Day Seven - Salt Lake City to Reno

The sun rose over the mountains and shed it glowing warmth down upon us in the valley.  It had been very hot yesterday afternoon and evening.  I was surprised at just how warm it was out there.  The thermometer on the bank sign around the corner read 96 degrees when we left on our quest to explore SLC.  It cooled off a bit over night but there was still some warmth hanging in the air.  What was also interesting was that there wasn't a whole lot of humidity, at least not nearly as much as I would expect when the temperature is that high.  Nevertheless we were out the door and on our way out of SLC by eight.  We didn't have to travel long before we were met with an awe inspiring view...the Great Salt Lake.  We couldn't see the lake at all from where we were staying so I was excited to see it.  The lake is just so darn big!  I remember flying over it back in April when we were forced to land in SLC on our direct flight from Boston to San Francisco and thinking how large it was, but now standing right in front of it presents it in a new light.

A look out at the lake

It is just so huge

We stopped and took pictures and tried to take it all in.  The highway took us along the southern coast of the lake which allowed us to get a real good view of it from different angles.  Jeff was practically hanging out of my car trying to take pictures while we were cruising along.  The highway continued west away from the lake and we were faced with a stretch of road that was nothing but flat and straight.  This lasted for a bit and was rather boring until we were within fifty miles of the Nevada border.  It was right about then when we saw the Bonneville Salt Flats.  You always see them in car commercials as the car company tries to impress the buyer with it awesome speed, but to see it person was completely different.  It looks like a white sea that stretches as far as the eye can see.  We pulled into a rest area and walked out into the baking sun.  I walked out beyond the rest area and out onto the flats.  It was so strange to be standing on a bed of blindingly white salt.  It felt like I was on another planet or the moon.  I was glad that we stopped and took the time to go out there and check it out, because who knows when I might be back through there.

The welcome sign

This is out of this world

After clearing the flats we found ourselves crossing the border into Nevada and you knew you were no longer in Utah.  The first thing that I noticed were the flashing lights of the casinos.  The very first town across the border had at least five different casinos in a backwoods town.  Every town has a casino, every gas station has a casino, I wouldn't be surprised if the local community colleges had casinos on campus.  It was just such a stark change from the more conservative Utah.  Other than the casinos the landscape was much the same as the western part of Utah, mountainous and bare.  What was cool about the three hundred miles of NV was that we would climb thousands of feet over a mountain ridge and descend into a valley where there might be a town.  After riding through the valley we would then climb up another mountain ridge, summit, and then descend again into some backwater town.  This happened over and over again, until we came closer to Reno when the mountains started to disappear and we descended the windy road into the city. 

Though I have never been to Las Vegas, I think that Reno is a miniature version of Las Vegas, in my opinion.  We found our motel once again in the outskirts of the city but we definitely wanted to go look around the main drag area.  We cruised around a bit, completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of flashing lights and great buffet deals, but we stumbled upon the perfect parking lot.  While other tourists had to pay to park, we found a large lot that was practically empty and was free after 5:00PM.  We wandered into the El Dorado looking for a decent meal at one of the many restaurants within the huge casino.  We rolled into a microbrew pub, and I ordered the fish tacos which were surprisingly good, along with their own brewed amber beer.  Jeff wanted to hit up a slot machine, so that he could say that he gambled once, but I opted for the roulette table.  I threw down one bet on a number and hit it on the first spin.  I continued for about thirty minutes and I walked out with $225, not a bad night at all.

This is our last night on the road and in a Motel 6.  I have no desire to see one again anytime soon.  Tomorrow we head to Berkeley and the end of the road trip, but the beginning of a new chapter in my life.