Since we knew this next stretch of highway would pass through the Bonneville Salt Flats and since a quick perusal of the terrain map feature of Google Maps looked pretty flat, Paula drove.
Things were fine until we found that there were long stretches of highway that went down to one lane, with construction barrels defining the lane, and a speed limit of 80mph, with big trucks looming in the rear-view mirror, going at speed. And there were still TWO mountain passes. Despite that, Tommy survived being in the passenger seat for the whole trip. Paula’s hair was noticeably whiter as we pulled into Wells, Nevada.
During the trip, we stopped at a scenic rest stop and were surprised to be greeted by 2 urbanized ground squirrels, one noticeably plump and slow (pregnant?) and the other skinny and bold, approaching readily and sniffing at Paula’s Crocs, hoping for treats. (Medical factoid: ground squirrels do not carry rabies, nor hantavirus, per the disgraced CDC) We also met a somewhat disheveled human child of nature, who was thrilled with the little guys. He told Tommy that he noticed them while he was meditating on one of the picnic tables. He greeted the squirrels as “little brothers and sisters” and said,” Thank God I’m back in Northern Utah!” It was unclear where he’d been before, possibly another dimension, but he was sweet and appeared naïve, and Paula left the rest stop worrying as much about his eventual fate as that of the squirrels.
We pulled into Wells and since we were early to check in to the Sharon Motel, we drove around. The entrance to Wells looks like a giant truck stop, with all you might need if you were driving a semi: gas, a casino, tire and engine repairs, scorpion lollipops, and two restaurants.
Again, there are beautiful mountain vistas here, only slightly altered by business signs and power poles, and the homes are neat on generous plots of land. There are several working farms right in town, and we were able to drive past several before the pavement turned to lumpy dirt road.
We took a stroll around the municipal park, which had luxuriant grass, a frisbee golf course, and was right across the street from the Boys and Girl’s Club, the municipal indoor pool and the hardware store/supermarket, nicely stocked.
Bella’s Restaurant and Espresso was open till three, so we stopped in just as we arrived for a drink and a snack. Tommy had a mocha, Paula peppermint tea, and we shared a freshly baked large caramel salt cookie. Yum. The other restaurant is the Iron Skillet, located inside the casino, and we braved that for dinner. We were so glad we did! The décor was unusual and eye catching (see below) and the menu offered some healthy choices in addition to fried everything. We both ordered grilled chicken (since they’d sold the last porkchop) and while awaiting our meal were treated to a loud, profane tirade from the cook. It was audible to everyone in the restaurant (no one appeared disturbed) and was along the lines of scolding the waitresses for bringing in too many orders at once and “stressing him out”, with many F’s thrown in.
Despite the cook’s fragile mental state, the dinner was not only edible, but good, with a shared slice of chocolate peanut butter cake for dessert. We are officially now in vacation eating mode, without restraint. Just a note about the Sharon Motel. It was inexpensive and has seven rooms. There is a little picnic area and each room door locks with a key and has a heavy screen door. Very retro in feel and the room is homey, with good bed and furniture and a WORKING microwave, fridge with freezer and coffeemaker. Twice as nice as most, at less cost. Of interest was the sign on the inside back of the door. Smudge stick? We had to look that one up.
One Response
Paula – found your site. Hope you both are enjoying your land travels. Not knowing if your blog posts publicly (automatically) so will just say our thoughts are with you and family.
All the best from an old friend.