Pre-National G8 Meet: Day 2

Welcome to Utah! I spent several months this year working in this area (one of the reasons I have so many free hotels), so figured it would be fitting to stop-by on my way through.

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I left my hotel a little earlier than expected (for some reason I woke-up early, I guess it’s all the anticipation). The drive on I-80 through Eastern Nevada was enjoyable, but nothing too exciting. However, on my way I came across a couple cars I had seen at a rest stop yesterday. What stood-out were the large CB antennas mounted on the backs of the sports cars. I figure the group is going someplace fun, as there were several Corvettes (including a Le Mans C6.R tribute car), 350z, GT-R, etc.!

The caravan eventually pulled-off at a rest stop, so I wasn’t able to determine who they were or where they were going. Since most people had California license plates, I can only figure they were going my way… maybe to Miller Motorsports Park in Utah?

As I entered Utah I noticed some road signs and had to pull-off to take a photo!

Earlier in the year I was in Tooele, UT and contemplated making the drive to Bonneville for Speed Weeks, but it just didn’t workout. While I didn’t go drive on the salt, it was really cool visiting the place where land speed records are broken!

I had originally planned on making a detour to drive the roads that I took to/from work every day when I was working in Utah. After considering it a little more, I realized that driving almost 2hrs out of the way (into the middle of the desert on “Skull Valley Rd” none the less) for a 10min section of twisty roads is crazy… even for me!

Earlier this year I took a Road Trip in a rental V6 Mustang. One of the roads I drove was Utah-65. I was so impressed by it after the first time driving it that I went out of my way to drive it a second time!

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I knew I had to drive this road in the G8, and it was a good excuse to get off of I-80. I was a little leery driving this road on Labor Day weekend, since there is a reservoir at the end (with RVs, people towing boats, etc.). To my surprise I was able to make the entire run up the hill without any slow vehicles in my way! On my way down I only had one slowpoke, but I just stopped and gave myself some room to play.

The G8 did a great job on UT-65 road… with the only drama occurring when I was a little over zealous with my corner speed (the car wanted to push into the oncoming lane). The Bridgestone RE-11’s are working out nicely as well, and even “protesting” (aka. squealing) when they are being pushed (unlike my RE050a’s which almost never made noise until the car didn’t want to turn).

I was really surprised how much more invigorated I became after driving a few miles of twisty roads. I was originally scheduled to spend the night in Evanston, but when I arrived a little after 1pm I decided I could cover some more distance today. After a few phone calls I changed my reservation and headed East towards Rock Springs, WY.

The scenery in Wyoming is definitely different than it is in California. While things were still quite brown in spots, Wyoming has all sorts of awesome rock formations. The different valleys and rivers were very unique.

Today I covered over 400 miles across three states. With the extra 100 miles I drove today it will make tomorrow’s drive quite a bit more manageable.