We decided we didn’t have time to go to Aztec New Mexico so we headed out of Denver to Wendover via Wyoming rather than across the Utah desert. We were overtaken on the freeway by a Denver Motorcycle Gang called The Sons of Silence. Ironically they were all riding open pipe Harleys.
We spent our first night in the historic Wild West town of Laramie. Had a look around the town but much of the Wild West has gone and the buildings are just facades. Tombstone, Texas is the place to go if you want to see the wild west of yesteryear.
The weather was a little cooler when we left Laramie next morning and Marty had quite a strong head and sometimes cross wind to deal with. We played cat and mouse with a large truck for about 10 miles. We got him on the hills but he took us on the flats when we would get caught in his slipstream and make it difficult for him to get past. We were doing about 80mph so he wasn’t mucking around. Stopped for the night in Evanston. Our early morning departure was delayed a day when we opened the curtains and saw, rain, hail thunder and lightning and to top it all off it started to snow. Thankfully the sun was shining the next morning but it was quite a chilly ride to Salt
Lake City ( 32°F). Found the BMW shop and gave the bike an oil and filter change. While Marty was doing this a guy came and asked us if the bike was for sale. So we may have a buyer if we decide to sell at the end of the trip.
It is about 120 miles from Salt Lake City to Wendover and I think about 90 of that is dead straight. Our first sight of the Salt was quite something, we stopped at a rest area on the outskirts of Wendover for a closer inspection.
The first person we saw on arriving at our Motel was Marty Dickerson and his friend John Laughney who immediately offered us a drink. We then decided to go down to the local supermarket to get a few supplies so jumped on the bike and off we went. A mile or so up the road we hear the dreaded whirr and see flashing lights behind us. We pull over and a nice young patrolman approaches us. Did we know that we had run a stop sign? And did we know that we
were in Nevada and helmets are compulsory? We pleaded our innocence to both accounts and so after checking our papers were in order he let us go telling us to go back to our motel get our helmets and make him happy. We were more than willing to oblige. The town of Wendover lays half in Utah and half in Nevada. The state line is painted across the road right where the casinos start. We went to the Rainbow Casino for dinner. What a garish place. I’m definitely not a casino kid.
Our first day on the Salt was great. Lots of interesting bikes running. We found a couple of kiwis who were running a hotted up hyabusa. They had set a record in
their class but were looking to better it as they hadn’t had the bike running at full boost on the turbo.
We were of course interested in the happenings of the Vincent motorcycles. Terry Prince’s sidecar outfit from Australia made a great first run and was in isolation waiting for his return run when news got out that a streamliner had crashed and racing was finished for the day. Meant his run didn’t count and he would have to do it all again the next day.
Max Lamkey’s streamliner had engine problems and the first run wasn’t fast enough to earn a return run. Back to the repair tent for them.
Day two and for the Vincent camps it wasn’t much better than the day before. Terry’s bike blew the engine so he was out and the streamliner continued to give problems. It wouldn’t hold second gear and was still having problems with clutch slip.
The kiwi boys on the Hyabusa continued their good form and where all on a real high.
The bad news of the day was to hear that the driver of the streamliner that crashed had died.
Marty D didn’t get to ride as the bike never made it to the Salt. The owner had mechanical problems with it which were insurmountable. Disappointing as watching Marty was to be the highlight of the visit.
We decided to leave the next day and make our way down to Bryce and Zion National Parks about 400 miles south of Wendover. An uneventful trip on the interstate. 
We spent our first night in the historic Wild West town of Laramie. Had a look around the town but much of the Wild West has gone and the buildings are just facades. Tombstone, Texas is the place to go if you want to see the wild west of yesteryear.The weather was a little cooler when we left Laramie next morning and Marty had quite a strong head and sometimes cross wind to deal with. We played cat and mouse with a large truck for about 10 miles. We got him on the hills but he took us on the flats when we would get caught in his slipstream and make it difficult for him to get past. We were doing about 80mph so he wasn’t mucking around. Stopped for the night in Evanston. Our early morning departure was delayed a day when we opened the curtains and saw, rain, hail thunder and lightning and to top it all off it started to snow. Thankfully the sun was shining the next morning but it was quite a chilly ride to Salt
Lake City ( 32°F). Found the BMW shop and gave the bike an oil and filter change. While Marty was doing this a guy came and asked us if the bike was for sale. So we may have a buyer if we decide to sell at the end of the trip.
It is about 120 miles from Salt Lake City to Wendover and I think about 90 of that is dead straight. Our first sight of the Salt was quite something, we stopped at a rest area on the outskirts of Wendover for a closer inspection.The first person we saw on arriving at our Motel was Marty Dickerson and his friend John Laughney who immediately offered us a drink. We then decided to go down to the local supermarket to get a few supplies so jumped on the bike and off we went. A mile or so up the road we hear the dreaded whirr and see flashing lights behind us. We pull over and a nice young patrolman approaches us. Did we know that we had run a stop sign? And did we know that we
were in Nevada and helmets are compulsory? We pleaded our innocence to both accounts and so after checking our papers were in order he let us go telling us to go back to our motel get our helmets and make him happy. We were more than willing to oblige. The town of Wendover lays half in Utah and half in Nevada. The state line is painted across the road right where the casinos start. We went to the Rainbow Casino for dinner. What a garish place. I’m definitely not a casino kid.Our first day on the Salt was great. Lots of interesting bikes running. We found a couple of kiwis who were running a hotted up hyabusa. They had set a record in
their class but were looking to better it as they hadn’t had the bike running at full boost on the turbo.We were of course interested in the happenings of the Vincent motorcycles. Terry Prince’s sidecar outfit from Australia made a great first run and was in isolation waiting for his return run when news got out that a streamliner had crashed and racing was finished for the day. Meant his run didn’t count and he would have to do it all again the next day.
Max Lamkey’s streamliner had engine problems and the first run wasn’t fast enough to earn a return run. Back to the repair tent for them.Day two and for the Vincent camps it wasn’t much better than the day before. Terry’s bike blew the engine so he was out and the streamliner continued to give problems. It wouldn’t hold second gear and was still having problems with clutch slip.
The kiwi boys on the Hyabusa continued their good form and where all on a real high.
The bad news of the day was to hear that the driver of the streamliner that crashed had died.
Marty D didn’t get to ride as the bike never made it to the Salt. The owner had mechanical problems with it which were insurmountable. Disappointing as watching Marty was to be the highlight of the visit.
We decided to leave the next day and make our way down to Bryce and Zion National Parks about 400 miles south of Wendover. An uneventful trip on the interstate. 
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