A Day in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City is a beautiful and gracious city. The weather was perfect all day long as well.

We ventured into downtown today by taking the ForeRunner (Salt Lake City’s light rail system) from Woods Crossing, a suburb immediately north of town. Prior to going downtown, however, we made the first of two trips to BMW Motorcycles of Salt Lake. We had high hopes of repairing Dad’s damaged left saddlebag.

Jordan, the helpful shuttle driver from our Best Western Cottontree Inn, took us over to the BMW shop just after they opened. Once there, the service people seemed stumped by our broken latch (the malfunction is the latch that locks the bag to the frame of the bike). At first, they said it could not be repaired without buying a whole new bag (very costly). Plus, they would have to order the part, and we would not be in town long enough for that. Finally, the service manager remembered that he had another similar bag in the back that was going to be returned to BMW for other reasons. He pulled the part we needed out of that bag. That made us very happy. We left BMW thinking our repair would be imminent.

Since Jordan had dropped us off at BMW, we had to beg for a ride from one of the BMW employees to the ForeRunner station a few miles away. Brandon, a young shipping and receiving clerk, offered us a ride in his classic, 1978 Buick LeSabre (see Brandon’s ride in the album). He was a nice kid (a recent high school graduate), who will be moving to South Dakota with his family in two weeks. Brandon was proud of his car, as he’d bought it from a “little old lady” for $300.

The train ride was pleasant, especially knowing that we weren’t going to have to move the bikes today. It was a true rest day. After getting off at the Central Station in Salt Lake City, it took us a few minutes to get acclimated to our map, but soon we began to walk into the main area. We first came to a hip, downtown shopping center called The Gateway. Tons of upscale shops (see if you can spot my favorite store in the photos), and the courtyard contained a nice shooting fountain in which many children were playing.

We found our way to South Temple Street and started walking east. We passed an historical building called the Devereaux House, which was Salt Lake’s earliest and most elegant mansion, dating to 1855. We also passed a television station and an artistic rock with engraved crystal spikes. Everything in the immediate downtown vicinity was in pristine condition – no dirt, trash, or any other debris. It looked like the Winter Olympics were coming up in a few weeks instead of being six years in the past (2002).

We visited Temple Square, which is the national headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. It was certainly an impressive block of buildings. Dad especially wanted to see the Mormon Tabernacle, which we were able to enter and view. Also, the Salt Lake Temple towered over just about everything around, except for the massive, white office building for the church headquarters (it seemed to be about 30 floors). As a former religion major, Dad was very interested in church history. We both learned quite a bit.

We took the ForeRunner back to Woods Crossing, where our driver Jordan picked us up again. He dropped us back at BMW of Salt Lake City to pick up Dad’s saddlebag. However, the bag was not ready. After spending the day thinking it would be repaired, we found out that the latch mechanism part was specific to a left or right saddlebag. Dad’s bag was the left one; the extra part salvaged by the service manager was the right one. So, Dad’s bag is still not fixed. We have the correct part number, though, and will be placing an order tomorrow at the BMW of Loveland (Colorado). The part will be installed in one week when we pass through there.

Finally, the most exciting part of the day was a chance meeting with another motorcyclist, and adventurer named Eric Cleaveland, during our second trip to the BMW shop. If you think our trip is special, then Eric’s must be called spectacular. He is about 13,000 miles into an 18,000-mile trip that will take him from the bottom tip of South America, through Central American and Mexico, up through North America to the top of Alaska. (Check out his blog at www.MotoAmericas.com.) Eric rides a BMW R1200 GS, which is the most popular adventure motorcycle in the world. Unfortunately, Eric’s bike was leaking oil, so he had to pause his trip to get this fixed. When he inquired at the BMW shop about a hotel, they recommended the Best Western Cottontree Inn. Lucky for him, Dad and I had just called Jordan to retrieve us. So, we all rode together, and later we had dinner together (we happened to meet up at the Chinese buffet next door to the hotel). Eric is a professional photographer as well, and he expects to complete his trip in late June. It looks like I’ll have a blog of someone else’s to follow for a change!

Tomorrow we head north to Jackson, Wyoming, with part of our route in Idaho. First glance at the weather for the next couple of days looks iffy, but we’re hoping for better luck than at Yosemite.

0 miles today. 4,395.8 total miles.