After a grueling 15 hour drive, Diane finally got us to a hotel a little north of Salt Lake City. We’re closer to Bountiful, but I wasn’t sure anyone would recognize that place. I didn’t know it was an actual “place” until I went to get our pizza for supper. Diane made me go because she drove 5.5 hours and I only drove 1. And, because I went to get it, she’s letting me watch a basketball game as a reward. I perform well for rewards. I know … you did regular math, not Jerrie math … 1 and 5.5 is 15.5.

The trip here was pretty boring except for the part where I was driving. During that hour we were almost to the top of a hill and I was passing an old guy in a pickup with a camper, pulling a horse trailer. His gas door was open, and his gas cap was hanging loose, which is what first got my attention. He was wandering back and forth, no doubt due to the 80 mph wind blowing across I-15, but he also had Utah (Yew-ta) plates which pretty much told me the whole story. I was almost beside him when we started down the hill. The speed limit was 75 mph and he took off down the hill lickitysplit. He started pulling away from me and just about ran into another trailer in his lane so I backed off to see what kind of mayhem was going to unfold. He wandered right, then back left into my lane, then he put his turn signal on to make it OK, and continued to accelerate away from me.

I let him go, as did most of the other folks in my vicinity, with the exception of some adventurous folks who also had Utah plates. Maybe they knew him.

At the bottom of the hill he had topped out at about 85, still wandering all over the place, then he decided it was time to be in the right lane. Then he started slowing down to the point where I could get closer. Timing his wandering nature, I stayed back until he moved right then floored it to get around and into a safer place on the freeway. Going 90 mph. That wasn’t bad, however, because by this time the speed limit was 80 mph and it’s a given, in Utah, that 15 mph over the limit is fine. Going the posted limit is hazardous.

After the crazy guy in the pickup exited the freeway, we found an exit and took a break to make PB&J-wiches. They were excellent, and Diane was proud of me for not getting any jelly on my shirt. So was I. Then I ate the rest of the grapes, and a Rice Krispy square.

During this trip I-15 crosses the NW corner of Arizona. I don’t know how long that stretch is, but I bet you could close your eyes and know when it started and ended. It’s a terrible stretch of pock marked asphalt. A great test for shock absorbers. It’s just nasty compared to the roads in Nevada and Utah.

I didn’t take any pictures today so I’ll just share one from my vast array of pictures. Here you go …

Hey! It’s six of our 8 Grandkidlets.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’ll be in Nampa, Idaho. By the way, the weather on this trip has been pretty good. We didn’t have any rain until we got to Provo. And, the car got very dirty. From here on the weather will just get worse and worse because it’s known fact that Idaho has the worst weather in the world.