Saltee!
We were just a few miles from the Bonneville Salt Flats,
where motorcyclists and drivers have gathered for years to test their bikes and
hopefully shatter land speed records.
We just wanted to see the flats and get an idea of just how
vast and desolate the land formed by an ancient salty sea really was.
Little did we know that we were arriving on the first
morning of Speed Week and drivers were already unpacking their cars, or rocket
ships, or whatever they were.
The one thing my goofball husband wanted to do while we were there is to
re-create the iconic picture of Rollie Free setting a new land speed record
back in the 1948.
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| Rollie Free, going 150 mph |
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| Sean, not going 150 mph |
The Salt Flats were incredible and had a unique, desolate
beauty about them. But being from Minnesota, I felt like I was on a frozen lake
the entire time and had to keep telling myself that I was not going to fall
through the salt.
Speaking of salt. It had rained substantially the week before we got to the Flats. The salt stuck to everything and got everywhere – in the bike,
saddlebags, shoes, hair, phones, clothes. You name it, there was salt stuck there.
Luckily, we found a car wash and managed to get most of the salt off the bike
and our shoes before it started eating away at the metal.
As we left town, we’d left our destination up in the air. We
could either go north to Laramie, WY or south to Steamboat Springs, CO. A strong
headwind made our decision for us and we turned south to avoid the storms
popping up on the radar.
We didn't miss the storms altogether, but Mother Nature was kind and they stayed well in front of us.
We arrived in Steamboat Springs in the early
evening. We stayed downtown at the Bristol Hotel, which was built in the 1890s.
The rooms were tiny, but the atmosphere was charged with charm.
We walked around downtown and finally settled on a great
Mexican meal at a local restaurant and called it a day.
Day 1 - 603 miles
Day 2 - 768 miles
Day 3 - 510 miles
Day 4 - 400 miles
Day 5 - 368 miles
Day 6 - 484 miles
Day 7 - 498 miles
Cool! The salt flats reminds me of "The World's Fastest Indian". Have you seen that? Not a bad motorcycle movie!
ReplyDeleteYep, I love that movie! That's probably what got me to the Salt Flats in the first place. :-)
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