Promontory Point

When Don first asked me if I wanted to visit Promontory Point, I wasn't too excited.  I said it would be all right, but we could skip it.  That was before I read Nothing Like It In the World by Stephen Ambrose.  The story of the transcontinental railroad and its effect on our nation is nothing short of miraculous and well worth the read.

With that in mind, we headed the 32 miles to the Point.  It was an unspectacular setting, and there was not a whole lot to see there, though our timing was perfect to see both the Jupiter and the 119 locomotives come out onto the tracks.

We thought the golden spike was there, but it is at Stanford; the silver spikes are not there either.  But that was ok.  It was all about being there.

Afterward, Katie and Chris, who joined us last night in Brigham City, left for McCall, while we took the Big Fill hike.  The 1 1/4 mile hike along the rail beds of both the United Pacific and the Central Pacific took us to the place where the workers filled a huge ravine for one line, while the other line built the big Trestle.  Crazy.  They could not decide where to meet, so they went by each other, missing by about 30 feet.  What a waste of time and work!  But they finally figured it out and met at Promontory Point.

The hike was out in the middle of nowhere.  It was hot, hot, hot.  We commented about how hard it must have been to work on the railroad on days like this, or hotter.  Water was not in abundance, and you know those men did not wear deodorant.  Yech!  But they certainly did know how to work and work hard.  We wondered what the National Historic Park people were thinking when we saw this picnic table here.  Not exactly the most pleasant place to eat lunch  . . . no shade, 100+ degrees . . . maybe they wanted picnickers to know what it was like to work on the railroad.

After we left the site, we headed to Boise.  We drove by the Thiokol plant that makes rocket boosters.  About 5 miles from the Big Fill site, we saw a sign for a rocket display.  Darned if we didn't see a large solid rocket booster.  What a paradox:  within five miles, important spots for two completely different kinds of transportation that totally changed the course of history in the US.

The trip to Boise was uneventful . . . until the Willie started making funny noises.  Rumble, rumble, rumble.  We are just hoping it was the heat and nothing serious!