A Worrisome Day on the Mud Baths of the Salt Flats or The Rain is not in Spain but on the Flats

Left Salt Lake City after a quick breakfast with Matt, Isaac and Rachel.  Sad to go, but we'll see them again on our way back. We vigorously began our journey, making jokes about our little yellow car.   Got on I-80, and I took pictures of the Great Salt Lake.  It is not great, though it is salty, and it was particularly ugly in today's weather, overcast skies and light rain.  (at that point)

We soon hit heavier rain, and some flooding, as it's so flat around there.   Our little car began hydroplaning, and it was mighty worrisome.  We never skidded, but we were very tense.  I actually was a nervous wreck, and I'm usually a pretty good passenger.    Dan held the road well, as well as his nerves, and I began calling Enterprise to see if we could get another car.
Well.  Yes, of course we could, but where?   So between Salt Lake City and Wendover, Nev. is .................nothing.   And I mean nothing!  Oh yes, there are the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Am enclosing some pictures of that whole area.  Have done this before on other blogs, but it's never been in the rain before.  It sorta looks like quicksand, but it was just mud!  Anyway, there is NOTHING for about 80 miles.  It was a tense drive, though the rain did abate, and the water on the road dried up some.   Still, we began to hate this car.   It was so noisy we couldn't listen to a book, and passing trucks was a challenge.
We finally got to Elko Nevada, which is actually a pretty cool little Western town that we generally stop in. It is now a boom town because of gold mining. There used to be my favorite breakfast place here, The Koffee Kup, but it's now been replaced by a Denny's.  Anyway, they actually have an airport there and an Enterprise office, which was open til 2, and we thankfully made it there.
We traded in the car for the one in the picture.  This is a Hyundai Accent, and is like a limosine compared to the Spark.


We ate lunch and then headed out, much relieved.  On the way, Jason called to tell us it's raining like crazy in the Bay area, flooding actually, and that I 80 West of Tahoe is closed due to heavy snow conditions.   We aren't going that far today, but still, it was worrisome.   We checked the weather and found that yes, there are SEVERE weather warnings around the infamous Donner Pass, a place where we've been snowed in before.  And you've all heard of that place, I'm sure.    There are snow storm warnings as well as avalanche warnings.  And if that isn't enough, there are flood warnings in Solano County, which is on the way to Sonoma.
O.K., well, what can we do.   We stopped in Reno, where we are as I write this, and Dan is downstairs in the Casino while I watch the Olympics.   We'll see what tomorrow brings with weather.

  Here is the nice thing though---we checked the price of rooms in Reno on Booking.Com, as there are generally bargains here.   We found a great one--we're in the Concierge Level at the Grande Sierra, with breakfast included for $42 a night!   http://www.grandsierraresort.com/hotel

And the irony of it all is, we love Traverse City very much, find it hard to leave there, but for the weather this winter!!!!