Oshkosh or Bust 2021 July 20 Day 2 Ogden, UT

Oshkosh or Bust – July 20, 2021 Day 2
Well the second day of the road trip started pretty early as I was wide awake at around 0430am and just couldn’t sleep anymore. So rather stay in bed, I decided to pull myself together and go explore the city of Ogden and the surrounding area. But first a little research and then hit the road.

After getting dressed, gathering up my camera gear and topping of the truck with fuel I proceeded to Downtown Ogden. The drive up to Interstate 15 was uneventful and the path that I had to take took me through some construction on the city streets, but I eventually made to the downtown area and found myself on the historical 25th Street which has all sorts of shops/ restaurants/ bars etc.. But then I found myself look straight at Union Station (A Train Station BTW, the name seems to be utilized in every single town that you come across)
I drove around for a few minutes before settling down to get a few nighttime pictures of the train station. I think the pictures came out pretty good, especially once I did the edit on it.

Once I was done there I decided I wanted to try and get some pictures of the sunrise in the morning and try to get some reflection pictures at one of the local lakes. So I proceeded up the street and eventually came upon Route 39 and turned right and headed up into the local mountains and eventually to the town of Huntsville, Utah.

The drive up Route 39 was pretty uneventful (it was still dark out duh!) and once I made into Huntsville, I headed for their local Marina and the lake. Yeah that was a total bust. With the Western Drought in full action, the lake was pretty empty and the water so far receded that it would be next to impossible to get the picture that I wanted. At least at this particular location.
So back on the road again to explore the local area around Huntsville. I did see a few really interesting barns off the side of the road, and decided I would at least try to get a picture of them if I could once the sun broke over the mountains and the clouds.

On the way into Huntsville I had passed a sign that talked about Ski Resorts and decided to give that a shot, especially since I knew that it would put me up in the mountains above the Huntsville Area and give me a better view of the valley and such.

I drove up Route 167 and then came upon the Snow Basin Road, and made the right hand turn that took me up towards one of the local ski resorts and a pretty awesome view of the area in general. I ended up at a trail head called the “Green Pond” and stopped to take some pictures there. Then it was to time to explore a little bit more.

I eventually ended up at the far end of Route 167 in the town of Mountain Green, I looked over into a field and saw some horses and decided to stop and get a few pictures. So I pulled into the local Church parking lot and proceeded to get my pictures. The horses for the record were not all that helpful with staying put while I tried to take their picture, at least their better than dealing with kids (LOL).

Once done with that I went back out and back up Route 167 and headed back towards Huntsville and decided to go explore further down Route 39.
I had time to kill at this point as I was supposed to meet up with a Brother Marine at the Salt Lake City Airport later in the afternoon and really didn’t want to spend the day sitting around the camper.

Once back in Huntsville I stopped off to the side of the road to snap a picture of one of the barns, it caught my attention especially since it was painted with the American Flag and the sunlight was hitting just right and then there three really beautiful horses. So I got my pictures and then back into the truck I went and headed out towards the East Bound Section of Route 39.

Once on Route 39 it will eventually take you to the town of Woodruff, yeah I wasn’t going that far at least not today. But the drive was really pretty. There were a lot of homes and a ton of different camp grounds available for you stay at, some are completely off the grid, while others provided you with hook-ups and such.

Then I saw it, the South Fork Ogden River on the right side of the road, and then I spotted this rock cropping and thought “PHOTO OP”. So I found a safe place to pull off the road and hiked down to the river edge and snapped some pictures.

After this little stop, I proceeded down the road and saw a sign that said something about a Dam and a Lake, so I turned right off of Route 39 and went past the “The Red Rock Grill” and bounced down the road until I came upon a place called “Memorial Park Camp Ground”.

I went ahead and proceeded into the Camp Ground to check it out, just for a few minutes anyway, and crossed over this bridge that had the river running underneath it. I though this would be another great “Photo Op” and found a placed to park and then proceeded to walk down to the river and wade into the water. I decided to throw caution to the wind and as a fellow photographer has said “Anything for the Picture” (Curtis Noble), so in I went and of course my shoes were soon soaked, but the water felt oh so good.

I tried to set up my first picture, but the sun was come straight at me and it would just destroy the image with sunspots and sun flairs. Yeah not good. I then proceeded to walk up stream with my camera to find a better spot and after a few minutes I found one, right in the middle of the river and took my pictures. With the pictures out of the way, it was now time to walk my happy butt to the bank of the river and get out of the water, what was a little easier and once out of the water thought, well I have to now buy myself a new pair of shoes! Yeah I didn’t bring a back up pair.

Once back out at the truck I proceeded out of the Camp Ground and decided to head down the road towards the Causey Reservoir and check that out. The trip to the reservoir was pretty quick from the camp ground, but I instead of going over the top of the dam, I went down the road further and eventually came upon the end of it and a local Boy Scout Camp. All the while, as I drove down this road I noticed how low the water level really was and just was in shock.

I parked my truck in a little parking area and went took some of the reflection pictures that I was hoping to get of a little pond area within the Boy Scout Camp Area. The pictures I took with my camera and my phone came out really nice and it almost seemed like they could have come out of Europe.

With that part of the exploring done, I proceeded back to the Causey Reservoir Dam area and crossed the over the top of the Dam and took a few more pictures of the area and was still in complete shock at the low level of the water. At this point it was time start heading back towards Ogden, get a new pair of shoes and see how my pictures turned out and then get ready to see my Marine Brother.

On the drive back towards Hill AFB, I spoke to my wife via Facebook Messenger about my morning and needing to get a new pair of shoes cause mine were waterlogged. She told me to get something decent. But it was during this conversation that my wife also told me that she had forgotten her iPhone and Apple Watch at home, so communication with was going to be minimal at least for the day.

I found a “Big 5” sports store and procured myself a nice pair of “Hi-Tech” shoes and headed back to Hill AFB to chill out and get cleaned up.

At around 1315 I headed for the Salt Lake City Airport and the General Aviation Area to meet up with my Marine Brother (David Story) and to hang out for the afternoon. Once at the “AirTac” Terminal I found David and he showed me the work being done to his plane in the hanger, it was impressive as he was installing an all Glass cockpit on the pilots side of the plane (All Glass for non-aviation folks means that they were installing computer generated instruments for flying, this is very common now days), while the co-pilot still had the standard panel.
After a bit of this we headed up to Ogden Airport where David and his son Francisco showed me around their hangers and where their YouTube show “Pilot Traders” is shot. If you get the chance to check out their show “Pilot Traders” please do, it’s very well done and you can just see how much David and his son love to fly their planes and take people on their adventures.
During this whole time, we talked about airplanes, our time in the Marine Corps and our families, we eventually ended up in downtown Salt Lake City to get a beer and some bar food, before heading up to his home to have a meal with his family.

Eventually the evening had to come to an end, and David along with his wife, drove me back to the Salt Lake City Airport in their convertible Mustang so I could get my truck and proceed back to Hill AFB and eventually getting ready to head out in the morning.

Well that for the most part wraps up Day 2 of the Oshkosh of Bust 2021 Road Trip. Time to get this posted and get back on the road.

Next stop is the town of Shoshoni, Wyoming.

Until next time (yeah later tonight maybe!) Be safe people.

Semper Fi,
Frank
1/9 Everywhere.