Our first planned stop and visit was to be to get breakfast at Silver Sage in Vernon, much to my dismay it was closed when we got there. This was to be a fueling and supply stop. Not wanting to wait for it to open we pushed on. Worked our way through the small little town on the edge of the west desert making our way to Lookout Pass.
We continued on looking at the change in landscape and looking for antelopes and wild horses on our way to Simpson Springs. We seen a few goats but did not encounter any wild horses. We pulled up to the north of Simpson Springs and I pointed out the new community that has sprung up just west of Dugway. People in the UFO hunting world seem to think this is the new area 51, it weird how it has come to life over the past 5 years. We stopped at Simpson Springs and took in some of the history on the plaques and signs and walked through the old station that back 1860 was used by the horse riders to exchange horses get some water and food before continuing on. We talked all day about how it must have been when they were riding through this country in the early days and laying down the trail. This area if you have never been here is desolate, it is a true high mountain desert. These stops were located at natural springs throughout the desert.
Heading north we stopped at Canyon Station and looked back at the valley's we had gone through that day. He was shocked to know how far we had gone. You could also see the Slat Flats from the station. This is however where we found his rock, the original rock was to large for either of us to move so he decided on a smaller one right next to it. A black basalt lava rock with some cool lichen and moss on it. We loaded it up in the truck and went on are way to Ibabpah.
Ibapah, an Indian reservation town on the west border of Utah. I was in search of the trading post, remember we didn't get to pick up snacks and drinks in Vernon, ya we were hungry and thirsty. Found the Ibapah Trading Post much to our dismay it was closed due to "competition" from a nearby store that opened up closer to "town". We both had to laugh. We decided that we were close enough to Wendover to just go there. While going north on 93 we passed a sign pointing to Blue Lake, I explained to dad that this is where we would come when we went scuba diving out there, again he was amazed that it was located in the desert.
Pulling into Wendover we filled up and went to get something to eat. We ended up going to the Rainbow buffet. Got our fill and left for the last stop of the day. Bonneville Slat Flats International Speedway, dad if you didn't know is a huge race fan, being a dirt track race driver for many years. He had never been to the actual site of the raceway, a bucket list item for him, I took him out to the marker of the starting area for the 15 mile long stretch of salt that is the Bonneville Salt Flats. He was in awe of the expanse of salt and the beauty of the contrast of the whiteness and desert scape surrounding it all. We will go back out to the raceway when the event is actually running this fall. That is another adventure. We left from there to home. 380 mile round trip with some side trips. A great day with dad! He told stories of his exploits of gold mining ventures to his race days.
