Miata Mailing List: June 1994, Message #147
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   From: Redfire@eworld.com
Subject: The Road to Indy - Day 2
   Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 03:51:17 -0400

The Road to Indy - Day 2

Grand Junction, CO
Sunday June 5, 1994


Grand Junction -

Well, the first day of our entire group traveling together is now complete,
and it has been quite a day, filled with many different kinds of scenery and
topography. We left Nevada this morning, crossed Utah, and entered Colorado.
The earth here is truly amazing and changes continuously as you travel along.
We are now at the Best Western Horizon Inn in Grand Junction, which actually
has local phone numbers for CIS, AOL, and others. To the East are beautiful
sandstone bluffs quite high which were gorgeous in the setting sun. There is
also some kind of airport that way and the planes flying back and forth in
front of the cliffs looks pretty surreal. Grand junction is named for the
junction of the Colorado (formerly Grand) and Gunnison Rivers. All in all
today was a real "Wow" day.

Our day got off to an inauspicious start when I delayed the group by at least
15 minutes. We wanted to hit the road at 8:00 but didn't actually make it out
till 8:30. However, I was not the only one still checking out at 8:15. What I
was, though, was the only one needing gas at 8:15! I ran down to the local
Chevron station and pulled up to the pump. There was some kind of Nevada work
crew there with six trucks and station wagons full of people and equipment.
The lone attendant was trying to add up the six pump totals by hand to bill
on the state gas card, without much success. After what seemed like an
eternity, he finally reset my pump and I filled up. (Still getting 35 mpg.) I
rejoined the group, who had already made their first pit stop back in the
hotel, and we were on our way. I guess it just didn't sink in that when they
say they want to be out by 8:00, they mean they want to be in their cars
driving by 8:00 and not standing in front of their rooms saying "Good
Morning!" at 8:00. I'll have to figure out a better way since tomorrow we're
planning on heading out at 7:30!

We lined up in formation with the two BRGs leading. I was the lead Red. Since
everyone else has CB radios and can communicate that way, they decided that I
should be in the middle of the caravan. OK by me. Except they tell me I miss
out on all the kidding I get (and Bansel the Bear too) by not having a radio.
Oh well. We headed southeast out of Ely around and over the Shell Creek
range. As we did this we began a series of crossings where we would traverse
a basin, climb over a mountain range, and find a new surprise waiting for us
on the other side. The sky above was clear with only an occasional snowy
white cloud floating overhead like a loose tuft of cotton. Some of the high
peaks still had bits of snow on them, though we did not go near those. We
passed through the Humbolt Forest and around the edge of the Great Basin
National Park. There are some amazing rocky valleys with different kinds of
forests (aspen, fir, pine, spruce) which open up to the side of the road. I
don't know what the ranges themselves are made. They are layered but not like
sedimentary sandstone. Much sharper edges, and while there is some color,
there is also some whiter rock. Often we would come around a bend and see a
new valley unfold before with a different combination of forest, rocks, and
formations. Quite spectacular.

Eventually we passed out of the Humbolt forest and into another basin of much
drier land. The forests of trees ended and sage brush took over once again.
This is where Utah begins. There is no "Welcome" sign at the border on US 50,
just one gas station/store and some road warning signs. (If I read it
correctly, the fine for littering on the highway in Utah is $299.) There were
also some tourist kids with cameras who almost walked out right in front of
us and gave Leon quite a scare! We traveled on and on encountering a steady
stream of cars but no sign of civilization. They don't advertise that
"Loneliest Road" thing in Utah, but they ought to. We traveled 150 miles and
saw only two buildings, that one Gas station and a "Last Chance" place on the
Nevada side near the border. This land is also open range and we continued
crossing cattle guards. I developed my own cattle guard salute of lifting
both arms skyward whenever we crossed one. My small way of giving thanks for
not being intended for someone else's dinner. (At least not that I know of!)
The salute kind of caught on, and you can imagine several Miatas crossing
cattle guards with the occupants arms waving in the air. 

We passed through one more range, the appropriately named Confusion Range,
and suddenly the basin below us appeared bone white in the distance. We were
looking down on the salt flats of the dry Sevier Lake. We headed down into
the flat desert (still 5000 feet high) and began our crossing. The ground
here was much whiter than before. We stopped part way across to stretch our
legs and put on sunscreen. As we traveled through the middle of nowhere, I
realized that there was at least one sign of civilization. Power lines. They
don't care about what it's like where they are, as long as they travel the
shortest route, whether it's straight up a mountain or through the middle of
a desert. As I pondered this I started seeing the occasional patch of green
fields. Before I knew it we saw some small open bodies of water and then
farms. We had arrived in Hinckley on the eastern edge of the Utah desert. A
few miles later we stopped for a break in the town of Delta, Utah.

After getting drinks and postcards in Delta, we turned off 50 and onto US 6.
This route was the old highway 50 twenty some-odd years ago. We drove
northeast along 6 past farms and pastures, the land getting greener by the
mile. A little over an hour later we climbed the foothills of Tintic mountain
into the town of Eureka , the second town of that name we'd seen in as many
days. The signs proclaimed it "The Heart of Utah's Historic Mining District.
Not Just a Hole In The Ground!" We saw mines and equipment but nowhere to
eat, so we continued 20 miles up the road into Santaquin. We had a great
lunch at the Family Restaurant in Santaquin, which is run by several
generations of one family. They were all very friendly (Are you all driving
those little two-seaters?) and wondered how we had all wound up in their
town. We also noticed that we were busily frying up a good batch of bugs on
our radiators. Earlier in the day we had passed through a large batch of the
grasshopper/locusts we had previously encountered. We all ducked down to
avoid getting smacked. The Horsts got the most out in front and the damaged
tapered off going back. I took out at least six on the windshield and another
half dozen elsewhere. What we didn't realize was that we also had coated our
radiators with them. Until we stopped. Then you couldn't miss the smell of
bug-fry. The Horsts had a solid mass from end to end on the radiator cookin'
up real good. After lunch we got gas and did our best to clean up the mess,
leaving little piles of bugs scattered about. Then it was on the road again.

Santaquin is right next to I-15 which heads north to Provo. We continued on 6
which parallels the interstate for about 15 miles, then turns southwest. What
amazing country. The low mountains near Provo seem to rise straight out of
the flat sedimentary basins. The flat land goes right to the base of the
hills which rise several thousand feet up just like that. No foothills or
anything. Just flat next to steep. And all very lush and green. We continued
south through more passes and valleys and the Uinta National Forest. The
terrain here was different again with rocky buttes and steep sedimentary
cliffs. Apparently there is a lot of coal mining in this area. We passed
several very long coal trains winding through the valleys. We later drove by
a very large coal processing plant down low in the canyons which was also a
historical site. We stopped in the town of Price (dinosaur country) for a
break before passing through Welington. Now Welington is a small town with
one post office on the main drag. As we passed and I read the sign with the
Zip code, I began thinking about the fact that we had not seen any other
Miatas at all on our trip. I wondered if it would be possible to get a list
of all the hundreds of thousands of Miatas sold and sort them by registered
Zip code to see which zip codes have the most. I also thought it would be
interesting to find the number and location of all the Zip codes where there
are no Miatas. I figured Welington would certainly be one of them. I was
going pretty good with this train of thought when I was suddenly derailed by
a Black coming the other way. I fumbled for the lights and horn while trying
to wave madly. Believe me, that guy was pretty surprised to see not one, but
five other Miatas coming his way.

We passed through more ranges and eventually settled into the low lands next
to sedimentary sandstone bluffs. We rejoined US 50 where it is also I-70 near
Green River. We were forced to endure a hundred miles or so of Interstate,
but the scenery was worth it. The sedimentary cliffs started getting color
the further east we went. At one point we saw an antelope off to the side.
Then the sign said "Eagles on Highway," but it was prairie dogs we saw
running across the road. They seemed to be sitting in the left lane staring
at the setting sun. When we drove by they would run across our lane. I saw
one coming. I thought I'd try to avoid it by moving over but it kept changing
directions. Sure enough I nailed it and saw it go tumbling away in my mirror.
We saw lots of these stupid creatures, sometimes in pairs even, running in
the road! I started honking at them to scare them off. Soon we were passing
squashed prairie dogs left and right. The road looked like a windshield
splattered with bugs, but it was prairie dogs by the hundreds dead in the
road. I mean what's the deal? One goes out in the road and gets hit, the next
comes to see what all the excitement is? I'm not kidding, they were
everywhere for several miles. I made a slalom course out of avoiding the road
kill but it was impossible. No wonder the eagles come down on the highway.
There's a feast waiting!

At last we entered the Colorado river valley, the weather cooled, and the
bluffs got all red and orange. Twenty-five miles from the border we pulled
into Grand Junction and checked into the hotel at about 8:30 pm. We had no
trouble getting our next-day reservations this time. We ate dinner at the
restaurant next to the hotel and everyone made lots of jokes about the bear.
(Aren't you wondering about this bear yet?) The waitress scolded me for
leaving him in the car and said she would not serve me until last because of
it. After dinner we drove down to Albertson's to buy food and supplies, then
went to get gas for the next day. (Good idea that!) When I came out of the
gas station, someone had given Bansel Bear a box of bear-shaped fruit chews
so he wouldn't go hungry. And you thought I was silly! I just washed the car
and now it's time to turn in for the night.

Total distance traveled today: 476 miles.


Well, that's all for now. Until next time, Ciao.

David D./Redfire #:<{)>