American Diary Part 12 Utah into Nevada

June 4th Had a morning in Jackson Hole. This small and vibrant town is more like a true cowboy place than anything so far. Wooden sidewalks and saloons mix with up market boutiques, galleries, clothing shops and the ski-ing facilities which keep the town going in the winter. I really liked it here. After lunch we carried on towards UTAH and Salt Lake City. Wyoming is a great state with lots to offer and my favourite so far. The drive to Salt Lake was long and a bit dull. The scenery changed from hills to flatter wide valleys and it got warmer. By the time we arrived at Salt Lake City it was 90 degrees. A brief tour of the Temple Square allowed us to see the Mormon church but no-one really wanted more than that. At camp it was stifling hot but too late to use the pool. I cooked chilli, then some of us went with Dam to the local drive in movie and saw Pirates of the Caribean III from the roof of the van - excellent! We got back at 1am. June 5th Salt Lake ahs little to offer - but it was good to see the mountains from a distance where the 2002 winter olympics took place. The Mormon thing is a turn off, I'll admit. The next phase of our journey was a real contrast to Salt Lake City but first we drove an hour south and stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats. This dried out lake of perfectly flat slat deposits is ideal for land speed testing and the location for the world records - another good film to see 'The Fastest Indian'. We took some photos here and wondered at the wierdness of it with salt clogging our shoes. Then more driving across the Dull, Dull Great Basin of NEVADA. Actually I thought it was interesting as storm clouds gathered over the hills and I saw so many typical American stuff that I hoped to see - derelict homesteads, rusting tow trucks, gas stations, tumbleweed! hotrods, horses.... Anyway, we arrived eventually in RENO. Nevada still has gambling and prostitution, so there is not much else to do here. Those of us not into either pursuits (most of us) chose to go to an all you can eat buffet at a nearby casino (our hotel was a casino but not good food). Properly filled up on all kinds of cuisine and puddings I then thought it would be a good idea to jump around in the amusement arcade! so Nicole and I played air hockey, on the dance machine, basketball and felt a bit sick! It was fun though and we got the chance to sleep in a hotel with a proper bed!.