Day 41, Friday April 10th: Visiting The Bonneville Salt Flats and Friends in Utah

 Friday it was another nice morning, we left the KOA about 8AM, it was 45F and sunny making it feel much warmer. 

I have kind of wanted to see the Bonneville Salt Flats since I was a kid but the movie "The Fastest Indian" really made it a must stop if I was in the area. If you have not seen the movie, it is a great flick and a true story about how in 1967 Burt Munro, a New Zealander, who set the less than 1000cc land speed record on a 1920 Indian Scout he modified in his garage. 

Bonneville Salt Flats

We approached the Salt Flats from the West on I80. There is a rest area on both sides of I80 but you can only access the real flats from the West bound rest area. If you are coming from the West, to get to the West bound rest area, you need to go 31 miles to the next exit and come 31 miles back. I calculated that at $6 per gallon and 16 mpg, that double back cost us $23.25, and an hour of time....Crazy.  I later found that if we had got off the earlier exit, you could access the flats from there, that is what you get for not doing your research. 

Bonneville Salt Flats

I wanted to take the Serenity Falcon out for a speed run, but there was no access from the rest area for a vehicle :-).

Despite my whining, we really are glad we made the effort to see the flats, they are impressive. They are so bright that without sun glasses it hurts your eyes and I did verify that they are very salty...yuk 😏.

After the Flats we set out to visit friends who live in the Pocatello, Utah area. The drive was pretty easy, we doubled back on I80 East until we hit US30, the road is nice, straight and has no traffic.  Lucky for us there was a gas station in Montello about 25 miles into the US30, the next fuel was 100 miles; we were happy to pay the $6/gallon. 

We arrived at our friends the Forhan's house in Blackfoot at about 18:00.

Reserved Parking at the Forhan's

Tim had reserved our parking spot.

Tim, Sheri and daughter Angela treated us to a nice meal and we spent the evening catching up. They have a beautiful piece of property that is on a tributary of the Snake River. It is always nice to spend time with dear friends. 

Saturday, we will continue our journey home.