Day 9 - Green River, UT to Elko, NV

Today started with thunder and lightning at about 5:30 and because we thought today would be another long day we were out of the motel at 7:06. Only when passing the “Pacific Time Zone” sign did we realize there would be an extra hour. Later on I’ll tell you how we spent that hour.

So right out of the motel parking lot was one of the best rainbows we have ever seen. It was a complete arc from one horizon to the other and the colors were…every color of the rainbow.

Just outside Green River we took a shortcut on Highway 6 to Spanish Fork through Helper and Price, Utah. Helper got its name from “helper” engines the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad stationed there to assist trains in making the steep, fifteen mile climb up Price Canyon. I have no idea how Price got its name. However it is the hometown of Cassandra Lynn, who was Playboy’s March 2006 Playmate of the Month.

You may have noticed there has been no mention of Starbucks. And with good reason. For the first 143 miles there weren’t any. Not until Orem did we meet up with a mocha and latte.

I’ve driven Interstate 15 from Provo up through Salt Lake City several times and it’s always busy and under construction. Since our destination was Nevada instead of Oregon, we were able to plot out back roads that took us South and West of Salt Lake before meeting up with Interstate 80. The drive through Cedar Fort, Fairfield, Stockton and Tooele was scenic and I would do it again. It took awhile, but I finally figured out the objects atop poles along the road were sirens. Which made sense since the Tooele Chemical Disposal Facility was nearby. I guessing the sirens were to have gone off if there had been any accidents in disposing of the huge amounts of Sarin, VX and Mustard Gas stored there.

Heading West on Interstate 80 we were surrounded by salt and near Wendover, Utah was the road leading to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Since 1914, the flat, hard-packed salt of Bonneville has been used to attempt setting land speed records.

Somewhere along the road we came across the time zone change. Thinking ahead to Elko, we decided this bonus hour would be best spent in one of the friendly casinos. I wonder what a jackpot on a penny machine lots like.

Tomorrow we will be heading for Redding via the Olive Pit in Corning for some of their Greek Style dried black olives.

Update: Slipped a $20 bill in a slot machine and walked away 10 minutes later with $32. Even though I had to cover Barb’s $4 loss I consider the 20 minutes well spent and the $8 profit went toward two Coronas. 425 miles today.