The Bonneville Salt Flats is one of those bucket list destinations for me. While the (usually) yearly Bonneville Speed Week is the big event of the year—on this, our last stop before heading home, we relished having the place all to ourselves on a beautiful June evening.
Any gear head or speed freak worth their *ahem* salt knows what Bonneville is all about. For us, after all, these grounds gave their name to two of the motorcycles in our group (the Triumph Bonneville).
First things first, we’ve been riding all day and we’re hungry! We visit the Salt Flats Cafe.
Everything’s under $10, there’s free refills and massive portions. Like the generous burritos, the walls are stuffed full of goodness, too. From floor to ceiling you can take a look at the photos and posters from at least 15 previous years of Speed Weeks.
On to Bonneville Speedway
It’s a short ride to the cafe to the speedway. The tarmac ends at the famous signpost. After that, it’s salt as far as the eye can see.
The Bonneville Salt Flats are free completely open to the public. Besides the 4-5 major events throughout the year, you’re free to explore the flats or even hold a meet of your own whenever you wanted. The land if owned by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
I was delighted to see a fellow WVU alum had already stuck a big sticker on the back. Let’s go Mountaineers!
Out on the salt, it really does feel like an alien land. The salt crunches under foot and yet sticks to you (and anything else on the salt) like glue. The car wash bays at the gas station must make a killing.
We took some time to goof off, take some photos, race on foot and watch the sun disappear behind the mountains.
As we exited the salt flats, I’m happy to say I am the Bonneville land speed record holder for the Fuse Box Riders.
Fun in Wendover, Utah / Nevada
Wendover is split between Nevada and Utah. In fact, the state line is painted on the roadway. On the Nevada side is where the casinos are. That is just about your only choice for fun in this small town. We took advantage by playing penny slots and drinking free beers from the increasingly disgruntled waitresses.
I did blow a couple of good runs at the Blackjack table, so I think they were in the black on our accounts.
Home to Seattle
The next day we started off a little late, but it didn’t prevent us from pushing through the 800 miles from Wendover to home. It was a grueling test, to be sure. I’ve had long days before, but nothing like this. I think this candid shot of Kevin outside of Ellensburg at ~11:00pm says it all.
It was only fitting that once again (as we did on our first day) we made Michael ride at night with his tinted visor. This brave man collected more bugs to the face than I care to see again in my lifetime.
The end of the road
An incredible journey with memories to last a lifetime. I hope to do it all again next summer.
A look back
To read all posts related to this trip, click here.
Bonneville Salt Flats video:
We met Jordan Weill, a filmmaker, at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He offered to capture some footage of us riding with his drone. Take a look at the video below. Thanks Jordan!
Comments (2)
Great pictures! We loved the drone video, very cool! Quite a journey, very memorable for you.