Day 24: Evanston to Wells
Woke up way too early today to a weird sound; sounded a bit like coke cans being kicked around the yard. Dragged myself out of bed to have a look but couldn't see anything, so went back to bed. Clattering continued sporadically for the next few hours. It was only when I properly awoke later I realised it was the heaters creaking each time the thermostat clicked on. Sigh!
Got up and was on the road nice and promptly. My breakfast apple had been sitting in the car all night and was extremely cold; so much so it gave me tooth ache when I bit into it! Yup it gets pretty cold out here in Wyoming.
Drove out to a railway crossing that had looked amazing the night before with the setting sun catching the golden grass; but this morning it looked pretty ordinary. However I caught a manifest heading away, and before it'd finished crossing a nineteen loco lash up went across the other way. Nineteen locos! Obviously a repositioning move, but very impressive nonetheless.
I left Evanston and Wyoming and followed the road through Echo Canyon. Saw some hirail trucks doing work on the tracks so figured I probably wouldn't be seeing any trains for a while, and I was right. Got all the way to Ogden without seeing a single train.
Checked in on an old friend at the Union Station in Ogden, was good to see a familiar face again:
Denver & Rio Grande 5371; the last surviving tunnel motor still in Rio Grande paint.
Had a peer in the cab; it looked pretty primitive after the AC4400 a couple of days ago! No flat panels, no DPU gear, no refrigerator, etc. But the paint scheme is clearly superior :-)
Utah Transit train / Union Station with some interesting perspective distortion going on.
Stopped in at the train shop in the station but they've gone 100% HO scale with no N gauge at all. Never mind, had a suspicion they'd done that. Then it was back on the I15 and heading north as I prepared to take the scenic route around the top of the Great Salt Lake.
Long long long drive. An hour or so later I was in Snowville, UT, where I was pleased to find some snow. I'd feel a bit short changed if I went to Snowville and found anything else. The diner here really caught my eye:
Mollie's Diner, Snowville, UT.
Onwards I continued, past the "Next services: 102 miles" sign. 100 miles with no gas station!? This isn't like the America I know. I was now entering some pretty remote country.
There were patches out here where there'd obviously been some heavy snow recently, with all the plants still covered in snow.
Continued on and suddenly there was no snow. Odd. Was starting to get pretty cloudy.
By now I wasn't even sure what state I was in. The roads were straight enough for Nevada, but I was still getting Salt Lake radio stations. I presumed I was probably still in Utah. As quickly as the snow had gone, it came back again, as did some sunshine.
Where am I…? I haven't even passed a farm in yonks.
Onwards I went. The skies continued to clear up and the snow thickened on the ground. Something caught my eye… snow was stuck to the lampposts, and ice was sparkling on the lines.
And it was damn cold! There was a ferocious wind blowing that easily put windchill before freezing point. I quickly snapped some pics and was back in the car. Continued on and saw a bend in the road, so knew I must still be in Utah.
Crossed into Nevada at some point with little fanfare, other than the speed limit increasing by 5mph. Continued on and came to a tiny town with a gas station. Looked at the tank and the fuel meter readout, and checked with the GPS, and decided I should get some fuel here rather than arrive in Wells in fumes. Pulled into the tiny store and pumped $25 of very expensive petrol; about 50% more expensive than city gas. Guess that's what you get for buying petrol in a ghost town.
Continued on and joined up with a very quiet I80. Drove up a bit of a twisty valley.
Shortly afterwards I arrived in Wells, Nevada. 300 miles, about 6 hours of driving, and 3 different states. Not a bad effort.
Wells was looking a little snowy; turns out they'd had thirteen inches of the white stuff overnight! What a wonderful welcome back present Nevada has given me. Got a motel for $37/night, seems pretty decent. They have wireless and their forecourt has been plowed. Drove through town and found a good lookout point where I could see any trains coming or going. Suited up with thermals, insulated boots, ski pants and jacket and suddenly there was a blip on the scanner announcing an approaching train.
Jumped out and caught it, then scrambled around and caught it from some different poses. In my haste I ran straight into a massive drift and did a face plant right into the snow! Lucky it was so soft and powdery.
I'd forgotten my gloves and with the wind howling across the plains here my fingers were now very sore and freezing cold. Went back to the car and gently warmed them back up, then slapped on some nice thick woollen gloves. Also added a neck warmer, and now I was wonderfully cosy. Granted there was only my nose and eyes exposed :-)
Jumped back through the snow to catch the next train. The snow ranged from a mere dusting on exposed faces, to over 2 feet deep in sheltered areas. In places it was mid-thigh, which slowed me down a bit. Wasn't quite enough to warrant snow shoes though.
UP manifest with SD90/43 on the front, and an SP geep in the consist.
The train was duly caught and I scaled a small hill to watch it continue on through town…
Soon another train was on its way, this time a BNSF manifest.
Sun was starting to set and my oh my, what a sight!
Wind sculpted snow / It's pretty open out here…
Soon another train was approaching, this time a UP coal train. After the complete drought of trains at Echo this was a welcome change.
"Only" 6 locos on this train in a 4x2 configuration (4 in front, 2 on back). I watched it cruise through Wells as the final rays of sunlight hit the township.
The sunset was simply spectacular.
Surely the birds must get cold? There is no way I'd want to be up there wearing nothing but feathers! The wind was very brisk and was spraying up a fine mist of snow flakes. It looked like the snow was steaming, but the car said it was 26°F (-3°C) and that was without windchill, so I don't think it was steam :-) It did however look stunning under the low sun:
With the sun set I hopped in the car and went back to the motel. From the window I spied a headlight and leapt out to catch another UP manifest. Not a bad view for a motel car park huh?
Tidied up, removed the caked on snow, and headed off for dinner. Went to the local casino's restaurant, which was full of truckers sitting alone munching away. Had a "basket" which consisted of french fries and other various fried things; healthy I know! For $10 it more than filled me up.
Forecast is for more rain and/or snow, and maybe some cloud. I'm hoping for sun because snow this amazing shouldn't be wasted. I've still got plenty of time up my sleeves, so I can easily afford an extra day here. I'm amazed that I turned up just in time to catch this phenomenal dump of snow. Can you imagine what 13 inches would do to Christchurch? We'd be immobilised for weeks! Here everything was plowed and functional within the same day. Amazing.
The transformation the snow has made here is so dramatic that I didn't even recognise Wells when I first arrived; and it's only been 2 weeks since I was last here. Yet it looked completely different, and in my book a whole lot better. Nevada and Utah have sure taken the crown for winter scenery this year.
Day 23: Helper to Evanston
Was very tired this morning, something to do with the AC6000 idling outside my window for half an hour while the mid train helpers were cut in; all just an hour after I'd fallen asleep! Poor me was in two minds, on the one hand I was very tired, on the other hand, the rumble was amazing and I felt like I should be out there videotaping it all, although it was night time so there wouldn't be a whole lot to see. But the sound! I could feel it through the bed! For a diesel-head it was pretty amazing.
Anyway woke up and packed everything away, said goodbye to Helper and was on my way. Beautiful sunny day out there, glorious blue skies and wonderful patchy snow everywhere. Stopped at the ice-fall on the way up the hill.
Now that is ice! We're talking 30-40 ft high here, as high as a two story house. Oh and the sun was wonderfully warm, but the wind was ferocious! No trains to see, but the scenery was amazing as ever.
Cruised on up, over Soldier Summit and down the other side. As I passed Gilluly Curves I wondered if there were any trains hiding in there, and with that my scanner blipped as it picked up the FRED (flashing rear end device) transmissions and suddenly there was a loco roaring right under me! Pulled over and watched the UP manifest crawl up the hill, then as I watched another up hill train emerged at the top of the curves! In the space of a minute I'd gone from no trains to two trains duelling it out on the curves. You'll have to squint to see both trains.
On I went past the endless roadworks and into the greater Salt Lake City area that stretches form Ogden to Provo, and probably has 95% of Utah's population. They may not have theme parks and roller coasters in Utah, but I tell you, that I15 is quite a ride! First time I drove the I15 it scared the #$!@ out of me, especially when there are 7 lanes with 3 more joining form each side, cars driving diagonally from one side to the other, road works, spaghetti junctions, and all at 110kmh+! But it was just fine this time, not exactly relaxing but not too stressful either. I can only assume Utah went road-crazy for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Had a few model train shops I wanted to check out so worked my way through town doing them. None had the range or prices of Hobby Stop LC down in Orem, but I still bought a few wagons to take home.
I was now in Ogden and so turned to head up the hill. Refuelled the car and watched numerous fighter jets circling over the city on approach to Hills AFB. Continued up the hill and by now the sun was out and the hills looked amazing.
Weber Canyon was impressive, I suspect it is a real slog for the trains getting up there; you can see the tracks at right below:
Arrived at Echo which is a pretty quiet little town; no more than a few trailer homes, cafe, and a petrol station. Last time I was there I caught a pair of SD40-2s with a lovely horn, but no sign of trains there today, just a few dying grain cars.
Continued around the corner to Echo Canyon and soon caught a train:
And as for why it is called a canyon:
And then into the sunset:
Drove on towards Wyoming where things flattened out pretty quickly; no more massive mountains, just undulating plains now. Arrived in Evanston and had a look around; much bigger than I was expecting, but no rail-side motels so I'm staying at what might be the only ma & pa motel left here. At $31.99 a night I can't complain, and it's a pretty nice room to boot.
Even though I'm only just in Wyoming there are already lots of cowboy references. I passed The Boot Barn on the way in, complete with a galloping horse sign with animated legs. Currently it's below freezing, there is a nice layer of frost on the car and it's very crisp outside.
Plan for tomorrow is to get up bright and early and take the scenic route back to Nevada across the top of Great Salt Lake; no trains there, but wonderful open scenery by the looks. I'll aim for Wells, NV which is a big junction point on the Union Pacific with some great, well, Nevada scenery around it. Obviously on the way out I'll pass through Echo Canyon again, so hopefully I can catch a few more trains there.
Day 22: Helper
I was fast asleep this morning when I heard the distinctive wail of an Amtrak horn echoing throughout Helper. Within a split second my brain decided that since it was getting lighter earlier these days I might have a chance to catch the Cal Zephyr during daylight; next thing I know I'm standing outside with my camera around my neck snapping away as a pair of P42DCs roar into Helper. My eyes hadn't even finished opening, so suffice to say the weren't great. Oh… and it was snowing!
I love waking up to fresh snow, especially when it is unexpected. Yesterday it had been sunny and the snow was melting, this morning there was an inch of fresh powder. Wow! I went back to bed but within minutes another train came roaring out of Helper; this time I got a decent shot.
The diesels had obviously only just woken up themselves as there were great clouds of snow cascading off the locos as they went through the crossing. Look closely and you'll see Balance Rock.
Had a nice hot shower to kick start the day and then caught up with Tracey on skype, but only after mistakenly scheduling it for 4am my time! Whoops. While chatting Mark arrived with Tori in the laundry basket (as you do) to say that Courtney had invited me to breakfast, so once again I had a Sunday breakfast with the motel owner here in little old Helper.
Went back and finished my chat and then lazily mucked around on the computer for a bit, until I heard the crossing bells go and with that the West-bound daily BNSF manifest came roaring through:
Within minutes I was in hot pursuit off up the hill. Caught up with it just after Castle Gate:
And then around the two sets of tunnels:
Into the tunnel…
And out the other side / Then into the next set of tunnels.
Got a little stuck on the side of the road, very embarrassing. Pulled off the highway and onto some snow, only the snow was a little thicker than expected and the car was sliding sideways and fishtailing. I was only a foot away from the road, and yet I just couldn't get there! Thoughts of having to put on chains to travel 1 foot went through my head, but I jumped out and snapped some shots. By the time I returned I realised I could just scrape away the snow and then I'd be driving on the road surface and I'd be fine. Did that and got out no problems. I'd have to use this tactic more than once today.
Freshly liberated I raced on and caught the manifest again on the US6/96 turnoff. Always a good spot, and the train was kicking up a lot of powder as she roared along.
Skipped Soldier Summit, I wasn't fast enough. Spied a potential shot at Gilluly Curves and so parked the car and started climbing the hill. Kept climbing till the train appeared, which put me a long way up the hill. And here it comes…
Started sliding down (was very sticky slimy mud up there) and no sooner had I got to the bottom than the Worm appeared!
So back up the hill I went!
If you squint you can just make out the train heading up the diagonal there. (click to enlarge photo)
Got some really wide shots that show the whole train; problem is the train is so small you can hardly make it out. Oops. Still, it was nice to get some exercise.
Didn't beat her to US6/96, the Worm is pretty quick it seems. Plus I had a huge hill to slide down and kilo of mud to scrape off my shoes. Did get a nice curving shot though:
And then a nice S curve from a familiar vantage point:
By now it was getting close to 5 when Jerott would be booking on to his monster coal train. I pulled into the motel carpark, checked my email, got the latest update and raced off to the Helper yard. There I met Jerott and moments later the Savage coal train arrived, complete with a hand painted Southern Pacific logo on the side. I don't pretend to understand and haven't had any enlightenment from TrainOrders members yet either. Is this a graffiti job gone good?
Jerott came out and said hi and then invited me on inside his "office". WOW fancy stuff! Computer readouts and radios everywhere.
View the enlargement and you can read all the labels. Pretty damn flash stuff, able to monitor the speed of each wheel down to 0.1mph. There there is the DPU box sitting up the top with read outs from the rear locos. There were more buttons above my head. There is even a toilet in the loco!!
Oh and who is this sitting at the controls? Yup here I am sitting in the engineer's seat of a General Electric AC4400CW — that's 4400HP at those controls there. Am I lucky or what?! And here I am from the other side:
These locos are huge! There are actually stairs inside to get up to the cab level. The cabs themselves are big and roomy and warm though, and if you're cunning you can cook your own food on the cab heaters :-)
Then it was back to work as the crew had a massive coal train to move up the hill. They already had 2 lead locos and 2 rear end helpers, but to get over the hill would take another set of 3 helper locos in the middle. Helper is still living up to its name! Anyway here comes the Worm…
The train then pulled forward to the "cut" point.
Pulling out of the yard / stopped right outside the motel while the train is cut in half and the mid train helpers are inserted.
I witnessed this operation late at night last year and was captivated, so it was a real highlight to see it all again during daylight. Here we are just about to leave.
Mid train helpers / Read end passing under the signal bridge
Now the race is on! She roared out of Helper at quite a pace, but by the time I caught it up again it was down to jogging pace and really working hard. Slogging its guts out, as I'd say.
I caught her at Castle Gate and finally got a shot I've been waiting yonks for: a shot of Castle Gate with the train passing underneath. Castle Gate is such a massive lump of rock that from most angles it is impossible to fit it in the frame, but I found a new spot today and I like it!
Up the road a bit more and here she comes around the corner:
Into the tunnel
And goodbye DPUs.
Got a great shave-and-a-hair-cut (google it) on the horn as Jerott crawled past, which was an unexpected bonus.
I whizzed up to the next set of tunnels where I attracted a bit of attention from The Law. Was busy snapping this:
And when I turned around there was a blue and white behind my car, lights flashing! Uh oh, I hadn't pulled very far off the road (my driver's side tires were still on the shoulder) as experience said if I pulled right off I was liable to get stuck! But the cop just gave me the thumbs up, as in, "are you ok?" and I gave him the thumbs up and he was gone. They're pretty attentive along Soldier Summit it seems, this isn't the first time this trip they've asked if I'm stuck or not.
So with no charges against my name I continued on to that junction again. Too dark now for any normal photos (I was already shooting at ISO800), but got some great motion blurs instead:
After that I headed back down to Helper, grabbed some things and headed off to Price. There I did the laundry (and met the owner who was lovely and very friendly), got dinner and bought supplies for the next segment of my trip. Speaking of which; tomorrow I will say goodbye to Helper and head for Salt Lake where I've got a few model shops to check out, then try and get up to Evanston, Wyoming for a quick look around. Then it'll be time to start the long slog back to San Francisco and New Zealand. In less than a week I'll be on an aeroplane crossing the Pacific Ocean!
Day 21: Cedar City to Helper
What a day! Started off by washing the car. Fun fun, I love American DIY carwashes with their dozens of different modes, but dang it took a lot of blasting in the water blaster to get all the caked on mud off. Afterwards the car was nice and clean but somehow all that mud ended up on me. Hmm.
After that I went looking for a RadioShack to buy a replacement Peek (lost mine yesterday somewhere between Caliente and Cedar City, probably dead in the mud somewhere, poor thing). Checked out the spot where Google said it would be, and the spot where my GPS said it would be, and nothing. Oh well.
Hit the I15 and headed for Salt Lake City. Looooooong unexciting drive. Saw a military Hummer with two massive antenna on the back, looked like it was a trolley bus they were so huge. Inside it was bristling with radio gear, looked pretty neat.
Continued on, got some petrol, had a stretch, saw some mountains, saw some HV transmission line towers that looked like space invaders…
As I drove on the mountains started to grow up around me, and I saw with a smile that there was some sun over East, about where Helper might be…
Arrived in Orem and stopped at a petrol station to look up the model shop — exact same procedure as last time, and I think even the same petrol station. Took the scenic route there and before long I was standing outside Hobby Stop LC (they boast that they're cheaper than therapy!). Went in there and emerged a while later with 5 new locos (a 3 unit Santa Fe streamliner in warbonnet scheme, and 2x Dash-9s in warbonnet and swoosh schemes), and with a few wagons. I love that model shop, they always have a great range and their prices are very good. The owner handed me a flyer for a train show up in Ogden tomorrow… I was planning on going that way anyway, so maybe… :)
Then it was on to Soldier Summit. While navigating the endless roadworks on US 6 (they've been fixing or altering something every time I've driven that road) I suddenly noticed a bunch of NVPX coal cars rushing past me, but missed the locos. Passed the wind turbines, they were looking good today. Pulled over at Thistle to look at the tunnels, just the right amount of snow to make a stunning photo, if only there were a train. The road shoulder was very muddy so once again my car is muddy, sigh.
Windmills along US6. Look carefully and you can see them reflected in the bonnet / Tunnels at Thistle. Lovely spot here.
Onwards I continued, tracks were looking very empty. Then around Gilluly Curves I noticed some tank wagons sliding along and SNAP — I have a train to chase! He was heading my way too, so I zoomed on to Soldier Summit where I set up a ready to pounce. And here he comes…
Looking good so far. As the train passed the engineer leaned out the window and yelled something, but I didn't catch it, wonder if it was due to the two massive locos slogging their guts out!? I gestured I couldn't hear him but he made a T O sign with his hands, which I took to mean time out, i.e. he'd stop and there'd be a crossing here. Which thinking about it now makes no sense because it's all double tracked here. Oh and here comes the DPU, catching the light brilliantly.
I packed up the video camera and hopped in the car where I caught the tail end of "scanner.. train orders" on the radio. Hmm… TrainOrders you say, I wondered if he was a regular there maybe? (TrainOrders is a train discussion group with an remarkably high quality of discussion).
I pressed on and caught him going through some S curves along the Price River.
Nice? What can I say, the weather was perfect, the lighting was perfect, the snow was perfect, everything just fell into place. Around another S curve he went…
As the DPU rounded the curve it caught the sun and lit up beautifully. I whizzed on to Emma Park Road where I managed a rush glint job, and one out the other side, but it was a bit late in the day light-wise.
Zipped around to the tunnels and crossed the road, only to find an uphill train coming towards me! Oh yeah! Would it be a meet at the tunnel mouth? I got into position… please be a meet, please be a meet, please be a meet… no, it wasn't. Not yet anyway…
EB manifest, meet WB manifest.
I got my meet after all! EB DPU, meet WB DPUs. Niiiiiice.
There were two more shots I wanted. One at the old D&RGW signal tower (which won't be there for much longer I dare say), and one at the motel.
One down with a lovely evening glow on the rocks. This time I heard quite clearly on the scanner that he'd meet me in the Helper yard. Ooooh! Cunning guy, using the radio suspecting that I'd have my scanner on. Very clever :-)
One shot left…
And this time, no cars bust in on my shot, awesome. You know there are worse things in life than having this view from your motel room :) And speaking of great things, while I was chasing this train I had Prairie Home Companion on the radio, listening the ultimate penguin-in-a-tuxedo shaggy dog story. Saturday afternoons on Soldier Summit can't be beat.
Having bagged my shot I headed down to the Helper yard where I met the engineer, Jerott, a really great, kind guy. Turns out he'd seen me encouraging a few others to hunt Soldier Summit today, and I'd made mention of my blue SUV. He put two and two together, hence the TrainOrders references. Turns out he is a fellow Nikon user too, so we had a good chat and he was stoked to see the shots online of his train.
Checked into the motel, Mark was glad to see me again as ever. Headed down and got dinner at a very busy Balance Rock Eatery and had a local hefeweizen beer. Did a quick scan of the railway yards on the way back to the motel; Thirteen locos sitting there! Blimey.
What a day! Very very pleased with the results, and was great to meet Jerott the loco engineer. Utterly exhausted now.
Day 20: Caliente to Cedar City
Woke early today, although fairly late by Caliente standards — they sure like their early nights and early mornings here. Then again I was never really sure what time it was there; my bedside clock and the microwave clock were in disagreement over what time zone they were in, so time was a very relative thing in Caliente. Nevertheless I was up and about very early this morning and even had a "short stack" of pancakes for breakfast with oodles of maple syrup. Not bad for $3.
Then I was on my way. I tried exploring out from Caliente into Clover Creek Canyon but didn't get very far before I hit private Union Pacific roads. So off on the highway and with the help of my GPS soon found the turn off for the Beaver Dam Road. Road was in good condition and after a while I was down at Barclay having a look around. This wasn't in the canyon any more which was a shame, indeed the most exciting view was around a curve. The track here was immaculate though, a lot of TLC has definitely gone into this track recently.
While plodding along I kept hearing plane noises but couldn't spot anything. With the final day of Operation Red Flag in effect I suspect there were lots of well camouflaged fighter jets around. I did spot a few, although only one came out in the photos. Here is a full size crop of it:
I continued on and decided to try another spot around the corner. I never got there though because the road was terrible. While the road in had been lovely sun baked bud, around the corner it was still very soggy. Dirt down here is very different to back home; it can look quite dry, but if it is even the slightest bit wet it turns into glue and even just walking over it will cake your boots in mud within steps. And it's thick, heavy greasy stuff.
So here I was driving along, the car revving quite high, guess it was slipping but still making ok progress and it was steering ok, although every so often if would fishtail a bit. I came to an especially muddy patch with a pool of water over the top and several thick ruts from previous attempts, but gunned it and made it through fine. Came to the top of a small rise and decided that the road wasn't improving so would go back. I'd just passed a decent turn around area so attempted to reverse back, and was going fine until suddenly the car veered to the right and suddenly got a whole lot slower, and kept slowing down. Rats I thought and put it in forwards. Only I didn't move. OH RATS! (and many more colourful words). Oh bugger bugger bugger! Here I am, miles from anywhere stuck in thick mud!! I wasn't too worried; I had water, food, fuel and warm clothes, but still this wasn't quite how I wanted to spend the day!
I got out and surveyed the scene. Thick squelchy mud, two right hand wheels in the slight ditch at the side of the road, about 6 inches down in the mud, obviously the wheels had been spinning and dug a bit of a hole, although with an automatic and all the fancy electronic gadgets between you and the wheels, you'd never know it.
So I scouted around. I knew the one thing I shouldn't do is hop in and rev the engine and try and spin my way out; no that would just dig an even deeper hole. Better to solve this problem now before it became an even bigger one. Looking around the first thing I saw was heaps and heaps of sage brush. Sage brush is a woody shrub, much like a miniature version of our Tea Tree. I started snapping off bits and stuffing them under the wheels to give a bit of "body" to the mud and some grip to the wheels. A few nearby stones were added. Railway ballast would've been great but I was nowhere near the tracks. Then I found a sheet of old steel that made an excellent spade; MacGyver would've been very proud of me. I suspect that if I'd changed into my checked shirt things would've gone much faster (MacGyver always had a checked shirt).
Soon I was shovelling in good dry gravel and had made a sort of runway out of sage brush. I hopped back in the car and eased it back a little, then filled up the fresh holes. I then eased it forward and… it gripped! There wasn't much traction, but there was just enough to give me a bit of momentum and get me out of the soggy patch and onto slightly firmer mud/road.
It sure felt good to be on terra firma again! Here I am on a "good" patch of road; even here you can see how squelchy the mud is.
Clean me.
Here is my handy work. You can see how the tracks at the top take a slight veer to the left then a sudden veer to the right. My driving isn't that bad, this road just had a mind of its own. At bottom right you can see my handy work.
I found a slight short cut down a road that still had a layer of snow; the snow is much better to drive on, no slip at all. Go figure. I also managed to get around the massive puddle with no real problems.
So much for railfanning! I decided to leave Clover Creek Canyon until the Fall; the colours will be better then, not to mention the roads! The road I really wanted to go down hadn't been plowed and was still covered in a layer of snow; out of curiousity I tried driving the first patch; I averaged 3mph. For the 6km road I would've been looking at at least 3 hours return. A trip that long through unplowed snowy roads is just asking for trouble. Again; I'll wait till Fall.
So it was goodbye Clover Creek Canyon and on towards Utah. As I drove along the road a bunch of deer jumped out in front of me; my they are big! Quick grab shot through the mudscreen:
Driving towards Utah was amazing.
Lots of snow up here, and lovely little pine trees. Very very pretty, once again Nevada has turned on stunning scenery. I arrived at the town of Modena which I thought might be a good place to spend the night, only Modena had a little surprise for me:
Welcome to Modena. We're the real life version of every Western movie set ever constructed.
See Modena is ever so slightly a ghost town. Here is a look around:
The colours here were amazing. Just shades of silver and blue. It was very beautiful. Even the turning triangle looked like something out of a Western movie set.
I had a look around and thought it'd make an excellent scene for a train shot, if only there were some trains around. As usual the UP LA-SL line was dead quiet. I continued slightly up the road to the overpass and thought that too would make a great photo location. For some reason I parked and walked back to scope things out. This is the view going over the bridge. Oh and we're in Utah now; I can tell because of the condition of the roads.
Typical Utah road. Mile after mile after mile of this. It looks like graffiti but I think it's holding the road together.
As I stood there gazing out I thought I saw something in the distance; got out my camera/telescope and had a look but no just some trees. But then… down a bit, over to the right… that black line… could it be? Surely not? No, it's definitely moving… I kept watching and it certainly had the characteristics of a train. I moved for a better view and couldn't see it any more, but if I strained right there on the edge of my hearing I could hear the beat of 2 stroke diesel engines. After 15 minutes of intense listening and peering later (by which time I was wondering if I'd imagined it all) the locos finally popped into view from behind a hill and it was all on!
Now this is desert railroading! Humongous open spaces, ringed by mountains, long trains, vast open skies… yes, this is what I came for! Even got a friendly toot, I guess the sight of a guy standing on a highway railing at an overpass was a little unusual.
Apart from the lamppost right through the centre of the cab (Photoshop will fix that) I'm very very happy with my shot.
I continued on towards Cedar City, which I swear the sign said was only 6 miles away but an hour later I was still driving. At least the scenery here in Southern Utah was up to scratch.
Reminds me of the farmland out Springfield way.
Arrived in Cedar Springs and was a little put off by the lack of independent motels, but then I turned into Main St and was bombarded by choices. "VALUE INN, Low rate in town! $25/night" cried the sign in poor English. Wheels squealed and I had a room. $25/night down here gets you a perfectly reasonable room in the carwash district of town, which will be very handy come the morning; there are several inches of mud I'd like to remove before returning the car, and returning a car with mud inexplicably all over the bonnet would be a hard one to explain. "Off roading? No, not sure where you'd get that idea from!" If I wash it now and return it with a week of gentle highway grime on it, they'll never suspect a thing; that's the plan at least.
Popped down to Top Spot for a lovely Dino Burger and fries. Only in America can you pull into a petrol station, top up your SUV and get a Dino Burger all at once. I'm not sure where they get their dinosaur from, but for $5 I'm not complaining.
So early start tomorrow to wash the car and my clothes; luckily the laundromat and car wash are in the same building. Only in America? Then it is off towards Provo, Utah where there is a model shop with my name on it. Stay the night in Helper? We'll see.