A long drive to Salt Lake City, Utah

Scenery en route Cheyenne to Salt Lake City

Windiest & most trucked route!

Reminiscent of Monument Valley

Great place for a wind farm

Scenery through the window

Royal Wedding (courtesy thedailybeast.com)

After leaving Cheyenne (where Murray had to dust snow off the petrol pump at the bowser), we planned to drive 330 miles/530km to the tiny town of Fort Bridger, Wyoming. However when we arrived at 5pm, we learnt the campground wasn't reconnecting the water supply until the weekend. So we continued on another 2 hrs to Salt Lake City, Utah. At a total distance of 440 miles/708km, it was not only our longest day of driving in our 5 years of RV travel, but it was the windiest drive, with sudden gusts having to potential to push you off the road. Instead of travelling at our usual 65 mph/105kph, we were forced to travel about 20 mph slower. It also seemed to have the highest number of trucks we had seen consistently on a single route, but it was never a problem as the divided highway was 2 lanes each way. We have noticed we aren't seeing so many RV's on the roads this time. Perhaps the higher fuel prices and the ongoing financial situation are the main contributing factors, along with the odd weather patterns. The death toll from the latest tornado has passed 300. Scary.

Despite being a long day, it was a very interesting drive as there was lots of snow en route, and some interesting rock formations - very similar to Utah. Considering we were entering that state next, we weren't too surprised. We pulled into Laramie for a coffee break and lucked on a wonderful cafe where we were able to park right at the front door. It not only offered free wifi (so I could email the photos I had just taken of the snow), but it also had an expresso coffee machine, so we enjoyed the change from filtered coffee, and shared a delicious slice of carrot cake.

The last 50 miles into Salt Lake City were very scenic with pretty snow scenes. Although we were tired, the time just flew, as we were thoroughly enjoying the unfolding views. We were glad to see them capitalising on the notoriously windy area, by establishing numerous wind farms.

Snow flurries seem to be dogging our trail on this trip. Our high temperature today was 5 C and we reached that around 11am. It has already dropped to 3 C and it is 1.30pm. Murray & I stayed up until 6am this morning - I was watching the Royal Wedding - who doesn't love a fairytale - and he was listening to the Aussie football on the laptop (with one eye on the TV I am sure). He thought Posh Spice looked pretty smart, and some reports suggest Kate's sister Pippa was a great runner-up to the bride in the beauty stakes. What a fabulous spectacle, whether you are a monarchist or not.