Friday February 10, 2023
Where am I? First thought I woke to as I rubbed my eyes. Oh yeah! Salt Lake City. Home of the old boss. Or close to him anyway. Turn’s out he’s in Provo just 'down the road a-piece'. No they don’t talk like that here…no idea why that came out.
Ben and I were going to meet up for brunch around 10:30 which gave me some time to blog and do some laundry at the hotel. I’m getting the hang of this living on the road stuff and most of these little chores I don’t even think about anymore. Grab some change at the front desk, throw a load of wash in and set a timer on my phone to come back down to move it into the dryer. Funny I used to think about people walking away with my clothes but now…? Who the heck would want a wore out pair of jeans and some well used cycling clothes? Speaking of which I’m down a pair of jeans, a pair of shoes and socks and I have a pretty substantial crack on my windshield that seems to grow a 1/2 inch a day. The shoes were the worst hit to me, I really liked the casual boots that they were…great with jeans. The soles came apart in the Ouray snow storm. Just to much sloshing around in ‘em.
I drove to Ben’s house and he met me at the door to show me around his newly renovated place. New floors, closets, knocked down a wall here etc. Him and the Mrs really made it their home and it’s nice to see him content. He actually went to college here, Brigham Young, like just a few years ago right Ben? Ha! Seems like it anyway. So he drove me around town and gave me the local tour. Churches are a big thing here and there were quite a few of them.
Brunch was at a local waffle place called Waffle Love. No really that’s what’ it’s called. Come to think of it you know what I noticed? Waffles are huge outside of NY. Or maybe just Long Island where I’ve been my whole life. Every town I’ve been through it seems, and all the places in between for that matter, have Waffle Houses. It’s more than McDonalds if that’s possible!
Oh and remember DeeWayne I connected up with? I remember him telling me that the best restaurant ever, or his favorite meal I think it was, is a Waffle House. True - he is from Kentucky so that ‘splains a lot. But what is it about waffles? Although I do go for that little waffle maker thingy at all the hotel free breakfasts’ I’ve been at so often now. Just yummy! Right? They always come out so much better at a hotel. I can remember my kids running towards that thing whenever we were traveling with them. I think America not only runs on Dunkin but Waffles too!
So Waffle Love, and there’s lots of those here too, is like Waffle House on steroids. They have waffles with nearly everything you can imagine. Almost like one of those little crepe shops I run into now and then. The imagination these folk have with putting different things into crepes is incredible!
We chowed down, headed back to his place to say goodbyes and grabbed a selfie to send to another office co-worker in NY. John is holding the fort together in the Training Department back at our ATC facility I’m sure. Solid. No better word to describe Johnny!
Thanks Ben for taking time out to tour me around your town and rekindle some of the laughs we had working together...(we forgot to mention the snow-ball fights in the office lol!). Truly was a pleasure back then and today.
Before hitting the road on towards Californina I drove around a bit to get a taste of the Salt Lake area a bit more. Checked out the college again and then headed over to Utah Lake just west of Provo to see what it looked like. I stopped for a few photos there and ending up chatting with Shirley, a recent transplant to the area and she gave me some tips on things to see on my drive west. Such good peoples everywhere.
A big road day here for sure. When I was looking at Nevada, the state I’ll be heading through next here, I really didn’t see much to stop at or do. I’m not a gambler so that pretty much knocks out about 90 percent of what they do here I think! So my goal was to just dead head thru the state, amp up coffee and make it to Reno by nightfall. Basically tearing through the state...Californina is real close after that!
I plugged the GPS for the first town that had a coffee shop - a Starbucks in Wendover. Figure it would be a great place to stop, gas up ,grab a latte, hit the bathroom and continue on. When I got there I didn't see a Starbucks anywhere! I couldn’t find it! As it turns out - it was in the Casino that had valet parking etc…. geez! I didn’t want to deal with that so I set the GPS for the next town. A Dunkin' donuts. Or Dunkin' I think they just call themselves now. Everything's shorter notice that? Evr since txting arrived u can't find whole words or complete sentences : ) I found the Dunkin' about an hour and a half later…walked in at 3:30 and…sign says closed at three. What?! I was able to walk in because…it was connected to a casino! Casino's open but no coffee. And really, between the casino, the Dunkin and a gas station - that was about the whole town! What the?
So I plugged Elko Nevada into the GPS and made way for there! I see a coffee shop there called Sierra Nevada and it says it's open til 6:00. I'm getting smarter here notice that lol? I walked in and it's definitely not the prettiest coffee shop I’ve been in but the girl working it knew her stuff and was super helpful. Wearing a belly shirt with a little extra hanging out, a nose ring and some tats - one might walk away with a different impression but she was just awesome. Such a great happy spirit n loving what she's doing. I actually gave her a call back from the road to give her a shoutout and a thank you for a delicious latte.
The land though this state was just incredibly flat...like Bonneville Flat lol. MIles of just sheer flat white stuff and a lot of it covered in a bit of water...probably melted snow. You can actually see the curvature of the earth its so stinking flat over such a large expanse of it...crazy.
I made it to Reno just super tired. I've been falling behind on the blogs but wow all this driving, it does wear you out too...
Inside
So many miles (over six thousand now) behind the wheel. I spend a lot of time listening to bands as I travel, a lot of newer ones actually in the more Reggae genre for some reason. But the road also has me noticing how many truck drivers there are. These guys do this everyday, for years. I don't know how they do it...and it's so vital to us all. They definitely deserve a shoutout for all the hauling they do for us and with such professionalism too. The way they change lanes for each other and then try as best they can to get out of us faster cars way. Thank ya for getting everything to the supermarkets and shops and all the silly stuff I order to my doorstep!
Outside
The salt flats are...well...flat! But amazingly so. I mean Texas was flat too but this has absolutely nothing else on it for miles in some areas and it's just wind blown, white and yeah...flat!
Upside
To have friends across the country that again stop for a moment to rekindle some memories and reconnect is just awesome! I know I've mentioned it before but it is so good.
downside
Driving for sure. Just spent.
Older than me Ben. Lookin' good dude!
I pulled into this hotel last night and I had no idea there were mountains around! Felt funny seeing them in the morning when I went to leave...
Brigham Young University
Utah Lake
There's alway ice fishing if you get bored around here too... yikes!
Coffee shop signs always give me a laugh...and thats the Truth!
Pretty cool stumbling up on this area...
The "Mile" behind me....it's where the land speed records are set.
Casinos everywhere!
I happen to look at the GPS when I only had one minute until I reached the destination (a coffee shop lol). But apparently it was right before the time zone change too! One minute left to drive, the time is 3:46 and I will get there at 2:47!
Ok well I thought it was cool anyway 🙃
The straightest road ever lol
A gorgeous sunset as I headed west through Nevada...
Every town had a casino, some small, some huge and some expensive looking....
Not every town had a Pete's kitchen : )
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