Salt Up date

[beerbellykelly]

i,ll be getting on the plane on thursday,got fingers  crossed for good salt-

[Todd553]

Getting ready to leave this week end. Any current updates would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Todd

[Bjohnny]

Getting ready to leave this week end. Any current updates would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Todd

[hotrod]

Current weather forecast is looking great with temps the rest of the week in the high 90's (F) and little or small chance of thunderstorms <20%

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?map.x=83&map.y=128&minlon=-115.5&maxlon=-108.5&minlat=36.96&maxlat=42.68&mapwidth=354&site=slc&zmx=1&zmy=1

Larry

[Buickguy3]

    That's >80% chance of "NO" rain. I like that.
  Doug 

[Glen]

There is a update today on the SCTA web site.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Nancy and I are at mile marker 73 on I-80 westbound for Wendover.  Our firsts stop will be on the salt, and I'll do the usual -- take a photo or two of the salt accumulation on the wheelwell/tires of this truck.  That'll help you know how the salt is.  I've heard only good things -- but as you and we know, seeing it is even better.  Glad that SCTA has word on their site -- I haven't looked at it yet.

See you pretty soon, on the salt.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Here 'tis -- your first-hand report on what we discovered.  The salt looks good and fast.  It's hard and dry right off Land's End, gets a tad moist about a mile or so in towards the pits and stays kinda moist for at least a mile and then starts going back to dry.  In the pits and registration and inspection and impound and the ERC fuel truck it's hard and dry.

There are more and bigger crunchies than we've seen in the past few years, but they're dragging out pretty well.  The access road is as usual the bumpiest - and it's not bad.  The crews were dragging while we were there, making the return road and the courses.  The pits have been dragged (note I don't use the word "drug" to specify the state of having been dragged) and are pretty nice.

The start line for the long course is closer to Land's End than last year - maybe a mile, maybe not even that far.  We didn't go exploring over to the start of courses #3 and #4, but I assume they're around and beyond the big dike that parallels the first two courses.

Pits are long, as usual, and have three entrances plus the open end near registration - again, as usual.

In other words, there's not much change since last time.  And - the salt is GREAT!  We're going to have a safe, fun, and FAST meet.  See you on the salt - soon.

Oh, yeah - these were shot after we drove into the pit area from Land's End.  Make your own judgements.





There's a shot of the muddy stuff, just west of Land's End - to show you where to look for tourists stuck later on during the event. 



And there's even a happy-happy (we hope) sign made of little hunks of blacktop scraps on the salt.  We've all seen these things along the interstate - but this is the first time in a long while that we've seen one right out on the salt.  It's on the road to the line from the pits.

[Glen]

Jon, thanks. See you tomorrow.

[wheelrdealer]

Jon and Nancy:

Thanks. Looks good, see you Friday.

Bill

[Nortonist 592]

Jon.  Nothing to do with the state of the salt but thank you for using the word dragged instead of drug.  I've often wondered how that word became mainstream.   Its like a small stone in your shoe.

[Moxnix]

Long time ago I dragged on some whacky tabacky, becoming drugged. 

And, thanks for the report.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Other minor things about the conditions:

Gasoline costs in the mid-$3.40/gallon here, and diesel is in the mid- to upper- $3.80 range.  We filled in SLC (well, Sandy, a little south of downtown) today for $3.569/gallon of diesel.  Unh, let's see -- thirty cents per gallon.  Now you know what to expect when you get here and need to fill your tank.

Other:  Bring a fly swatter or two.  It seems like this is turning into a fly-laden year.  We had/have pests in the motel, and in the restaurant, and on the salt.  Bring a fly swatter.  I don't think they're as bad as at the '09 Shootout, though, when they were thick and liked biting people - just for spite.  That time we had to use flypaper strips.

Here's a trivial question.  How long has this truck been parked on the corner next to Fred's Family Supermarket in Wendover, Utah?  It's across the side street from the Montego parking lot.  We think it's been there for four years -- but it might be longer.  Note also the condition of the tires - melted darn near into the pavement.

[Don Martin]

We worked on Scaaty tonight. The car won't make it but we will. Leaving Friday morning. Having a hard time sleeping. Really looking forward to our first trip to the salt. This will be a fact finding mission for a new team. We are full of questions and don't want to get in the way. See you on the salt. It's all fun. Don 

[coloradodave]

Thanks Slim, see you on Thursday