Sunday 9/12 Ogden to Sun Valley, ID

Today dawned as every day has on this trip with clear skies and warm temperatures. When I say clear I mean clear.. not a cloud in the sky, from horizon to horizon. The hotel we stayed at in Ogden hosted a 100 year birthday party for a "young lady" yesterday. This morning she came into breakfast when I was eating, as spry as she could be. I congratulated her on starting the second hundred and asked her what she was having for breakfast. Without hesitation she told me.... "anything I want". Her daughter told me that her husband died a few years ago at 106. Now that is an amazing gene pool! Once we saddled up, we headed to Promotory Point Utah where the two railroads were connected on May 10, 1869. This was the first transcontinental railroad and forever shaped our nation. There is something about standing at the actual site and thinking of what has happened to this nation since then that makes history come alive. We arrived about a half hour before they first engine "Jupiter" came chugging down the tracks. They back this engine to the site, as it is the one that came from the west coast. I have been on a lot of steam engines in my day, but none as spit shined and polished as this one. It is wood fired as trees were plentiful in the pacific west. About a half hour later the second engine that arrived from the east was scheduled to come, but we had miles to cover and did not stay to see it. It is cloal fired though, as wood was not plentiful in the mid west grass lands and wood was used to supply the ties for the railroad. It is hard to imagine that at one time track was laid at the rate of up to ten miles in a single working day. We take 4 years to pave an intersection in PA. I think the work ethic may be a little different today. We then moved on to transit the wide open spaces of Idaho to our final destination in Sun Valley. Actually, we are staying about 10 miles south to take advantage of better hotel rates in Hailey, ID. This area is all tied to the ski business and you can tell that there is a lot of money that comes into the economy each winter. I don't think many of the folks that come here are too limited by the current state of the economy. Private jets were in ample supply at the airport. In the irrigated lands along the snake river we saw lots of wheat fields, onions, potato's and sugar beets. There were a few soy bean fields as well. The big factor out here is water. If you have access to it you can grow amazing crops. If you don't the land is nearly barren with nothing but browned out grasses and sage brush. It is an awsome drive through valleys that extend as far as the eye can see with no visible human habitat. It really makes one feel small. At one point Gerry was getting very low on fuel and we had to "stretch" his tank to about 180 miles. We made it, but there were some tense moments, as fuel stops here like people, are few and far between. All in all, it was a great day of miles and smiles. We had a little mix up with Mac late in the day and lost him for about 5 hours. Don't ask me how this can happen, as we never pull out and leave anyone behind. I can not for the life of me understand how 4 motorcycles can load up, start up and go across the street, literally 50 feet and park. He claims he had no idea where we went so he headed up the road. One was Gerry's Harley... it does not purr like a kitten if you get my drift. We were getting off our bikes across the street when he pulled out and motored off up the highway not to be seen for about 5 hours. This can only happen to Mac and I can't explain why. We sent text messages and voice mail and calls, all to no avail. Oh well, he found his way back and we are all bedded down. The wayward R90S is parked with the rest of the stable out front. Tomorrow is another day!