Driving. Many, many hours of driving. The views never get old though. The cool red rocks, the windmill farms, the cornfields. 7400+ miles total. Here are the last couple highlights from the drive home.
The last 4 nights of the trip were spent at hotels. We swam and watched TV. Kids loved it!
Tunnel!
We passed the Continental Divide so many times on this trip.
We ate a lot of fast food. We also used fast food places for their free WiFi.
“Mom! Why did they spell Come wrong? That’s not how you spell it!”
We weren’t far from the other Oshkosh at one point in Nebraska I think.
This looks like a major tourist trap. It was in the middle of nowhere on I-80.
We saw some interesting vehicles along the way.
We missed the hot air balloon night in Green Bay but did see this as we pulled in to hotel in Omaha.
Apparently I am a chiropractor in Omaha, though they spelled my name wrong.
So much corn! And who said Iowa was flat? Beautiful rolling hills all the way across the state.
Iowa had tons of windmills. And lots of semis pulling huge tubes of white metal that we assume will be assembled into even more windmills.
We stayed at a hotel in Ogden for 2 nights, since it has been a while since slept in real beds and had decent showers. Our adventure for the day was to make a quick stop at the Ogden Train Museum to take some photos, then head out to The Golden Spike National Historical Park to see where the final spike of the transcontinental railroad was placed. It is a fascinating bit of history of our country. We also discovered a Rocket testing facility nearby where they tested rockets for the NASA space program and for the military. Very cool!
A photograph taken back in 1869 at the ceremony. Promontory was a tent city that popped up as the railroad was built, which was common at the time. Some cities like Laramie and Cheyenne continued to grow into permanent cities, but Promontory did not.
One of the cool train cars that we stumbled upon that was outside the museum was this one. One of 48 cars that was gifted to the US from France after World War I. Each state at the time got one and there is a website now where you can find out where each one still in existence is located.
Ogden is a nice little town. The boys and I went hunting for bookstores (which were disappointing) while Jeff took some photos.
The trend of painted animal sculptures must not have been just a northeastern WI thing. Ogden had horses, and we have seen cowboy boots too.
The Patriot Missile was developed here.
About 40 miles away, in the middle of the desert, this company appeared. They had a display rocket garden so we jumped out to walk around and explore it. They test the rockets and engines that go into the rockets for NASA and the military.
A few miles away from the rockets, we finally made it to Promontory, UT which only consists of the Golden Spike Historical Park.
There were actually 4 ceremonial spikes laid at the final tie. Here are replicas and descriptions for each one.
They had extremely detailed replica engines made to depict the scene of this even which joined the east and the west coasts of our country together.
Due to the coal and heat bellowing from the engines, we couldn’t get any nearer to them than the barrels.
We happened to get there just as they were doing a Ranger talk and demonstration so we got to hear the engines moving on the track and tooting their horns.
The actual spot where the spikes were driven.
Pretty flowers!
Some of the locomotives that have been restored and are now on display. This is Union Pacific area which helped to expand the American West as the railroad was built.
Salt Lake City hosted the Olympics in 2002 and the torch was on this rail car as it made its way around the country before the games.
It’s Cranky the Crane! (Thomas The Tank Engine reference).
We didn’t pay to tour the museum today, but it was located in the historic Union Station.
One of the pieces was so large the boys could play in it.
There was a museum inside that explained the race to complete the transcontinental railroad. As the competition heated up between the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways, the track was laid as quickly as possibly. The companies were paid by the miles, so it actually passed by each other for 250 miles before the federal government stepped in and decided where the connection would be.
Jeff is in his happy place!
There was a steak and rib restaurant right next to our hotel and while it was good, it was definitely not the best. An empty restaurant at 5 pm on a Friday should have been our clue.
Some of the hotels we have been staying at have parking for semis, but this one did not, so we just gave the camper it’s own spot. When we do this, Jeff puts a “boot” on the camper wheel and a lock on the hitch, so no one can drive away with it overnight.
It was a 9 hour driving day from Lake Tahoe to Ogden, UT. After an hour delay right off the bat due to construction on the road leaving the Lake Tahoe area, we made good time on I-80 mostly. Some beautiful mountain views, and some amazing wide open sky views. We also drove through the Bonneville Salt Flats and near the Great Salt Lake.
In the middle of nowhere, this huge flock of birds was flying around on air drafts or something. Beautiful!
A semi full of onions
Some sort of old mine on the side of the mountain. We saw some strange old wooden railroad tracks too and think they might have for mining cars.
Nevada has a lot of casinos. This was coming in to Reno.
We would go through mountain passes and then through open areas like this.
Tunnel!
The Bonneville Salt Flats were fascinating. It was like another planet. Or like a huge field of snow, yet it was 97 degrees out.
We had no idea what this was and discovered later that it was a sculpture. No other spot along the way out here had sculptures so it is still a mystery as to what it was doing there.
Later we found out that it was a scultpure called “Tree of Utah”
Finally we came to The Great Salt Lake. Fun fact: It is only 30 feet deep at most.
Kline Road Trips 