Touring Salt Lake City, driving home

September 4, 2013

My motel sucked. Somebody upstairs paced across the room all night long. And then loud door knocking and shouting for a couple minutes at 3:30 AM.

I left the motel on a bright sunny morning and pedaled 2 miles to Temple Square to get a self-portrait in front of the temple in morning sun. Unfortunately the Joseph Smith Memorial Building was already starting to cast a shadow on the front of the temple. An hour earlier would have been better.

Mormon Temple, photo taken the previous day.

Self-portrait in front of the Salt Lake City Mormon temple.

I spent a few minutes wandering around the beautifully landscaped Temple Square. It's private property owned by the church. Mostly I just pondered that this is finally the end of the exhausting tour.

Top of the temple. The statue on top is the angel Moroni, facing east.

Joseph Smith memorial building. Former headquarters of the Mormon church.

Present headquarters of the Mormon church.The architecture screams *26 floors of secrecy-obsessed bureaucracy*.For some reason the statue doesn't show 39 of Joseph Smith's wives.

Council Hall was the city hall from 1866-1894.

Utah State capitol. Utah became the 45th U.S. state in 1896.

Many of today's pictures were taken yesterday. After leaving Temple Square I went across downtown to the Avis car rental desk at the Hilton hotel. I got the rental car (small SUV) at about 10 AM and loaded the bike. The bike tour ended unceremoniously in an underground parking garage.

The bike tour ended in the underground parking garage at the Salt Lake City Hilton.

I made really good time driving north to Idaho, then west on I-84 across southern Idaho. In Ontario, Oregon I turned west onto US 20. After another 100 miles I got a room at America's Best Inn in the desert town of Burns. I arrived at 6:40 PM after gaining an hour when crossing from Mountain time zone to Pacific time zone. More than halfway home.

On September 5 I continued west on OR 126 to Eugene, Oregon to drop off the rental car. In the afternoon I took short stop at Koosah Falls to get a time exposure photo. Then a few minutes later I stopped to have a soak at Deer Creek warm spring. After spending a long time in the desert I could really appreciate the forest and river.

The McKenzie river drops 70 feet (21m) at Koosah falls.

Deer Creek warm spring and the McKenzie river.

My wife picked me up at the car rental office near downtown Eugene and we drove home after a grocery stop at Trader Joe's. The End.

Today's ride: 3 miles (5 km)
Total: 1,731 miles (2,786 km)

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