trip

PROMONTORY SUMMIT, Utah--On May 10, 1869, the extraordinary happened here.

After crews from the Central Pacific Railroad had started in Sacramento, Calif., and laid 690 miles of track to the east, and teams from the Union Pacific Railroad had put down 1,086 miles of track to the west of Omaha, Neb., they met on that spring day at this spot just north of the Great Salt Lake.

They completed the Transcontinental Railroad.

For the first time, trains could traverse most of the United States. The huge event was celebrated on that day when the Central Pacific's Jupiter and … Read more

TERRA, Utah--It seems like Road Trip 2009 has still just started, but the odometer hit 2,000 miles as I was driving through this tiny hamlet.

Terra is near the entrance to the Dugway Proving Grounds, where I was on my way to visit the Air Force's 388th Range Squadron and its Utah Test & Training Center--the largest bombing range in the country,

Since I hit 1,000 miles just a few days ago, I've done quite a few things and, obviously, covered a lot of ground in the Audi Q7 TDI clean diesel SUV I'm road-testing. … Read more

ROZEL POINT, Utah--"The highest tech thing I've ever seen work out here is acar and a camera," Hikmet Loe says to me as we sit, eating cheese and crackers and apples in the middle of nowhere, just feet away from the wonderful earthwork, Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty.

The project was built here, on the edge of the Great Salt Lake, about two and a half hours from Salt Lake City, in April 1970, just as the first Earth Day happened and kicked off a (slow-moving) worldwide movement.

An earthwork, for those not familiar with … Read more

DUGWAY, Utah--In a world where American soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq might find themselves under attack from chemical or biological weapons, who's looking out for their safety?

The answer lies deep in the western Utah desert, at a U.S. Army facility called the Dugway Proving Ground where, among other things, groups of scientists are researching how to defend against a wide variety of potentially lethal, or at least dangerous, "agents."

"Dugway's primary mission is testing United States and Allied chemical and biological (CB) defense systems and also performing nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) contamination … Read more

TOOELE, Utah--The first time I tried to physically turn the page of the book I was reading on my Kindle DX, I realized the mistake and chuckled at myself.

The second time I did it, I chuckled, too. But a little bit less.

And the third time? I thought to myself that perhaps I have a problem.

Exhausted after 12 nonstop days of Road Trip 2009, I decided Wednesday evening to lie low and read a book. But rather than pull out one of the three or four actual paper books I'd brought with me, I thought I'd … Read more

MOAB, Utah--Two years ago, as I made my way through the Southwest on Road Trip 2007, I traveled through Bryce and Zion National Parks in Utah, as well as the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Grand Canyon West, and Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. At the time, I thought that collection of otherworldly rock formations was the most incredible I'd ever see.

But now, a week-and-a-half into Road Trip 2009, which is taking me on a route to the north of where I was two years ago, I'm not sure. I spent the last two days … Read more

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.--It still feels like Road Trip 2009 has just started, but I've already hit 1,000 miles. Unlike Road Trip 2008, where I hit the 1,000-mile milestone while driving along a nondescript section of forested, deep South highway, this time the odometer turned over to four figures while I was rolling slowly in the Audi Q7 TDI "clean diesel" SUV I'm road-testing down a picturesque lane full of high-priced houses with fantastic views of the Rocky Mountains.

I like to use each of the thousand-mile points along the way as an excuse … Read more

ASPEN, Colo.--One thing I love is finding uses for things that perhaps no one has thought of before.

I'd already been on Road Trip 2009 for several days when I arrived in this tony Colorado mountain town known best as a playground for the rich and famous. I was hoping to go for a walk and find something good to eat.

It had been a long day of driving, starting in Colorado Springs, and traveling over Independence Pass, a 12,095 "Top of the Rockies" spot just on the Continental Divide. I had planned to stroll … Read more

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--It's one thing for a track runner to bolt when the gun fires. Imagine how hard it is to jump up from a crouch and race up six flights of stairs while dressed in full firefighting gear and lugging a 42-pound pack of hose.

That's just the very first task in what is known as the Firefighter Combat Challenge (see video below), a nationwide competition involving a series of intense tasks that simulate what fighters deal with on a daily basis.

The tour, which appears in cities throughout the country, pulled through Colorado Springs on … Read more