When I started this trip on June 9, I could only drive for around 3 hours before I started to get tired and sleepy, though, after a brief break on the road, I was ready for another few hours. I guess I had built my tolerance after this trip, as I could drive for at least 5 hours before I did feel the need to take a break. I even no longer "nod" during travel. I guess, I got used to travel such a long distance that even this 14 hour drive was no longer that frightening. I simply got used to drive long hours.
In any case, the last leg of the trip also brought me to interesting stops, where many of these stops have one common theme: being alone. Anyway, bring in the map:
If you look at the map, you will notice that I did not take route 80. Actually, had I taken I-80 to San Francisco, it would have taken me only 10 hours to get to San Francisco from Salt Lake City. However, I wanted to try "The Loneliest Road in the United States" a.k.a Route 50. Why? Because it is there and I think it is also an interesting diversion from the common route.
Sadly though, I should have checked this website before taking this road. I could have gotten this packet of "a survival certificate signed by the Governor, a Route 50 lapel pin, and a bumper sticker announcing that you survived this "uninteresting and empty" road." I did see a sign in Austin telling that I could get something stamped there, but I thought it was just for kids.
Before I went to this road, of course I had to leave Salt Lake City and during my departure, I decided to visit... what else... the Salt Lake itself. Suprisingly, Salt Lake City is not that close to the Salt Lake. I guess it is understandable: the lake stinks horribly (literally!). It smells like a fish caning factory, basically, part rotten, part salty... well, just put it simply... overwhelming.
The only way for you to get to the beach is by first visiting this "Salt Palace," a dancing club or something, located quite far from the city (probably due to the Church's influence? Who knows).
They still had performance every Friday, but as you can see, the place really looks run-down.
From this place, it takes quite a while walking to the beach of the Salt Lake itself.
Trust me, it was not a pretty sight walking from this place to the lake: the beach was full of bird carcasses. Big annoying flies.... Plus, maggots... lots of them. Even when you arrive on the shore of the lake, if you really pay attention, you actually can see TONS of really small insects, which look like cockroaches (though really small ones, their size probably less than 0.5 cm) scattered before you. I am not sure what kind of insects they are, but they really gave me goosebumps.
When I was standing there, I could not help but to think that ths area used to be ocean thousands of years ago. With the movements of the earth, the ocean dried out and what left was this salt lake and salt plain (which I would pass later). I would guess that this salt lake probably was what attracted Brigham Young to build his "Mormon Kingdom," with the Salt Lake became a replica of the Dead Sea in Israel and not to mention, a good profit from selling salt.
Aside of that, however, I also thought, maybe that is what the earth will be like milleniums from now, when the sun goes dark and most of the life cease to exist. It was pretty eerie standing alone on the shore of this lake. There was no waves, but only ripples from wind. It was a very silent shore, you actually could not hear anything, not even the traffic from the highway I-80. It was pretty unsettling and yet somehow magnificent. This probably what H.G. Wells imagined when he wrote his "Time Machine," when the traveller arrived at the end of time, where he found only giant crab-like creatures. The sea was red blood with huge red sun on the sky. Yeah, I know, the lake is still blue and the sun is very damn bright, but change the color, and that probably what H.G. Wells' future world will look like.
You know, this place also really reminded me of Pinnacles Desert, Australia. While it has no Salt Lake, basically, just one big desert with interesting rock formation, there was one very trivial experience, yet I could never get rid of from my mind. Back then, as I looked at the harsh environment of the desert, I saw one plant, one single tiny green plant. I don't know why, I decided to pull it. To my surprise, I could pull it very easily and I realized why: inside the plant was a small white worm or maggot, eating the insides of the plant. I threw it away in disgust.
From this place, I passed through the Salt Plain or Salt Flats or whatever its name is. It is just plain white, all salt. This ara used to give such a trouble for first settlers that went to California. While salt is essential for your body, too much salt is not good.... The air is practically dry and the terrain is very demanding.
Finally, arrived at Nevada: first thing you see when you arrive just across the border is a casino....
Even before I arrived at the "Loneliest Road in the United States," the road going there is already very empty. You basically have to drive many miles to find another car.... Most of the towns I passed were clearly struggling to survive. Many boarded windows and you could see the run-down feeling.
Back on the lonely road... (is it me or that really sounds like a song?)
Entering a town:
It seems that most of the towns I passed relied so much on tourism. I am not sure though if it really works: all the tourists flock to regular tacky tourist traps like Reno or Las Vegas. Very few people associate Nevada with historic tourism.
How do you make unsuspecting travellers stop by your town? Easy: slap the sign of "Historical something" on your doorstep, like what they did to this "Historic Courthouse."
I have to say though, that the people inside the courthouse/chamber of commerce/DMV (yeah, the building has many functions) are pretty nice. One of the ladies there offered me a slice of watermelon out of the blue.
Moving on, I started to move to desert area... lots of sand in this place and I happened to arrive at this former "Pony Express" station, which met its demise after the advent of telegraph: by this time, people found out that it was much easier sending messages through telegraphs than using riders. Still, the Pony Express retained its aura of romanticism.
The ruin of Pony Express station. Buried under the sand and excavated in around 1970s.
Sand mountain.
After this, my next stop was the Grimes Point Archaelogical Area. This area is full of ancient writings, by long gone people, written back when this area was a seashore, not a desert in the middle of nowhere like today. It is fascinating, looking at these writings and you can't help but to ponder, what kind of people they were back then, and what happened to them. Were they all migrated as the climate changes? Were they all simply died out, leaving no descendants? With mortality rate as high as back then, the second possibility is not impossible.
In any case, it felt strange, standing there alone, watching the remnants of the memory of ancient people. Did the carver realize that he was leaving his marks to the eternity when he wrote those symbols? I actually wonder, what is being human all about? Why are we accomplishing something? Simply to survive? Career? Or, simply the fact that we wanted to leave something, showing that there used to be somebody named "X" who had done this and that? Like Stalin once quoted to say, "A death of one is a tragedy but deaths of millions is statistics," is that what life all about? Trying to be this "one" than just simply a number in the annual death report?
Either I am starting to become a philosopher or this entire solo-journey has started to crack me up. Of course, PhD itself does not really help: doesn't PhD mean "Permanent Head Damage?"
Well, back to the symbols. Archaelogists believed that these symbols were carved as some sort of sacred ceremony, in preparing for the hunting. Up until now, nobody can decipher these signs. Of course, it would be very silly if actually these carvings were done simply by bored warriors, waiting for their preys. Basically, a prehistoric graffiti.... Then we may be wasting time trying to find the significance of this place - aside of the hunting grounds, of course.
Hidden cave, where these hunters used to dwell. (I did not go inside, because it was getting late and I wanted to reach San Francisco)
Virginia City, old silver mining town, currently a tourist trap. My visit there almost became my worst mistake in this trip. The road uphill was very steep, so I had no choice but to keep pushing the gas pedal. At one point however, it became flat and I did not really pay much attention, as I started to explore the city. Thus, I did not notice my speed. As, I drove around 40s at 25 MPH, there was a speed trap, a cop stopped me. Luckily though, since I have a perfect record, he let me go with only a warning. Still, just to warn everyone visiting this town: speed trap right after the steep hill. Otherwise, simply ignore this town, nothing here but tourist trap and a speed trap.
Arriving at Carson City, the state capital and Reno/Las Vegas wannabe.
Last picture in this journey: Lake Tahoe
Well, it had been a really long journey, even without counting the days I spent stuck in Minneapolis. It was fun, but I guess the fun itself had worn out too. After a whle, like I mentioned, this vacation became more of a chore than vacation, getting in the rat-race running to every single destination.
I won't say that this is the end of the blog. I will still put some updates, especially after I re-sort all my pictures and I may also put a day or two devoted on memories of Columbus, OH. I took lots of pictures before I left.
Therefore, see you around and have fun.
