Day 2 Continued

Pictured:
Both are of a lake between Salt Lake City and Wyoming. Amazing blue water, red cliffs and green hills.....and amazing place to ride

After getting out of salt lake which was an adventure in itself the rest of the riding went very well. The state park north of Salt Lake City and the land into Wyoming is by far the most beautiful place I have ridden. The roads were very well paved and wide, the hills around the ski resorts were dark green with flowers in full bloom, there were red rock cliffs lining the road as I traveled farther north and breaking into Wyoming there were painted rock bluffs. I call them painted because I'm not entirely sure how to describe them, large rock cliffs and hills that were at least 5 different colors. It was certainly amazing, the only down side was the wind in Wyoming. Riding over rock bluffs and into valleys gave wind bursts that were literally like being punched. A few times I even had to push my helmet back so that it was facing forward. Looking back on it, the most interesting part of the day probably happened in the salt flats in Utah. The temperature was in the mid 80s, the wind was moderate compared to where I rode elsewhere and I have adjusted my backpack so that I could lean back on it and put my legs up on the crashbars for a little lounging while I drove. While doing this, pondering the ground looking like it was covered in snow from the salt; wondering if it could be ridden on, since there were tire tracks doing donuts in some places and tracks leading to pits where the vehicle undoubtedly got stuck in others; I was startled by a semi cruising by. When I say cruised by I had enough time to look over and see the back end of the trailer fly by. I regained my position because I was clearly doing too much day dreaming and not enough riding, so I looked at the trailer pulling ahead, leaned forward and checked my own spedometer........85mph? Hmmm.....tap spedometer, slow down, speed back up.....nope its responding, it must be right. At this point the semi trailer has gotten far enough ahead its just a spec on the horizon. I grinned slightly thinking "wow, he had to of been doing at least 100mph.....in a semi.....hauling....wait a minute....." Recapping what I had a chance to see as it passed: Trailer construction means its a non-pressurized liquid; plackard on the back was bright orange = explosive; oh come on memory what where the numbers 3. 1? 3.2? eh doesn't matter its explosive either way and the code 033_ ugh, I didn't get all of that number either. What to I remember from class.......number starting with 033.......blasting agents. Now proud of my identifying skills and sad at the realization that I really am a nerd, the reality set in that I was just passed by a vehicle carrying several tons of blasting agents at over 100mph. Of course at that point I slowly let off the throttle, hit a cruising speed of between 75 and 80mph even though the "recommended maximum speed limit 85mph, minimum 60mph", sat back and waited for the mushroom could in the distance. Thankfully it never came but I was a lot more attentive to the cargo loads on the road with me after that. Other than that excitement, it was an uneventful ride into Laramie, Wyoming. As I didn't have a cowboy hat, the right kind of boots, a horse, or a wad of tobacco in my lip on my way to that there casino, I made a lot of friends in a hurry with people wondering who the new guy was. Despite being a college town, the locals seem rather surprised when someone new shows up. Total for the day 578miles.