Rock Spring Wyoming to Winnemucca NV

Morning at the KOA was remarkably quiet except for the construction worker who lived next door warming up his diesel pick-up right outside our window.  It was so nice to sleep with all the windows open and we even had to add another blanket because it got so cool. Jeff got up early and let me sleep in (well, he made a lot of noise to try and wake me up, but my earplugs won).  He made one of his famous omlettes with sausage and tomato and delicious coffee.  The weather was sunny, but cool and dry.  What a change of climate from the East Coast. By now we are experts at breaking "Kamp" and we were soon on the road again--I-80 West toward Nevada through Utah.

Sleeping Beauty

Yay for Coffee!!

The scenery was ever changing and spectacular as we went through a series of summits through the Rockies.  Each corner we turned brought a gasp.....not only because of the beauty, but the altitude!

A stop for Ice Cream where they serve a half pound hot dog nicknamed, " The Homewrecker"  

Finally we went up one more huge mountain and found ourselves in Park City, site of most of the winter Olympic events when they were held in Utah.  I saw the huge ski jumps without snow, and other venues from the games. After passing through Park City, we dropped almost straight down into the basin of the Great Salt Lake.  We went down, down, down until finally we were in Salt Lake City.

After miles of driving across the flat land of the Salt Lake basin, we came to a rest area near the Bonneville Salt Flats......miles of white salt, and distant mountains.  This was where all the land speed records were made - 622.48 mph.  I made lunch and we sat staring out at the blistering white flats, it was eerie in the quiet, no birds or animals, no homes or business'.  Surprisingly, Mc Donalds hasn't even placed a hamburger stand here.

Lunch Prep

Soon we were crossing the border into Nevada.  The scenery changed to high (very high) desert without a lot of variety.  Jeff got a phone call about business in Oregon that needed immediate action, so we stopped at the Red Lion casino in Elko so he could make some phone calls without fear of being disconnected due to lack of service.  While he was busy,  I played video poker and slots and hung out in Starbucks adding pix to the blog.  Finally, he was done and a debate ensued.  Should we try to get a room at the Red Lion and call it a day, or should we try to make it to Winnemucca?  Foolishly, we decided to continue.  We broke the 1st rule of Pargabunking - never be too concrete on any plans and go with your gut.

We exited I-80 into Winnemucca, exhausted, but with hopes of finding a room, a dinner and some gambling.  We saw a gathering for an outside music concert and noted that all the listeners had cowboy hats. Unfortunately, that is the one thing we forgot to pack. We pulled into the first casino/hotel we came to but there was no room at the inn.  The same story at every other motel or casino we came to.  There was a convention of Cattlemen in town (hence all the cowboy hats) and we were at risk of having no place to stay. 

Finally we stopped at the "Santa Fe Inn" and got one of the last 3 rooms.  The parking lot was quickly filling with construction/mine workers who were staying there weekly.  They were having their evening beverages, discussing their day with amazing use of an extraordinary use of the English language.  How one scholar could fit the F word 6 times into one sentence, well let's say we were impressed. They were drinking beer, (Bud) and barbequing on the upper balcony. 

We found our room which was big, roomy and somewhat clean except for two armchairs which had stains of which I do NOT want to know the origin. This was not our vision, but this being the 8th hotel we tried, we were happy. After we vowed never to sit in the chairs, we cleaned up and went out to find food and gambling.  We found both at a casino down the road and actually made money before going back to the old Santa Fe and bed.  Again, we averted disaster and had a really enjoyable evening. 

Note:  We are going to be traveling into Idaho and Oregon and will be camping tonight (the 29th) and then going to Jon's cabin to spend several days.  We will be off the grid for awhile and probably won't be able to update the blog.  Don't worry, we will fill in the details when we are back in civilization.
J and K