Saturday, September 29, 2012

Left California behind, and I must say it's good to be on the road again. Had a wonderful visit with family while we were there and as always, it's difficult to leave them behind. Arrived in Reno for a few days of R&R and then off towards Salt Lake City. Nevada might have legalized gambling and tons of casinos but there is very little between the cities....other than desert, that is....here's where we stayed in Reno. There is very little in Winnemucca, Nevada. In Wendover, we stayed at one of the Casino RV Parks which was nice and was able to visit the Bonneville Speedway. Arrived in Salt Lake City today and we were invited to attend a live performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir tomorrow. We are looking forward to that.....




As we left the Sacramento area on I-80 we were pleased to see that they finally have some semblance of a roadway. Historically, I-80 has been one of the worst roadways in America. We found some construction, of course, but all in all it was pretty smooth. Whether it remains so after this seasons snow storms is anyone's guess....







I-80 towards Reno, follows the Truckee river and the Union Pacific railroad. Very picturesque, but the water is very very cold.



Another view of the Truckee river. As you near the Donner Summit, there is an overlook of Donner Lake. It was here where the Donner Party attempted to wait out the fierce winter that resulted in many deaths.











We finally arrived in Reno, Nevada.



We prefer the Grand Sierra Resort and RV Park in Reno. It is actually a destination resort, with a theater, bowling alley, many shops, a beach complete with pool, spa and cabanas. There is a surf shop, a Johnny Rockets and a country western themed dance hall.




Here's our site at the GSR RV Resort....



After Reno, we set out towards Salt Lake City. Since we limit our travel time to only 3 hours per day, we chose Winnemucca as our first stop. As you can see from this picture, there isn't much to see between Reno and Winnemucca.


After leaving Winnemucca, we headed for West Wendover. Wendover is notable for the Army Air Base that was built there for WWII. Many of the buildings are still standing and the runways are still used by commercial and private aircraft.

Wendover spans the border between Utah and Nevada, with the City of Wendover in Utah and West Wendover in Nevada. 








 The City of West Wendover welcomes visitors with this much bigger than life lighted statue. What's also interesting in these cities is that Nevada is on Pacific time and Utah is on Mountain so there is an hours difference depending on where you are in their town. We stayed at the Nugget Casino which is in Nevada but the adjacent RV park is in Utah.




Not to be forgotten, Nevada has it's version of Beverly Hills....certainly not 90210...consisting of a single barn and about 300 acres....



No trip through the top of Nevada/Utah would be complete without heading out to the Bonneville Salt Flats and the Bonneville Speedway.


The Bonneville International Speedway consists of nothing more than a groomed stretch of salt, 80 feet wide and 10 miles long. It has been the scene of many attempts at breaking speed records, the fastest to date has been 640 mph. That's fast.....



No, we didn't take the car or the motorcoach onto the salt. We did hike a ways out through the salt. Interestingly enough, the salt is hard packed, it crunches as you walk on it and it sticks to the bottom of your shoes like mud. More pictures and stories about the Great Salt Lake in future pages. We are touring Temple Square tomorrow after the Tabernacle Choir concert.....

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