that were allowed on the highways of Utah. Double trailers were the norm on roads here. But instead of a difference, we found they were also allowed and very evident in Nevada as well.
The thermometer told us that it was 94 degrees, so why was the ground covered with white snow? That wasn't snow. The Great Salt Lake is shrinking, and it was surrounded by miles of salt brine that just looks like snow.
As we drove down the highway, we had briny water on both sides of the road. The telephone poles and fence posts were coated with salt. It was time to keep the air-conditioner on and the windows rolled up because that salty water was stinky!
We also found a pot ash quarry, where super-sized diggers were transferring the white pot ash into conveyer piles to be trucked out of Utah.
This is "The Tree of Utah" found on the north side of I-80. This 87-foot-tall sculpture was created by a Swedish artist in the 1980's and gives passengers traveling this lonely section of the interstate something to speculate on like, "what is it?" and "why is it here?" The tree had six spheres that were coated by rocks and minerals from Utah, but we don't know the meaning of this lonesome tree.
The last Utah stop was the Bonneville Salt Flats. It was fun to get out of the pickup and actually walk on this white crust. The salt flats were formed from the ancient Lake Bonneville, and we liked the interlocking shapes that formed as the last of the water evaporated.
Its claim to fame is that most land speed records have been set here at the famous "measured mile." Approximately seven miles away (but well in front of those hills behind Denisa) a race course is laid out. It is approximately 80 feet wide and ten miles long, with a black reference line down the middle. It was there that land speed records of 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour were broken.
The white crusty ground looks like pure salt, but we weren't brave enough to taste it.
We could have walked to the mountains to the north, but they were further than they look. The Bonneville Salt Flats were 30,000 acres of flat-white-nothing-ness.
Just past the salt flats, we were welcomed to Nevada--the fifth state of this summer adventure. We were also welcomed to mountain time zone. That was another difference between Utah and Nevada--an hour. We also saw a continuing string of casinos as we crossed into Nevada. It seemed to us that another difference was the conservative morals of Utah vs. the casino lifestyle of Nevada.
Close to that border, we changed from salty white landscapes to desert dirt. This is the Great Basin, where rain seldom falls. The rain is stopped from the west by California's Sierra mountains, and from the east by the Rockies. It was so barren that the usual sage brush doesn't even thrive in Nevada. While we didn't see any wildlife that would want to call this home, we thought it was interesting that Nevada had installed wildlife bridges across the interstate to give them safe crossings.
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But one thing that was the same in both states was the nice people. We travel without water in our tanks in order to keep the trailer light. So we needed to add water when we arrived. We found that the Chamber of Commerce in Elko, Nevada, allows campers to fill water for free right by the painted cowboy boot near the chamber office.
Our first camp site in Nevada was also our first Boondockers Welcome site of this trip. We've been members of the Harvest Host/Boondockers Welcome organization for several years. When traveling in the northeast we used it extensively, and now we're planning to use it in the west. People (usually RVers) allow RVers to spend the night on their property for free. We have the phone app that tells us approximately where these sites are located, and a way to contact them for permission to stay. Our site for the next three nights is on an acreage beside Sandy's home. It offered shade, and she had set up an outdoor table and chairs for us to use. We enjoyed getting to know Sandy during our stay! You should also notice that we have views of the Ruby Mountains.
We had never heard of the Ruby Mountains before, but we were anxious to get to know them. While we enjoyed the mountains of Utah, we thought another difference was that Nevada had no mountains. But we were glad to find out that we were wrong!
