Day 9, July 7

We had a good travel day to Winnemucca, NV. Nice campground only two years old.  We took a side trip to a place called Thunder Mountain. Check out the website http://thundermountainmonument.com/  Each of us has our own subjective view of what art is and this guy certainly had his. This place is a State of Nevada Historical Site; it was there so we visited it.

New Frontier RV Park

Thunder Mountain

Day 8

Today was our day of rest from travel and sightseeing although we did take a walk this morning and stepped inside one of the casinos then took the truck to a car wash to make it nice and white again. Karen continued with her zentangle and I reviewed the next couple of day’s travels. Temps are in the high 80’s so we stayed inside and watched a movie.

Day 7

The day started out cloudy then it rained off and on for about 4 hours and temps in the 60s.  As we passed Salt Lake City the sun came out and the temps gradually rose to the 90s. We saw a Morton Salt Plant with mountains of salt. We stopped at a rest area near the Bonneville Salt Flats and watched people walking on the salt.  Dinner was at the Salt Flats Café, a Mexican café that you would probably not stop at until you read the reviews. We don’t eat out much but decided to try a local and it was very good, glad we went.  Then we drove to the end of the road of the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway where you can see the curvature of the earth. I didn’t know what to expect but the road just dead ends into the salt with a sign about the speedway. We did see a small white car coming across the salt flats and up onto the pavement, the bottom of the car was covered with salt. No we did not drive on the salt we have enough in Ohio winters! Not much else here in West Wendover, NV besides salt, wind and casinos.

Looks like water but not!

Metaphor: Tree of Utah 

Shaded rest area for picnickers and their cars. 

The curvature of the earth 

Salt Flats Cafe 

Wendover Will 

Day 6

What a beautiful drive through WY from Cheyenne to Rock Springs, WY. The skies were clear, temps were in the 70s until noon the gradually rose to about 87 and windy. We drove 278 miles and averaged 9.5 MPG climbing from about 4,000 feet to 8,900 then traveled at 7,000 + feet the rest of the day. The truck performed extremely well. It is the 4^th and there is a fireworks show at a community park a few miles away but the camp office said there is a lot of traffic and crowded with limited parking. We decided to stay at camp and rest.

Day 5

It was a cool morning today we even had the fireplace going for breakfast. We drove to the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens only to find it closed as they were  setting up for the 4^th of July fireworks. There was a nice lake and walking trail next to it so we took a walk around the lake. We went back into town to see the Nelson Museum of the West, a free museum with a donation box at the exit. It was well done and had a lot to see.  We had a very good lunch at Rubyjuice Fruit and Smoothies in down town then back to the campground to do a couple of things on the trailer, sat outside and relaxed.

Miniatures hand carved from bass wood 

Who is attacking who? 

Day 4

It stormed last night and rained this morning but let up enough to hook up and finish the drive across NE. We forgot about crossing into another time zone and wound up at a Wal-Mart to kill some time and pick up a few things; check in at campgrounds is after 2:00. We had lunch there in the parking lot then finished the drive to Cheyenne WY.  It was sunny and about 78 with a nice breeze. We went into Cheyenne to see the Historic Depot, check out the area, have dinner and see the Cheyenne Gunfighter show. Well, the town around the Depot was not much except a large western wear store and a lot of vacant buildings and not many choices for food. We ate at the Cheyenne Brewing Company and had a good meal. We walked a short distance to the Gunfighter outdoor show which was one of the hokiest shows we have ever seen but they had fun.

These boots are themed and around town "These Boots are made for talking"

This horse was made from tools, gears and other metal items!

Day 3

What a beautiful day driving across Nebraska. It started out rainy until we hit the Nebraska border then the sun came out and the temps were around 80 and the road fairly smooth. The only difference about driving across Nebraska and Kansas is that Nebraska has trees! Today’s drive was 306 miles. The challenge today was getting in line with semis to get diesel.  The temp is now 90 so we won’t take our walk but exercise inside. Tomorrow we head for Cheyenne, WY for a couple of days and hope to post some pictures.