Roadtrip to Utah, June 21-23, 2010

Well, I was on the road again...this time with my Mom to make the trip out to Tooele, Utah for the 25th Annual Tooele Arts Festival.  Dad was able to get a doctor's pass on the drive out--he was flying out on Wednesday on American Eagle from Ohare to Salt Lake City.  So, Mom and I were the designated drivers and we were planning on making it fun.

But, first I had to be "restrained" from making the trip into a drive-fest.  Mom put her foot down when I explained I wanted to do it in two ten hour days.  She was adamant, and it was her vehicle we were taking, so I guess you know who prevailed on that argument!!!  It turned out to be the right decision.  Two hours on and then two hours off was a pleasure after making two solo trips to Illinois from  Florida and one return trip AND a 15.5 hour each way trip to Virginia earlier in the month.  

It has been a long time since Rod and I made the drive out west on I-80 and can I say what a great roadtrip it is--in the summer.  Light traffic, great roads with little in the way of construction and you can even go 80 miles an hour (five over the posted 75 limit) for most of the way.  Throughout Iowa and Nebraska we saw lots of the big wind turbines--I know there are some that don't like them--but I love their stark simplicity and that we don't have to dig, pump or otherwise injure the Earth to get this clean energy  In Nebraska I was tempted to go faster since I saw their posted fines for speeding at the rest stops--only $20 for going 10 over the limit and double that in a construction zone.  What a refreshing change from Florida's speeding fines--which I make sure to avoid at all costs!

Mom and I got a good start on Monday morning--leaving about 10:15 a.m.  We made it to a cute rest area in Iowa for  our lunch picnic and as far as York, Nebraska when it was time to stop for the day.  We stayed in a nice Comfort Inn with newish linens, nice clean rooms and a great breakfast.  It was the second time I had sausage gravy  over biscuits in a week...but I LIKED it.  Lots of good protein choices too--so not your typical carb loaded "free continental breakfast". 

Overnight, we had a bad wind storm blow through which woke Mom up about 1:15 a.m.  I didn't hear it until 2:30 when she bumped into my bed and jolted me awake.  I seriously thought the roof was gonna be ripped off and we would end up diving for cover in the bathroom or the hallway.  The next morning, the only damage we could see was a two foot downspout which had been ripped off the building front. 

The next days driving rivaled the first--we had beautiful farm country with rolling hills through most of Iowa and into Nebraska.  By the next day we were starting to see buttes and other other geological "mountainy" looking rock formations.   It started to get less green just about the time these rock formations and mini-mountains started showing up, so, we were thrilled with the landscapes.  We stopped for our picnic lunch in western Nebraska and were met by two bus loads of Menonite (maybe) boys and girls who were obviously out for a field trip or something.  I wish I had talked to some of the girls while we were waiting in line at the rest stop.

We made it into Rawlins, Wyoming by late afternoon and were thrilled with the little town's hotel choiced.  We settled on a Oak Tree Court (we had a discount travel coupon) and got a third floor room that was excellent, clean and a great free breakfast at the attached Penny's Diner.  We tried to see a movie, but, wer were too late.  So, we tried to shop but the towns cute shopping district downtown was already closed--so instead we found a few items in the Pamida discount store before hitting the local Taco Johns for dinner--my choice, we don't have them in Florida and I miss them so much.  Then we settled in to watch Deadliest Catch on the tube before going to sleep.

Oh, we saw hundreds of deer (maybe they were mule deer--not sure) and antelope during the drive through Wyoming.  They were tough to spot in some cases, but, they sure kept you awake trying to find them.

The next morning after our delicous Penny's breakfast, we hit the road again to tackle the hardest driving--we were getting closer to the mountains leading to Salt Lake City and with that came the most spectacular views.  We should have stopped for more pictures, but, of course we just shot pics from the moving car.  The fact that any of them turned out good enough to post here is due more to the wealth of views than our camera skills. 

We finally made it into Tooele by 3 p.m.--an easy drive it turned out with little traffic and no problems on the steeper grades--and found Dad had made it in safe and sound.  Uncle Bruce and Aunt Susan were in the final stages of preparing for the Arts Festival while Cousin Brian was working in Elko, Nevada until Friday.