Ely Nevada to Grand Junction Colorada 20/8

Yestterday was a loonnggg day. We drove 700 kms.. We were on the road by 8am and the first part of the drive was over similar countryside as you  might expect. Alternating granite  mountain chains with wide basins. As  we crossed the border into Utah there was very little irrigation and more rough grazing. Bob had read that there was a salt problem in these Basins if there was no natural water course draining them. Shortly after that we came upon Lake Sevier, a huge Salt Lake. We realised that we weren't that far south of Salt Lake City which was named for obvious reasons. As we drove further into Utah the terrain changed to more sedimentary rock ,sculpted plateaus. The colours were varied and constantly changing. We didn't have time to constantly stop so I have quite a few photos taken from the car. They have turned out quite well proving that my decision to be modern and not carry my camera as well as my tablet was justified. We did stop at two overlooks which had views of canyons. At the first one Bob read the plaque and found this was the first site where Joseph Smith's successor  had lead his faithful followers into the wilderness. Some of them did survive but barely. It seems incredible that anyone except the Navaho could survive here. Local Indians were selling pottery, (which I could resist) and at the second overlook jewellery. This I struggled with as I would have loved to buy but resolutely got back in the car because we still had a way to go. As we drove along the highway we were passing through thundery showers which temporarily  cooled the temperature so that it varied from low 80's to 100 F . Suddenly as we approached a rain shower there was a flash of forked lightening slant wise across the highway close in front of us. Shortly after we were amazed to see a small pine had burst into flame and was burning merrily all by its self. Was it a sign?
We finally arrived at our very comfortable motel and we are very relieved that we won't have any more long stints like that. This Quality Motel is of very high quality especially after the previous night at the White Pine. I forgot to mention that there was a Country Fair and Horse Show on in Ely on Saturday so there was a constant cycle of desperate people through the car park because the No didn't work on the Vacancy sign. We were lucky to have booked even that "last chance" accommodation.