5 June - Ogden's Union Station Area and Dinner with Cyndi Schwandt

5 June
Today we headed to downtown Ogden Utah and the Union Station area, which includes the nearby 25th Street district.

The Union Station was the old train station which has been remodeled and preserved.  Inside the old depot you can almost hear all the people who passed through the halls and boarded the trains over the years.

Impressive heavy truss construction has stood the test of time.

The floor has held up well

Our first stop inside the station was the  Utah State Railroad Museum.  The railroad played an integral part in the growth of the west.  The creators of this museum did an outstanding job recreating various portions of the landscape and the railroad tracks passing through.  The details were amazing.

Doreen in a dining car

Tickets, please!

The actual safe where the golden spike of 1869 was stored for years.

a control console used to switch tracks and monitor track status.

Hanging around on the back of a train car!

One of the many outside displays

After the train museum we headed to the Browning Firearms Museum.  This was incredible.  A massive collection of Browning firearms and displays documenting the history of Browning.

Described the connection with the Browning family and Ogden UT.  The Browning Firearms Company was a real family operation over the years.

A recreation of the workshop where the Browning  firearms were developed

The infamous Browning Machine Gun, but an enlarged model for training.

Various Browning machine guns including the water cooled models (the large round jacket around the barrel.

The infamous M1918 B.A.R - Browning Automatic Rifle saw use from World War I up to 1970.  This bad boy weighed in about 16 lbs.  Try lugging that around all day, along with ammo and all your other gear!  

Look at the intricate engraving on this 1911.

I believe this is the same shotgun Dan has in his basement, from Grandpa Schellhase!

A broad view of the entrance to the Browning Museum.

From the firearms museum we headed downstairs to the Car Museum.  There were many old beautiful cars mostly from the early 1900's.  Hudsons, Lincolns, Packards, Pierce Arrows, etc

A nice 1926 Lincoln used in several movies 

An unbelievable 1929 Packard.  The story goes that prior to World War II a Sailor drove this car from Hollywood to Houston and put it in storage and he never returned.  The car was sold at an auction!  Wow!

The final museum is the Utah Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  It contained many items such as saddles, chaps, spurs, lassos, and other western items.

A wide assortment of saddles on display with their ornate stitching.

I think I need a set of these chaps!

A uniform from the mounted Salt Lake Police Palomino Posse.

 After finishing the museums, we headed down 25th street which is a historic district that has been beautifully restored and rejuvenated to capture the history of the area.  It is full of shops, bars, restaurants and antiques.

Ornate entrance to the old Roosevelt Hotel.

Doreen homed in on the Lighthouse Lounge and of course we had to go inside and check it out.  She had a tasty margarita and I sampled a local porter beer.  Very nice

A beautiful old wood bar area

We were preparing to cross the street when the Chief of Police approached from behind.  He was also headed across the street to a Mexican restaurant for lunch.  We had a nice talk with him as he asked us where we were from, etc,  Turns out he is also an Iraq war veteran and a 33 year Army Guard retiree.  He gave us his card and with a smile said if we had any issues while we were visiting Ogden to give him a call.  Ah, a "get out of jail free card"!! LOL  

So we also headed into the Mexican restaurant for lunch.  It was really good!  The Chief was sitting a few tables away having lunch with another gentleman in a light blue business suit.  So I went over and gave the Chief one of my coins and thanked him for his lengthy military service along with his service as a law enforcement officer.  He sincerely thanked me for the coin and then proceeded to introduce the other gentleman to us as the Mayor of Ogden UT!!  

 Back to the campground to take a break, clean up the truck, dump the tanks and then we headed into Salt Lake City to have dinner with Cyndi Schwandt, Doreen's cousin.  Cyndi's dad and Doreen's mother were brother and sister.  When we identified the malfunctioning warranty part for my RV network setup we had the company ship it to Cyndi's PO box and it arrived so it all worked out well.

Doreen and Cyndi Schwandt outside the restaurant.

After dinner we headed an hour north back to the campground and documented the day in the blog.

Tomorrow we will take in the Hill Aviation Museum and one final trip to the Hill AFB Commissary to restock before heading further west.

4 June - Temple Square area (Mormon Tabernacle, N Visitor Center, Conference Center)

4 June
Beautiful sunny day in the Salt Lake City area.  We headed south from the campground to central Salt Lake City today and the Temple Square area.  This is the area that includes the Mormon Tabernacle, the Temple, the Assembly Hall, the Latter-day Saints Conference Center and other buildings relating to their faith.  I am glad we went today as we basically owned the place.  We parked west of the area in a huge parking lot.  I know tourism is tourism, but there had to be an alternate use for this lot as it was gigantic.  Yep, is one of the parking lots used for their conference center.  More later on that.

So we were one of about 15 cars in the parking lot.  It probably holds 5000.  We headed towards the tabernacle and walked past a pioneer log cabin that was built back in 1847 when Mormons migrated west to the Salt Lake City area.

The whole area was planted with vegetables as it was back in 1847.  Pea pods shown on the vines and tomato plants are blosseming

We crossed the street to the iconic Mormon Tabernacle, home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Unfortunately they were not performing today, but the pipe organ was in operation and we sat and listened to it for a while.  

The Mormon Tabernacle building

Inside the Tabernacle, with the organ pipes in the background.  Beautiful place,

Ok, once a comm gut, always a comm guy!!  Top notch sound system.  I really wanted to pop the cover off that mixer panel and have a look!!  What I could see was mighty impressive!  

After visiting the Tabernacle we headed next door to the North Visitor Center.  It was a multi-level display of various scenes from the Bible.  The receptionist said they teach the bible and along side the Book of Mormon, in fact they gave us one to read.  The Visitor Center is an education center to help us understand the Mormon faith 

Multimedia, interactive display on Jerusalem. 

The multimedia displays were incredible!

Very impressive!

We then crossed the street and toured the Conference Center.  Ok, we have been in literally hundreds of conference centers over the years but I have NEVER seen anyplace like this.  The engineering must have been eye-watering.  This place holds 21,000 attendees, 7000 per floor.  That's 21000 people in the SAME ROOM.  Unfortunately we could not go inside the conference center because they were recording a new sound track, but we toured around it and above it.  The whole ABOVE it thing is the point I wanted to make with the engineering comment.  The entire auditorium that holds 21,000 attendees stands without columns.  NO COLUMNS, NO SUPPORTS.  OK, fine maybe with an aluminum roof.  No, the roof is covered with thick granite slabs and gardens.  We toured around the lower floors outside the auditorium and admired all the beautiful paintings, and then our tour guide took us to the roof.  

One of the garden areas on the roof.  All of the walkways were slab granite and the other areas covered with pine trees and gardens full of wild flowers

A selfie from the roof of the conference center, looking south with the Mormon temple in the background

We then crossed the street to get some pictures of the outside of the Mormon Temple.  It is closed to visitors so we could not go inside, but it is beautiful from the outside.

Mormon Temple in the background and a reflection in a reflecting pool in the foreground.

Since it was Sunday that was basically all that was open.  I would have like to visit the Family History Library, home of Ancestory.com  but it was not open.  

So we headed back to the campground through both Salt Lake City and North Salt Lake City.  The Chicago Cubs swept the series with the St Louis Cardinals.  We cooked a nice beef roast and vegetables in the Dutch Oven and the only thing missing was the horseradish.  Was 96F today so shde was welcome.  Many rigs leaving the campground today since it was Sunday.  Oh yeah, they have to go to work tomorrow :-)

Tomorrow we will visit the Union Station with museums and shops.

3 June - Laundry Day, Amish Store and Cleaning

3 June
Nothing too exciting today.  Just like being at home, the chores never end.  We started out this morning with cooking breakfast outside.  Was a beautiful morning, except for the nasty bugs - mosquitoes and "no-see-um's"!  We talked to a neighboring camper who sprays his campsite with a home-made concoction that involves garlic and he swears by it.  The whole area smelled like garlic bread!!

After breakfast we then headed into the town just north of us called Brigham (Mormon country, you know!) to do laundry.

Laundry went fairly quickly with the large but expensive machines they had.  On the way back to the campground we cruised through town to seek out the post office and sight-see a bit.  Many beautiful Latter-Day Saints / Mormon churches in the area.

Headed back to the campground we stopped at an Amish Country Store.

Kind of funny, there are no Amish here in Utah per the store checkout lady.  All the stuff here is shipped in, but still good!!   Disappointed a bit as we had hoped to score some Amish pies or other baked goods.  Not so much, but they did have a great selection of salsas, jellies, jams, spices, candies, cheese, pickles, jerky, batter, you name it and they have it!  I found some pickled hot beets and could not resist.  Doreen bought some cilantro that will surely find it's way into some of her Warren Country Fair Blue Ribbon-winning salsa!.

 Back to the campground to vacuum, Swiffer the floors, and then watch the Chicago Cubs beat the St Louis Cardinals.  Pizza in the Dutch Oven again tonight but no pictures this time.  Came out great but was a little different using lump "Cowboy" charcoal.  I think it burns a little hotter so may need to adjust the coals next time around.

Tomorrow we are headed down to Salt Lake City to tour the Temple Square which includes the Mormon Tabernacle and area surrounding it.  Monday we plan to visit Ogden's historic Union Station which includes the Browning Firearms Museum, the Utah State Railroad Museum, a Classic Car Museum and Utah State Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  There are also many shops and stores at Union Station.

2 June - The Great Salt Lake and Hill Air Force Base

2 June
Woke up this morning to no network.  There is a small power supply that converts the 12 volt DC vehicle power to 24 volts DC for the WiFiRanger.  My Fluke digital volt meter verified that it was kaput.  Called the company in Idaho when they opened at 9:00 am and apparently they received a "bad batch" about the time I bought my WiFi Ranger box.  Lucky me.  Under warranty, though, so having one shipped to Doreen's cousin in Park City UT.  We had planned to try to get together with her before we left and it looks like USPS Priority mail will make that happen.  Wouldn't life be boring if nothing ever failed...

So then more phone calls on the leaf spring wet bolt failure discovered and my temporarily repaired yesterday.  I was pleased with my temporary repairs but that is just what it was - temporary.  The leaf spring shackle bracket was obviously bent and my 4 lb sledge was not going to straighten it.  The icing on the cake, though, was the bushing.  I knew that a 7000 lb axle needed more than a nylon bushing in the leaf spring shackle, but that is all they had.  I called Dexter Axle again this morning and yep as I suspected, a bronze bushing was needed.  They provided the part number and the dealers in the Ogden UT area, so I started calling.  I ended up talking to TJ Trailers, the same company I bought the wet bolts from yesterday.  I got a hold of the service manager and he verify what I knew - the bracket was bent and they would need to heat it to straighten it.  When they heat it that will weaken it so it will need to be reinforced (welded).  Beyond my capabilities here in the campground, unfortunately.  But I realized that before I called them.  My "Bandaid" fix might have lasted a while, but we have thousands of miles to go and I cannot afford to break down out on the road somewhere. My fix will allow us to get to the shop for permanent repairs.   So, lets get this thing into the shop and fix it right, and oh by they way, lets go ahead and change out the other leaf spring bolts and bushings while we are doing it.  The bolts are about $2 each and the bushings are about $1 each.  No brainer.  Their distributor can have the parts here from Fresno CA by Tuesday and we have an appointment for 0800 hrs Wednesday morning in the shop.  They SHOULD be able to finish the repairs in one day and we can stay on schedule for our next stop.  We talked it over and since we will have to break camp Wednesday morning and travel south to the trailer shop, neither of us saw any value in coming all the way back up to Willard bay for just one night, so when they are done with the repairs we are going to head west to out next destination and will be there two nights rather than one.  May be a long day but that's the way it goes when you own an RV LOL!!

Time for the ceremonial placement of the state sticker on the "Greg and Debey Schwab" map.  Doreen had the honors today.

Ok, phone calls made, parts ordered, all is well so lets bug outta here are see the area.  We packed the bags for Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake!

Entrance to the Island

The Great Salt Lake is  largest natural body of water west of the Mississippi River.  It is the remnant of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville that covered more than 20,000 square miles during the Ice Ages.  The lake today averages 75 miles long X 28 miles wide covering 1700 square miles.  The size varies seasonally with evaporation and precipitation.  The water is too salty to support fish, but brine shrimp, flys and algae thrive in the lake as a primary food source for migrating birds.

The road to Antelope Island crosses a long stretch of marshland.  It had obviously been wet at one time but now is dry salt flats

There are apparently many herds of buffalo on the island but we never saw any.

One of the main beaches on Antelope Island.  It is a very long walk from the parking lot to the water, and then it is a very long walk to water that is more than ankle high.

Doreen enjoying the very soft water!  We both did the "float" but did not take a camera all the way out there.

Miles and miles and miles of beach.  Was a very long walk to get to water deep enough to do the traditional "float" in the salt water.

 

Pinkish rock in the salt water

Beautiful day at the beach!

Snow-capped mountains reflecting in the Great Salt Lake

Scenic shot with the reflecting of the distant mountains

After experiencing the Great Salt Lake we headed a short distance to Hill Air Force Base and visited the commissary and the BX.  I also washed the truck before heading back to the campground.

This evening we walked around the campground and checked out all the RV's that had migrated in for the weekend.  You see it all, that's for sure.  Here is my favorite!!  An obviously over-motivated volunteer firefighter/EMT!

Mounted a light bar on his RV!!  Waiting for the sun to go down to see if he fires that baby up!!

No firm plans for tomorrow.  There is an Amish store not far from here we plan to visit.  We will clean up the RV a bit, especially the floors including vacuuming to remove the sand/gravel.  Weather is forecast in the mid-90's.  We will surely barbecue and enjoy the great weather, and maybe hot the beach nearby.

1 June - Maintenance Day - It Aint Supposed to Look Like THAT!

1 June
To day is maintenance day.  A day off from sight seeing and from visitors.  A day to get caught up on things around the campsite.  Usually a fairly relaxing day... HA!  Well it started off good.  I made omelets outside and then started a few projects.

Omelets on the griddle

We have to stay on top of keeping the front cap of the RV clean as well as the front of the truck.  They both take the brunt of the wind and bugs and if you don't scrub them off regularly they will screw up the paint and then you cannot get them off.

So I lowered the tail gate and backed the truck up to the front cap.  It is easier working off the tail gate to reach the front cap to clean it.  I scrubbed it up good and then cleaned the front of the truck. OK, so far so good.

The RV has two on-board 30 gal propane tanks configured with a fail-over regulator.  If one of the tanks becomes empty the regulator will auto-magically switch over to the other tank and give you a visual warning it has done so.   Propane is used for the refrigerator when AC power is unavailable.  It can also be used for the water heater, again, when AC power is not available.  Propane is also used for the stove and oven, the furnace, and there is a propane quick-disconnect line running all the way to the back of the RV for a gas grille.  It is way in the back and I have thought about moving it forward so that it is more accessible for our grille.  Moving the line is not a huge project, and something was telling me to knock it out today.  Premonition?

So I started in moving the line.  I disconnected the clamps that hold the line under the RV, and proceeded to move it forward.  All of this was happening under the RV.  While I was under there I glanced up and noticed the right rear "wet bolt" was totally missing from the leaf spring!!  Holy cow, how did that happen?

The left side.  This is how it is supposed to look.  a "wet bolt" passes through the leaf spring shackle.  It is called a wet bolt since it has a grease jerk on it and it is hollow.  Grease is pumped in the zerk, passes through the center of the bolt, and lubricates the assembly.

This is how my right rear spring looked!  The bolt was gone, completely!

This is what the wet bolt looks like

So, no idea why or when we lost the wet bolt, but awfully glad we caught it today.  I assume it sheared after hitting a bump and then it worked it's way out.  Had I not tackled the project of moving the gas line I would not have seen it.  I contacted the manufacturer and they emailed the specs on the wet bolt.  I made a few phone calls and found some about 20 miles south of our campground.  We got the bolts (I bought an extra) and got it installed.  I am not totally satisfied with the repairs because I am not convinced they provided the correct bushing, so will make a few phone calls tomorrow.

Also tomorrow we plan to visit the Great Salt Lake.  I hear the buoyancy is incredible!!