Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

I spent the night of the 27th in Jackpot.

For some while I’d been seeing an interesting conical mountain. It turns out that this is Pilot Peak, an important symbol of home (”we’re nearly there”) after some difficult terrain for the pioneers. I have to admire them–they progressed a mere 15 miles per day, if they were lucky, and this is some of the harshest country in the area.

US-93A tops out in Wendover, right on the Utah state line. I refrained from slipping over there just to say I’d been.

At the welcome centre is a monument to the Enola Gay, who flew out of Wendover.

Further west is Wells. I liked Wells. It was gritty and interesting. The visitor centre/chamber of commerce has a mini museum about the pioneer trails. I discovered that the group with Murphy Sr. in it was the first to make it over to California. Murphy’s son founded what would later become Sunnyvale.

It also has a railroad, and a nice historic front street with some poignant stuff–one door still was wishing people a Happy Christmas 1976. Long trains would drift by from time to time. The sound of train whistles is still soothing to me.

They’re really plastic flowers, planted in earth.

Going further north, it got very windy–unnervingly so. I didn’t dare stop at Contact for the historical marker for fear of being blown over. I battened down the hatches and got there, safely. Jackpot is a town full of casinos, like a mini Vegas. I liked it.

I didn’t like the dirt roads at the motel, though.

Here’s Jackpot–pretty much all of it. Just at the top of the hill is the Idaho state line. From town sign to town sign it’s about half a dozen casinos.

Just a few random posts

• XV1000 Virago: Front Gear Timing (0)
• 5th July (2) (0)
• Guest post at internet Moogul JohnCow.com (0)
• The bike in the shop (0)
• 22 October 2003 (0)

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