Rock Springs, WY -> Reno, NV (696 miles)
We started today by eating a sad breakfast at the hotel where everything looked and tasted different then the real version of what it was supposed to be. Luckily, there are no knock-off bananas so I went with one of those. After breakfast we stopped by Walgreens for me to get price-gauged on some $20 eye drops but they were worth every penny!
As we approached the border of Wyoming we were up and down mountains and then Utah had even more mountains that were larger and windyer. We then went through Park City and down several thousand feet into Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City was actually a bit smaller then we expected as we were out the other side in ~5-10 mins.
As we left Salt Lake City we started seeing more Salt Lakes and Salt flats. We actually saw a pick-up truck that had cracked through the hard salt surface and into the mush below and was submerged up to its cab. Apparently, that’s the real danger with driving on the salt flats, they’re a bit like ice and if you break through you end up very stuck and/or submerged (and you vehicle is likely totaled from the salt).
The area with all of the salt flat is this insanely flat and straight area between two mountain ranges. It’s probably ~75 miles wide and just completely flat and straight. You’re doing 90 MPH and barely moving. Eventually, we reached the west side which is where the Bonneville Salt Flats are. We stopped at the little visitors center and went out onto the flats. It was really cool and blindingly bright. I decided to taste the salt to confirm that is was indeed salt.
After stopping at the Salt Flats we drove another fews miles to the Bonneville Speedway. Below is my dads first attempt at the Bonneville Speedway sign:
And then his second attempt (much better)!
Bonneville Speedway is where all the land speed records are set and attempted. They smooth out the salt flats so it’s like glass and there is nothing to slow you down or crash into. As we approached it we didn’t plan to go on it (see previous note about getting stuck) but the car in front of me drove right onto the flats and we saw several others so we decided to take a few laps out there. I set the land speed record for 2021 Ruby Flare Pearl Toyota Highlander XSE’s from NH at a whopping 44 MPH. I was still a little hesitant to go too far because we saw a recovery truck heading out to rescue someone.
Cool 360 degree video of one of our runs:
After the Salt Flats we made our way down I-80 for a few hundred more miles. It switched between boring desert and cool mountainous sections. Right outsdie of Reno we with our first real traffic of the trip but it wasn’t too bad because we were so far ahead of schedule. We checked in at the Atlantis Casino for our stay (and realized smoking in the casino is allowed in Reno) and then just hung out for the night.
Tomorrow, we will meet up with Jaclyn and the family at the airport. Unfortunately, Beckett caught a pretty bad cold a day or two ago so we’re hoping that the plane and traveling isn’t too tricky (but it was literally Jaclyn’s worst fear, ugh!).
-Jay
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