Loveland on the 4th of July

 

July 3 & July 4

After having a rather boring day of driving yesterday, we started today with a nice ride through some mountains.

  These mountains lasted till we reached the Utah border.  At that point we topped a mountain and then looked eastward across the Great Salt Lake Flats.  As far as the eye could see was this interesting sight. 

For the next 40 miles the road was flat and STRAIGHT.  Any one that can drive a straight line could do this.  This took us by the Bonneville Salt Flats where a lot of speed records were made.  I wish we could have gone over to it to see how it was setup.  As we drove through the salt flats we finally came upon the Great Salt Lake.  It is interesting to see the crust of salt along the edge.  Our next sight was Salt Lake City as it sits at the base of mountains it is really a pretty setting.  Passing through, we followed the road that would have taken us to Park City, this was a spectacular climb. 

The hills were green and had some pretty homes on them.  It was a pretty sight to look up in the mountains and see beautiful ski runs.  Between here and Rock Springs, WY we climbed to 7500’ twice along this route and had some really interesting downhills.  Driving an RV with a tow and a strong wind hitting us is a real trick.  Our car isn’t supposed to go faster than 65 mph when it is towed.  But these downhills tend to force the vehicles to go faster.  One of things I was taught back when I was learning to drive a truck with trailer is that I should use the same gear to go down the hill that I used to drive up the hills.  Our RV, even though it is an automatic, allows me to lower my gears to do this.   Allowing me to maintain a safe speed.  I try to always do this but sometimes the downhill slips upon me.  Our campground sits at the base of these hills and the wind continues to blow.

Today’s drive (July 4), was across the southern part of Wyoming.  This is the area where the Rockies cross into Wyoming.  We had been seeing oil wells along our drive.  Then we came upon the town of Rawlins.

  There is a large refinery belonging to Sinclair along the road.  Since we had crossed them earlier on the trip, we were expecting a lot of climbing of mountains.  To our surprise the climbs were gradual and we never climbed any higher than 8600’.   Each climb plateaued out into some spectacular farm land.  Even at 8600’ the grass was green and very plentiful.  After several trips west of Denver, this route is the best way to cross the Rockies.  We stopped for lunch at the bottom of an exit ramp.  Across the street from us was a couple of weathered buildings in a cattle grated area. 

There were no homes in sight but at this little intersection there was a lot of traffic.  Standing our making photos, I was a spectacle for the drivers.

I have made several comments as to the coolness of our days.  Well, that has ended.  Our temperature, now that we are in Loveland, is showing near 100.  We are hopeful that as we head east the temperatures will not be so hot.