13 June - Day 15: Tooele Junction UT to Salt Lake City UT - 49.9 km @ 21.9 km/h

I had a good night’s sleep in the motel and in the morning worked on the web site and answered a slurry of e-mails. I didn’t check out until just before 11 a.m. and when I went outside I was pleased to see that the wind was down. There would still be a headwind, but nothing compared to yesterday.

Next door was a truck stop with a ‘Country Buffet’ restaurant. I was too late for breakfast but their lunch looked worthwhile, with a nice salad bar, lots of vegetables, and mashed potatoes. I was famished and I got my money’s worth! In fact, looking at the quantity of food some of my fellow patrons ate, I don’t see how they can turn a profit.

I had bought a USA Today newspaper and so I had a very leisurely meal and read the paper. With only 50 odd km to Salt Lake City, I was in no rush and it was good to relax a bit after the hard work of the last few days. I found an advertisement for Net2Phone which is a low-cost calling card service so after lunch I enrolled in it. I’d been using calling cards which were pre-pay, but the performance was spotty at best and some of the costs excessive.

I called Lis and we had a long chat. Poor girl is flat out and over the top with things on. At least for once I can’t be blamed! It is largely self-inflicted with the work pressures up as well as other responsibilities. I know what its like, but I’m enjoying my self-indulgent holiday.

It was probably 1:30 when I hit the road and I was back on the Interstate. The ‘Great Salt Lake’ was to my left and as you can see from the photo below, it really is massive. It is the largest salt lake in the Northern Hemisphere, although interestingly it is a maximum of 34’ deep. There were a number of sail boats about and it felt as if I was by the ocean with the salty smell and the water going to the horizon and beyond.

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I followed the highway almost to the airport when suddenly there was a no cyclist sign. I went off at the exit and the road soon turned into what could best be described as a track. The surface was broken and potholed and soon it became unsurfaced! I found myself at the Salt Lake City land fill site and there was a long queue of trucks waiting to go in or just leaving. The road was wet and muddy an the trucks had made it quite bumpy. Not nice for riding. My bike and I got covered in muck so I was not in the best of moods, or very presentable. Welcome to Salt Lake City. This detour added about 10 km to my ride but eventually after a lot of dead reckoning I found myself in the centre of town at ‘Temple Square’.

This is the home of the Mormon church and in the centre of town is a 10 acre block where they have their temple. I had seen photos of it at night and I wanted to see it in real life. I went in and was reading some inscriptions from the Bible and their founders when a young woman approached me. She was a student missionary from Mongolia and was organising tours. I waited and joined a tour run by two other woman. There were about 15 of us from all over, mainly the USA.

When the Mormons first arrived here they had come from Missouri pushing carts. There were about 145 men, 3 women and 5 children. The laid out the city and immediately planted crops. They almost starved the first winter and the next year as their vital crop was ready to harvest it was inundated with a plague of grasshoppers. They tried fire, smoke, blankets but nothing would keep them away from the crops and when all seemed lost a flock of 3000 seagulls arrived who gorged themselves on the bugs and saved the crops. The monument below is probably the only one in the world dedicated to seagulls, and the seagull is the state bird of Utah.

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The temple is an impressive structure. The 5000 lb granite blocks were brought 20 miles by ox cart. It towers above with many spires and is well done, especially when you consider it was built so soon after their arrival.

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With the stones they had left they made the meeting house which is shown below. There was a piano competition on and I listened to one of the contestants. A 14 year old Korean girl. Left me breathless. Such talent and abilities at such a young age.

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The third building created by the founders is the tabernacle, home of the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was not much to look at outside but acoustically it was incredibly well designed. They claimed that you can hear someone tearing paper at the front if you are sitting in the back row. When they built it they wanted it to look like oak on the inside so they manually painted grains in all the wood! The original seats are still there and they claim in some places you can see finger prints.

The tabernacle has the 12th largest pipe organ in the world and someone was practising hymns. Magic. The choir performs every Sunday and the tabernacle, which can hold 6500, is usually full. Members are selected for 5 year terms and you can have a maximum of 4 terms before you must retire. There is a huge waiting list to get on. Pity that I won’t be there since I would have liked to have gone and heard them. The following is a photo of the organ.

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The final stop on the tour was a visitors centre. They had some lovely and very well done paintings of Bible scenes, from the old and new testament, and you ascended a circular ramp where there was a large statue of Jesus and some of his sayings which were being played in different languages. At the end of the tour they shared a verse from the book of Mormon and asked if any of us were interested in further information. None were but I stayed behind to talk with the two tour guides.

I was interested to find out why they only used the King James version of the Bible and I wasn’t very satisfied with their answer. Nor as to why if they were so strong about following Jesus they didn’t worship on the Sabbath. One of them confessed that it had bothered her at one stage but she had come to terms with it. It was all very friendly and they didn’t mind sharing their faith. In fact, I found it humbling to see so many young people in their 20s quite willingly serving their church as volunteers and being so friendly and helpful to the visitors. I also appreciated their deportment and dress which was very demure. Makes one think of ones own spiritual life …

I went across the road and got a sandwich and a smoothie. The latter was very nice but was HUGE. It was an effort to finish it. I don’t know how people can drink so much in one go regularly.

I went and collected my bike which I had left in front of the bus station. There were lots of people having cigarettes on the front steps so I figured in such a public place it was not likely to be fiddled with. I asked a taxi driver where I could find a motel and he directed me to one that was near by. I went and got the last room and then cycled back into town to wander around. My bike is like a sports car without the gear. I later returned to the room, tried to get my Net2Phone working and then crashed. Salt Lake City was OK, but I couldn’t wait to head out into the country again. I’m definitely not a city person.

On to the Next Day

 

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