Hello from Bonneville, Utah<\/p>\n
Sunday evening\u2013 August 8, 2022 (First post of this travelogue)<\/p>\n
Well, I am sorta cheating a bit.\u00a0 I am actually in Green River, UT on my way home from my frustrating trip to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats.<\/p>\n
I would normally have been at the Salt Flats tonight, but terrible rains threatened to cancel the weeklong event.<\/p>\n
My trip to the Salt Flats was via I80 with an overnight stop in Green River WY.\u00a0 I used a hotel finder application that led me to a less than stellar hotel.\u00a0 Very worn-out room and the furniture was stained.\u00a0 At least the bed gave me a decent night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n
As I approached Wendover UT (Bonneville is considered to be located in Wendover) I ran into some rain.\u00a0 It turned out to be a pretty heavy rain.\u00a0 As I approached what is called the \u201cbend in the road\u201d where everybody camps, I could tell that there was a major problem.\u00a0 The least amount of rain causes the area to become a quagmire.\u00a0 All the campers were trapped in the mud and some of the tents were flooded.<\/p>\n
Rain at Bonneville is not always a problem.\u00a0 The moisture percolates into the salt\/soil fairly quickly and, with a little breeze and sun, the remaining moisture evaporates quickly (assuming it is not a boat load of moisture).<\/p>\n
I went down to what is called \u201cthe end of the road\u201d where the road ends and the salt begins.\u00a0 There were some volunteers there and I bought my badge for the meet.\u00a0 They were optimistic that the weather would let the salt dry fairly quickly.<\/p>\n
I located a good camping spot up on a slight mountain road where tons of campers were located.\u00a0 The surface was level and covered in very small gravel (no mud).<\/p>\n
I went online and found that they canceled the Sunday session but were hopeful that the rest of the week would be OK<\/p>\n
Into the early Saturday evening, the sky was clear and the temperature was conducive to evaporating the water on the salt.\u00a0 However about 8:30 a storm (rated severe by the weather bureau) seemed to come out of nowhere.\u00a0 First it was terrible winds followed by a torrential downpour.\u00a0 This rain was about as severe as I have encountered and it lasted for close to an hour.<\/p>\n
The wind blew my air mattress several yards away and, in the process, punctured a hole in it.\u00a0 Between the weather and the deflated mattress, I was left with no choice but to sleep in the truck \u2013 not fun.<\/p>\n
I could tell that the event would be delayed by at least another day and that would have only given me a very short time at the track since I had to leave mid-day on Tuesday.\u00a0 So, reluctantly, I pulled the plug and started home.\u00a0 That turned out to be a good decision since they cancelled the meet as of this afternoon.<\/p>\n
What a bummer for everyone \u2013 especially the racers who had already set up in the pits.\u00a0 They will be facing a terrible mess to get their stuff packed up.\u00a0 Some have large \u201ccompounds\u201d with all sorts of support equipment.\u00a0 They, like all of us, spent significant dollars to get there.\u00a0 The weather forecast was not all that accurate.\u00a0 I checked it before I left and it looks like very minor rains on Friday and not all that bad the rest of the week.<\/p>\n
It is especially frustrating, as the salt condition (prior to the rain) we rated as good.\u00a0 Over the years a local mining company has really damaged the salt and in recent years the salt condition has been anywhere from marginal to terrible.\u00a0 So, when you get decent salt, everyone is overjoyed to say the least.<\/p>\n
For the past two trips to Bonneville, I have avoided I70 since they often close Glenwood Canyon.\u00a0 However, I really get bored with the Wyoming route.\u00a0 I checked and they say there are no road closures in Colorado.\u00a0 So, I came what used to be our normal route and stopped here in Green River UT.\u00a0 How about that, two Green River stops in two different states {grin}.<\/p>\n
That is all for this travelogue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello from Bonneville, Utah Sunday evening\u2013 August 8, 2022 (First post of this travelogue) Well, I am sorta cheating a bit.\u00a0 I am actually in Green River, UT on my way home from my frustrating trip to Speed Week at … Continue reading