Nevada and then Salt Lake City

With an early start on Monday, 7:30AM, me at the wheel, 11 hours of driving ahead of us, Paul and I were off to Salt Lake City. We were looking forward to stay at a posh downtown Salt Lake City hotel, to relax and rejuvenate after a about a week on the road. We hoped to get to the hotel around 8PM and then head off to Arches National Park, about 4 hours south, the next day. Tommy and Sara had planned to leave early, around four or five. They had an even less structured plan than we did and were just going to head to Nebraska, visit some family in Sacramento, hang out in Reno, do some camping.

We passed through Sacramento, headed toward Reno. Another beautiful sunny day of driving through the rolling Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Tommy and Sara had wanted to spend some time in Sacramento, so we thought we might wind up in Reno around the same time. We called them as we got closer, but they hadn't left yet. They hoped to leave within the hour.

We stopped in Reno for lunch. Drove through downtown with all its kitschy glamour, but chose a diner on the outskirts of town. A greasy roast beef melt in our stomachs, hit the bathrooms, and we were back on the road, Paul at the wheel.

The desert sun was hot and blazing! We were surrounded by dry hills; no trees, no clouds, just hot. The landscape was pretty though. We became quite familiar with it over the next 400 miles or so

No air conditioning in the car so we made our own. The spray bottle felt wonderful!

Tommy called a few hours after lunch. Their car had overheated. They were in a Denny's parking lot, hoping it would cool off. They would keep us posted. A few hours later, they called us from a hotel. They would be spending the night in Reno.

Our plan was to just drive through Nevada. I took over driving later that evening. About a half hour before Utah, I see a police car following me. Could it be? Seriously? Three times?

Yes. He pulled me over after about a mile.

Also, very polite, no pressure, apparently our left break light was out. Took our documents, a few questions, we knew the drill. Came back, a few more questions, where are we going, what are we doing, okay, just a warning, have a safe drive!

Into Utah around sunset, we saw just the beginnings of the salt flats before it got dark. Further into the state, we drove past the Great Salt lake. Though we couldn't see it, we could certainly smell it, a briney, burnt, just past pleasant odor. Quite distinctive.

Entering Utah also meant crossing into Mountain time, an hour later. Forgot about that. With the longer than planned lunch, road construction, being pulled over, the time change, we weren't going to get into Salt Lake until around 11PM. We didn't think it would be worth it to spend the money on a nice hotel we wouldn't really enjoy. We called all three hostels in Salt Lake from the Hostel Handbook and one had a room, the International Ute Hostel, $45 for the room for two people. Found the hostel, brought in our bags, went to sleep.


Hostels are great for maintaining your budget and also for meeting other travelers and interesting people. We met a middle aged man who was looking for a new city to call home, a young girl from Austria who had just finished an au pair assignment in Connecticut and was traveling before heading home. And we met Patty, the hostel host, a self described hippie past menopause. She had such an open, trusting spirit. Never asked our names, just asked that we leave the cash under her dolphin pillow. Wanted everyone to be happy and safe and to treat each other like people, not peace on Earth, but peace for the night. She always tried to be in a good mood. On particularly bad days, she kept her fish hat handy, "to spread the mojo" and improve her mood. Works, don't ya think?