Turned East...Again

Heading back East

Today we turned east and we really mean it this time.  We left California behind and chose a road across Nevada with the perfect name…the Loneliest Road otherwise known as the Lincoln Highway (US Rt. 50).  How could we not take this road.  It’s what we do.   At one point we had traveled over 100 miles before we saw another car traveling east…a single car caught and then passed us.  

Loneliest Road

Passing zone...100 miles later

Clouds

It was a bit strange to drive across dry and barren countryside with the constant presence of clouds.  We finally had a rainy day…the first since Seattle.  It was a hard driving rain that lasted all of 20 minutes just as we hit the last gas station before Utah.  Thankfully the car top carrier remained dry…the extra prep of applying weather stripping appears to be working.

Opera

Notch Moun

We went through Eureka…named after a miner struck gold and yelled “eureka” at least that’s the story the town is telling.  The place had 16 smelters, 100 saloons and over 10,000 people “back in the day”.  Now it’s a sleepy little town with its very own Opera House…just not much else.  The mountains were in constant view though as we headed towards Utah.  One in particular caused us to pull over for a better look…and photo.  A stunning mountain called Notch Peak rose over 9655 feet tall…perfect name given the hunk of rock missing from its peak.

Closer shot of Notch Mountain

Cooper's excited to be in Utah

As we entered Utah Cooper was busy...like really busy taking a long snooze so he missed out on entering the state.  It took only a mile before we encountered someone worthy of our Utah Bad Driver Award…a truck heading down the road in our lane so he could turn into a parking lot.  A few miles further and another award winner…took the curve while swerving into our lane. The last one of the day went to someone who crossed the yellow line and drove in it for a few seconds.  Our last trip to Utah a few years back also encountered numerous bad drivers…still wondering why they seem to have so much trouble?

Still excited

 Tomorrow we plan to visit Promontory, UT and the site where the transcontinental railroads joined…no golden spike (it’s at Stanford), but it’s called the Golden Spike National Historical Site.  Still trying to decide where to head from there…the weather isn’t being too helpful.

Shoe Tree*

Golf

*The original tree was in Middle Gate, NV.  The story goes that two newlyweds broke down while driving through town in the mid-eighties.  The bride said she was going to walk home.  Her groom threw her shoes up in the tree and told her to go for it.   Afterwards, he headed to the local bar where the bartender told him he had better go apologize to his bride.  The groom headed back and threw his shoes in the tree too as a way to make amends.  From that point forward the State hauled away several truckloads of shoes from the tree each month until someone chopped it down in 2011.  This created a 'firestorm' of angry people in Nevada...including the Governor.  Anyway the Shoe Tree has now reformed outside of Delta, UT.