Bonneville Salt Flats (by Caleb)
We drove down a road that went through the salt flats for three or so miles and stopped at a big gravel circle overlooking the salt flats. The gravel circle was elevated about two feet above the flats. The salt flats surrounded the ring of road except for the small stretch of land which connected the main road to the large circle.
The salt flats extended for miles outward and because they were so flat the water had nowhere to go so huge lakes of water only an inch deep formed on the surface of the salt. The surface of the flats was pure salt other than the occasional dead bug and the not as occasional dirt from car tires.
We all got out and walked around a little bit exploring the area though that only took about five seconds. We got back in the Jeep and bumped down the short steep hill that divided dirt and gravel from salt. After that dad stepped on the gas and started cruising out toward the center of the flats. Though dad could only get to about seventy miles an hour because of the mushy salt it still felt like we were in a race car.
After a little while we stopped and got out and walked around the flats. We played a little and walked around. We also ran with our eyes closed which was fun because there was a never ending feeling of "Oh I'm going to hit something," even though you wouldn't. It was fun to watch other people attempt to go straight because you could never do it!
When we walked back to our Jeep which was now covered in about a third of a ton of salt we got in and started driving back. And if any one is curious, this is for the Jeep and is very accurate:
JEEP NUTRITION FACTS
(not entirely accurate)
Calories ??
fat 0%
fiber .03% (tissues)
total sugars 0%
total carbohydrates ? (what are carbohydrates anyway?)
sodium 97435%
iron 274527845024706%
protein .00001% (a few dead bugs stuck to the windshield)
It was getting dark and we were getting close to the round gravel parking lot when we saw some people walking briskly toward our car. They stopped us and with apologetic faces told us there story of their time at the salt flats. Basically they were going to camp in a tent on the flats but one of the cars drove too far into the super slippery, super muddy, and super dangerous salt flat section and they wanted us to pull them out with our Jeep.
We drove over there but by the time we got there we were slipping and sliding too. Dad knew we wouldn't be able to pull them out because we had no traction and they were deep in ruts. Even if there was traction where our Jeep was there wasn't any place on their Subaru to hook up tow cables anyway. Their tires would just spin and spin if they tried to move them. Thankfully since they were going to camp out there they were prepared. Well they didn't have a handy tow truck in their suitcase or the strongest man in the world in their backpack or anything but they did have a lot of firewood and a shovel and a hammer.
Everyone started by helping to clear the tires of all the salty gunk that was stuck to them. It was a hard process of scraping and shoveling but we did it after some time. The people who owned the car was a really nice group of friends too. Next we got the pieces of firewood and hammered them down under the tires. The owner started the car and tried to go but it didn't work. After that we tried adding more pieces of firewood and tried. Same results. We tried hammering the pieces of wood in harder but it didn't work. After many variations of this we tried putting a bunch of people in the back and when the car started they would all push but no matter what we did it just didn't work.
I was getting upset because unlike a book, this would probably not be a happy ending which made me frustrated. Plus it was already 8:30 and it was so dark.
Everyone tried less and less hard because there were no new ideas. We were just about ready to go when I had an idea, a very seemingly terrible idea. I thought it was such a pointless idea that I only told dad about it but he told the others because we had nothing to try at this point and this idea was as good a any. My idea was to go in reverse which does seem like a pointless idea because going in reverse wouldn't work better, would it?
Everyone switched places and the car was cranked to reverse. Then the car was came to life as the tires turned backwards, nothing happened. But then, everyone pushed and the tires spun as fast as they could and it worked! The sedan lurched as it ramped up the mud ruts and drove backwards. The driver didn't want to stop now because she risked getting stuck again so the car, all muddy and brown, drove backwards all the way to where the other cars were parked. We were all super happy and I ran a lot of the way to where the other cars were parked to get my energy out.
The Jeep had basically no trouble getting out of the doom section of the salt flats and we drove all happy and caked with salty mud from head to toe all the way home. When we got home we took showers which probably felt better than helping to get the people unstuck.
This was probably the best shower I'd had since Yanks RV Resort, and I came out feeling so nice and clean! It felt infinitely amazing getting into bed all nice and clean and cozy and zzzzzz
The next day dad dropped us off at the salt flats while he went to get a car wash. We played a variety of games to tackle our boredom like statues, Marco Polo and bocce ball with shoes.
Eventually dad came back bright and clean it was a big difference from the night before. the Jeep was really, REALLY dirty beforehand.
Later we drove to a Walmart parking lot. See you there!
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