The Mormon Trail

As I am now entering familiar territory (Mark's move), things began to move faster. Actually, I drove nearly the entire length of the trip Brigham Young made in the spring of 1847 with the vanguard company today, in ONE DAY. The only differences were: 1) the short stretch I did last night from Winter Quarters to York, Nebraska, 2) the fact I followed the railroad route across Wyoming, through Cheyenne and Rawlins, instead of over South Pass, and 3) I didn't go over Big Mountain at Henefer, instead following the Weber to Morgan, Utah. Some observations: 1) I didn't know Cabela's was based in Sidney, Nebraska - an interesting business history, 2) a lot of trains roll down the Union Pacific main line, 3) some parts of the country had a lot of snow this winter - there was still snow in the high passes around Laramie and Cheyenne, and the Unitas were still heavily snowpacked, 4) I did not know you could see the Colorado Rockies and Rocky Mountain National Park from this part of Nebraska and Wyoming - the Park is only about 40 miles from Laramie, 5) there is a giant wind farm along the freeway in central Wyoming, and 6) there is an interesting geographic situation around Rock Springs, Wyoming. Most people are familiar with the Great Basin of Utah and Nevada, and also with the concept of the Continental Divide. But also, around Rock Springs, the continental divide "divides" on itself to form the "Continental Divide Basin", another endorheric region (along with the Salton Trough in California) where there are no natural outlets to the oceans (only through groundwater). So I passed through Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah today (States #8, 9, and 10). After a brief stop in Morgan, Utah, I spent the night in Northern Utah.