Day two....the long story.

Day Two. The 22nd of May.

This was going to be my first full day on the road. I was trying to
make it to the Idaho state line as a rough goal.

I hit the I70 junction early in the morning. I REALLY didn't want to
have to take interstate but I had to jump on an off a few times for
only a few miles. Looking back I think with a little more time I could
have found a better way. The old highway into Green River, Utah was
one of the worst sections of road on the entire trip. I think the road
was paved sometimes in the 50s. Then they ran a cat with ripper teeth
down it. Aliens had removed random sections of road base in
interesting shapes. They didn't feel the need to repair any of the
road surface where they either had torn out or replaced culverts under
the road. There where some hail mary dukes of hazard moments on that
short section of road. The Willys didn't fall apart so I guess it was
ok? This little Willys was built with just over four inches of
compression travel and I used all of it more than once. I probably
should have just slowed down more...

Green River was a nice little town. I had never really driven through
the town itself. I had always just passed it on the interstate. There
was a fantastic looking 600+ yard match range just to the east of
town. I passed a mini-refinery on the old highway too. A few dozen
mangy range cows to keep me company. I noticed a small issue in green
river with my idle speed. It was too high for no real reason. I had a
new manual throttle installed and thought that might have been the
issue. I found the local parts store that wasn't open this early in
the morning, but popped the hood anyways.

I turned out that I needed to move the throttle return spring over to
the other side of the arm and rebend the small bracket on the engine
to tension the spring more. This fixed that problem for the rest of
the trip. It wasn't a big deal, but I wanted to stay on top of things
like this on the trip. I think a lot of time you spot more stuff
fixing the little stuff.

I had to take another short section of interstate to get to highway 6
headed towards the big city. I had to make a jet change or two but
ended up with a combo that worked all the way into Idaho. Sometimes
its fun to change jets, sometimes it is a bit of a pain. You can
really notice a big difference in mileage, power, and general engine
behavior if you stay on top of it. I usually try to run in the 13-14:1
range under cruise vacuum if I can. If it is going leaner than
14.3-14.8 very often I change. If it is going richer and the elevation
is going to stay higher I change it. For quicker mountain passes you
can just leave it usually.

I hit the end of highway 6 as it melts into the mess that is the Salt
Lake metro area. This metro area is just HUGE and stretches for what
seems like a hundred miles south to north. I had plotted an old
highway and surface street route through town. Sadly I hit this mess
just about 11am or so. I would have to cross this concrete and asphalt
mess in the heat of the day.

The crossing went well other than a few turn arounds and one section
of road that I just HATED. The Bangerter Highway is now on my banned
list. This 55mph outer highway was four to six lanes of concrete
highway with 20 foot concrete sound walls on both sides. This not so
clever configuration of road design formed a giant rock oven that I
was lucky enough to get to drive my 70 year old Willys jeep through!
Never again! It was probably my least favorite part of the trip.
Getting off that road was the best thing ever.

Once on the north end of the mess I call Salt Lake I was able to get
on the old highway 89 again. I phoned a friend that I was going to
meet for lunch in Bringham City. By the time I got there it was more
like an early dinner but I couldn't complain. I talked jeep for a nice
long time and got to get about ten glasses of water in me.

I had wanted to get to the Idaho border, but mother nature had other
plans. Right after leaving Bringham City the wind picked up a ton and
I was just done with it for the day. At this point I had probably done
300 or more miles with a lot of hours in the heat of the midday sun.
It just so happened that I noticed a sign for Crystal Hot Springs just
north of Bringham city. I wasn't cold really, but soaking for a bit
sounded pretty dang good after that day on the road. And, they had
camp sights. And, they had trees I could string my hammock up on.
Sold! It was probably the best $20 I spent the entire trip so far.

I soaked in the naturally salty mineral waters for more than a few
hours. I got to talk with some locals which was interesting. One older
lady that was a retired Navy nurse knew a lot about the local area. I
don't think many people got WHY I was doing this trip in an old flat
fender, but many where interested in my back roads non-interstate
journey.

I found out that I didn't pack any tent stakes for my tarp. I ended up
finding a piece of mostly not burned firewood in one of the fire pits
that I then split and carved into a few stakes. Ray Mears I am not,
but I try...