Paul Goldberg Blog

The Bucket List keeps Expanding

Recently we have been in territory that we didn’t know or had forgotten might be on our bucket list. In our minds we have reserved the concept of Bucket List for big things like the Great Wall of China or a drink at the Rex Roof top Bar in Saigon (excuse me – Ho Chi Mhin City) and Angor Wat, well you get the picture. Places a long way from the USA.

As we plotted our eastward trip, much later in the season than in past years, the idea of traversing the Lincoln Highway got into our heads. We have driven US 20 almost coast to coast and most of US 1 and all of US 90 and bits of Route 66. We have only come as far as Salt Lake City, but already we are overwhelmed with places that ought to be on any RVers bucket list (others too, but the road miles are great). We climbed out of Sacramento on US 50, a segment of one of the Lincoln Highway alignments, to a stop in South Lake Tahoe. We circled the lake and took a couple of wonderful hikes. Hurry now to see the gorgeous clear lake 6th in size in the US only to the Great Lakes before the developers spoil it.

From there we climbed the mountains and started across “The Loneliest Highway In America.” As we drove US 50 toward Ely NV we passed through Fallon and Austin and Eureka. Only Fallon was more then a blink as we passed. Ely was a major rail center and home to a large mine that has given silver, copper and some gold over the years. There we paused to spend time with Bev and Dan who we last saw in New Jersey in the Fall. They were westbound as we were eastbound and we decided that Ely would be an appropriate stop. For our major entertainment we road the Nevada Northern Railway behind steam locomotive engine 40 which has been running on that line since it was bought new in 1906.

Blowing down after the run!

The cars were 20’s Pullman passenger cars with an open flat car in the consist for those willing to brave the cold. I spent 5  minutes out there. The ride included a tour of the machine shop and engine shop as well as the RIP (Repair In Place). For railroad buffs I will post many more pictures and provide the link here.

I suppose I could stop and post this, but the theme of previously unintended bucket list items keeps calling. We moved on toward Saat Lake City (SLC) with a stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Here we drove out onto the flats and then drove around Silver Island which appears to be a mountain range in the middle of the flats. We did not get out to the 10 mile long speed track where so many land speed records have been set. It was early in the season and there was plenty of water on the flats and there were no signs of how to even get there. As it was I couldn’t wait to wash the Jeep. A brief drive on the wet salt flats is the same as an entire winter of Rochester salted roads and the salty mud we accumulated was frightening.
In SLC we have done the things you would expect and never were really on either of our bucket lists. Nice to do, we heard the organ recital in the new conference center as they were filming in the Tabernacle. The conference center seating holds 22,000 people (or was that 21,000?) Here are two pictures:
Taken looking back from row Z
We plan to go back Thursday night for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Rehearsal in the Tabernacle, we hope.
Items not previously on the list that we have now done: Today we set out to go to Promontory, The Golden Spike National Historic Site which is the actual site where Central Pacific coming west and Union Pacific coming east met on May 10 1869 and joined their tracks to unite the coasts. We have read about it thought about it and never really had a particular drive to get there until we learned we were within a 90 minute drive from the campground and there was a highly regarded wild life reserve, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, in the same vicinity. Two birds so to speak. As we made the turn on to Golden Spike Road there was a small sign pointing down the same road to “Spiral Jetty” This famous earth work by Robert Smithson was completed in 1970 and is in Great Salt Lake not terribly far from Golden Spike (17 miles of dirt road). We both agreed that while we never expected to see it, if someone had mentioned it and asked, it would have been on our bucket list. We made the drive and given the low lake level we were able to walk right out onto the jetty:

Looking back towards the shore
Center of the spiral

Passing white pelicans

We never made it to Bear River, we did make a brief stop at a missile display outside the plant at what was Morton Thiokol, the place where the solid state boosters for the Shuttle were manufactured.

The trip will continue soon. . .