Day 3: Wells, NV to Rock Springs, WY

Today was a big day for milestones and a good day for sites as well. We are now officially half way to Wisconsin, at least time wise. We are now in the Mountain time zone and have also gone over 1000 miles since we left Monterey.

Our first stop of the day was just across the border into Utah. We stopped at the rest stop for the Bonneville Salt Flats. The landscape was impressive. There were large flat expanses of salt stretching far into the distance on all sides. We stepped out of the car to check out two of them. Terence played rock nerd and collected a few samples (and ate one) while Jess and Tessa raced across the salt flats. This is a first for all of us. It's nice to see that after as many different places we've been to, there are still so many surprises left to discover.

It's good that we enjoyed the flats so much as they stretched on for over 100 miles. The kid factor worked in again here. While they both ended up behaving quite well, embarking upon a stretch of desert with few rest stops (one sad little picnic table covered in salt) and almost no services takes a certain amount of courage. The long stretches of desert and high heat led to such severe distortion that it blotted out the bases of the mountains in the distance which was disconcerting.

The next big milestone was the Great Salt Lake. The view was so incredible we are at a loss for words to describe it. The contrast between the red rocks and the deep blue waters were striking.
We took a bunch of photos, but none of them do it justice.

The amazing views were quickly replaced by a traffic nightmare in Salt Lake City. The lanes were narrow, the entire city was under road construction, and it all happened at 75 mph. Yikes! After the city itself and a stressful trip through the canyon immediately outside it, we needed to get out of the car for a break. The No Worries Cafe in Park City was perfect, partly because it was the only restaurant for miles.

After that we made a final push through Utah and about two hours into Wyoming to our destination, Rock Springs, Wyoming. The views were spectacular with gigantic and varied rock formations. There were painted desert features, bluffs, and huge mountains as well as hilly high desert plains. We caught a glimpse of a few truly huge dust devils as well. Geevee had a few touch and go moments, but Jess kept her cool and used her acrobatic skill to perform an emergency car feeding (use your imagination).

We ended the day with a trip to the Rock Springs Wal-Mart, which reaffirmed our faith in our own parenting abilities and scared us to the core with the number and ease of gun purchases in the self-checkout lane. As a side note, the state of Wyoming is in a permanent state of road construction.

Thanks to everyone who is following our journey. We love hearing feedback from you all.

The Clarks

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