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| Carone (our daughter) received a music scholarship to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. As she had her own car, we decided to accompany her on the long drive from the West Coast. We left California on a Saturday, and needed to have her there by Monday afternoon for check-in. Needless to say, we covered a lot of miles each day. Afterwards, Dave and took some vacation time and decided to travel back to California via a northern route, stopping as we saw fit. We drove over 6500 miles in just under two weeks. Presented here are photos from the trip--any image can be seen in more detail simply by clicking on it. |
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| This image shows the route (in green) that we took. We left California and drove back mostly via I-80, but also I-94. In returning, we went north and traveled via I-90, I-15, and I-84, as well as quite a few secondary roads. Stars mark places we spent the night. |
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We left about 5:30 AM in the morning hoping to get to Salt Lake City. We have driven the Bay Area-Sacramento route countless times, so no photos were taken of it. Just imagine lots of traffic, and you have a good idea of what it looks like. This first photo was taken high in the Sierras and shows a long shed protecting railroad tracks from snow closures. | |
| We drove non-stop through Reno, a city that is growing very fast these days. The prominent buildings are, of course, casinos. |
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Past Reno, I-80 parallels the Humboldt River and takes you past the Humboldt Sink, a large akali lake bed. The country begins to get very empty. | |
| Lovelock, Nevada was our first gas stop several hours into our journey. Even small Nevada towns have their casinos. |
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After Lovelock, I-80 traverses very lonely high desert country. The air is very clean, so one can see for miles. | |
| We stopped for lunch and some gas in Elko, then proceeded on our way. At the border of Nevada is the town of West Wendover, and past it is Wendover, Utah and the salt flats. |
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The salt flats cover a vast amount of western Utah, yet possess a silent beauty all their own. | |
| We reached Salt Lake City in mid-afternoon and decided to keep on driving. The freeway winds around SLC in a strange way, and there never seemed to be a good photo angle. |
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We were amazed at the expensive homes to the east of SLC, but then saw that we were heading into the famous Park City ski area. This view was taken during our climb. | |
| We arrived at Evanston, Wyoming around sunset and decided to have dinner. In getting off the freeway we noticed this interesting combination. |
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As we left the diner, we saw a beautiful sunset. | |
| We finally ran out of steam sometime after 9 PM in Lyman, where we checked into an old motel and settled for the night. |
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Once again, we were up at 5:30 AM and on the road. We stopped at Little America for some coffee. Dave was disappointed in the changes to this massive travel center from when he visited it as a child. | |
| Another beautiful sunrise greeted us. The sun was just beginning to shine on the hills when we passed a UP freight. |
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Our server at the previous night's dinner had told us there was "nothing" between Evanston and Cheyenne except for a couple of towns. The country is very empty but quite beautiful. It is also at high altitude and must be very cold in the winter. | |
| As we continued east, the country began to get ever flatter. Parts of our drive were unrelieved except for the incredible visibility. |
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This was Carone's first long journey in her car, but it went quite well. We stayed in contact using FRS radios. | |
| Past Rawlins, Elk Mountain appears to the south, as the northern extent of the Medicine Bow Range. |
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We passed into Nebraska and began to see a lot of corn and farm silos. | |
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