Day 11-After watching Darby spin around in circles last night with the luggage cart in the hotel parking lot, we settled in for the night in Carson City, NV. As a note, I thought it was a joke until I saw Theresa jump in to try and save her and the luggage from flying all over the hotel entrance! Darby’s rotation was so fast it looked she was riding some whacky ride at an amusement park. If they weren’t laughing so hard, I would have thought it was a traumatic experience.

We left Carson City and headed northwest across Nevada, with our goal of making Salt Lake City, UT by evening. By comparison, the scenery today was quite a bit “less exciting” than the past few days. For the most part the journey across these two states was uneventful, except for a good stop at a rest area in central Nevada. Not only was it a much needed bathroom break, but we also enjoyed a nice picnic lunch in the high Nevada desert, and I also found a small oasis of birds that were using the few trees that were growing there. I recorded Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, Bullocks Oriole, Wilson’s Warbler and a Western Kingbird. In addition, we also spotted a small ground squirrel that Darby scared away when she tried to offer the critter a piece of her bread stick from last night’s dinner by throwing it directly at him. The poor little rodent thought something was attacking him from above and frantically ran away into the sagebrush, heading toward Arizona!

A few western bird species I managed to spot (see below) at a rest area in central Nevada included Swainson’s Hawk, Black-headed Grosbeak and Western Tanager.

Getting ready to leave the rest area, I asked Theresa to drive Big Blue for a half hour or so, so I could take a quick power nap. Well, that didn’t quite work out so well for either of us. She really hasn’t driven the truck that much, and I put her behind the wheel in an unfamiliar area and told her to put the pedal to the metal. After 15 minutes of driving through some high winds, a long tunnel and several tractor trailers whizzing by, it was time for her to call it quits. Besides, honestly, I couldn’t even close my eyes! So, I asked her to pull off to a gravel turnout that was just ahead of us, but the only problem was she wasn’t slowing down to pull off. After I started wildly shaking my finger pointing to the spot to pull off, she came to a screeching stop in the gravel area, barely missing a plastic pole. It was as if she was pulling the truck into the pits at the Daytona 500. I sat there for a moment dazed, and subconsciously waiting for the truck to quickly jacked-up and all four tires to be changed, and gas to be dumped into our tank! I jumped out of the passenger side and breathed a sigh of relief!  

If you travel this part of the country on I-80, you have the fortunate (or unfortunate) pleasure of crossing through the Bonneville Salt Flats in western UT. This 40-mile stretch of highway has large, expansive salt flats on both sides of the road. Its claim to fame is that it’s the location where many land speed records have been broken over the years. It’s pretty cool to look out over the flats and see what appears to be water, with the mountains in the back looking like islands. There’s so much heat reflecting off the white salt and sand, it creates mirages in the distance, as you drive by. If you’re really not into that sort of thing, you’re in luck, since the legal speed limit coming across that section is 80 mph.

We rumbled into Salt Lake City, but not before one last little incident. I had forgotten to fill up with gas before we crossed the Bonneville Salt Flats, and read a sign that said the next fuel available was 55 miles away-oops. I couldn’t tell the girls just yet. If you have one of those indicator lights in your vehicle that comes on when the fuel is running low, you should probably pay attention to it. But, it’s even a bigger problem when that little orange light comes on for 25 miles, then disappears! That’s where I was. I had to spill the beans to Theresa and Darby that there was a slight chance we might run out of gas. I knew there was a small gas station 15 miles up the highway, but was not sure I could make it, and in my head I kept hearing my wife’s statement that’s been repeated to me for 27 years-“I do not push, and I do not walk for gas.” Luckily, I drifted into the gas station, stretching my neck to make sure it was still open on a Sunday night. I filled Big Blue’s tank, and said a couple quick prayers! Tomorrow we head north for Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton NP.