As predicted, I was up early this morning. Quick bathroom and face wash and I was on the road, on the look out for a rest stop for breakfast. As I drove, I listened to the BBC news podcasts to find out what happened with the presidential election. I nearly drove off the road when I saw the headline “Victory for Donald Trump in US Presidential Election”. I held my hand to my mouth, which was gaping open. I don’t know what sound came out of my mouth, but there definitely was one. I was in shock. Luckily, the rest stop came soon after. I made breakfast (still with my mouth open) listening to the reactions on the podcast. I kept looking around for someone to share my incredulity with, but there was no one. How could this be?

I eventually carried on, I was driving north towards Utah Lake, then on to Salt Lake City. Funny, as I was driving, I kept looking at houses, cars, farms, and wondering how they could still function. Why wasn’t there chaos and confusion? It didn’t seem normal that the world should be operating normally after such an announcement.

Enough politics. The sun blazed, warming the car, as I drove, audiobooking again. It was so hazy that when I drove alongside Utah Lake, it looked white, instead of the blue I’m sure it is. After driving through fields and farmland, I came suddenly upon Saratoga Springs. This is what I like to call a people farm, but they’re more commonly known as housing developments. I felt like it was a front page cover for “The American Dream” magazine. I drove through some of the suburbian streets that all had querky names, with houses that all looked the same but were slightly different. While it was mostly full, there was still construction going on. What’s wrong about them is that there are no shops, no corner store, no services, just houses. Eek.

It got better the closer I got to Salt Lake. I stayed off the highways as long as I could, driving through real towns with houses of different heritage. I stopped off at a Walmart to get some essential hands-free shoes (sandals I can slip on and off without using my hands) for those urgent bathroom times and showers.

When I got into Salt Lake City, I parked a few blocks south of the city so I didn’t have to pay or have a time limit on my parking. I packed some lunch and decided to stowe my bike in the car since I’d be leaving it for the rest of the day, possibly until nightfall. Maybe over-cautious, but it only took five minutes to take the front wheel off and stash it in the car with the curtains closed. I even put my passports in my backpack. Not saying that Salt Lake is a dodgy place or anything, just for better peace of mind.

From my trusty Lonely Planet guide, I’d learnt that this city was founded by Mormons and so I was likely to have a religious experience here, which I’m glad I had warning of. On top of that, there are daily performances at noon in the Tabernacle, one of the buildings in the temple grounds, so I was aiming for there first. When I got close, I found a visitor’s center and just had time to duck in and get a map and some quick advice. Outside the centre they had some quirky pieces of art hanging off the street lights.

I entered the Tabernacle (which means “meeting place” I think) just before noon, as the organist was walking onto the stage. The organ at the head of this auditorium was astounding. I later learnt that it consisted of 11,023 pipes and the auditorium was designed by a bridge builder, who essentially formed the ceiling in the shape of multiple bridge arches next to each other in an attempt to recreate the echo effect you hear when standing underneath a bridge. Wow, they got it spot on. The ceiling joined the wall behind the organ in a dome-shape and behind the organ, the dome was lit with beautiful coloured lights, in such a way as to make them look like clouds. It had a very “Arabian night” feel to it.

What was even more breathtaking than the sight was the sound. Before the organist played, she demonstrated the acoustics of the room by standing at the focal point on stage and tearing a newspaper, then dropping a pin. You didn’t even have to strain to listen it echoed so loudly around the room. I’ve no idea what she played on the organ, but it didn’t matter, it was engaging just to hear the volume of noise and the vibrations through my body as the bass notes hit me. I was enthralled watching her use her whole body (yes, two hands and two feet) to create music.

The half-hour recital over, I lingered a while watching the coloured lights change behind the organ, then stepped out into the sun to see if I could join a walking tour. There was already one waiting for me with only a few people in attendance. The tour was headed up by two sisters of the church who referred to each other as “companions” as they spoke. We all introduced ourselves and started the tour back in the Tabernacle. They told us a little about the building but following that, we were told about Joseph Smith (a prophet chosen by God) who set out from Jerusalem to find the real church. We learnt the history of the Church of Latter Day Saints and how they came to be in Salt Lake City. After they’d told the story of Joseph Smith, one of the sisters asked a lady in our group how she felt about the story. Being a devout Christian, she got emotional as she described her connection to the church.

Me and another guy, Arvind, talked with Sister Tuttle as we walked from the Tabernacle to the North Visitor’s Center where we ascended some stairs to be in a room with a large statue of Jesus Christ. Here the sisters talked a little more, then played a one minute recital, as if spoken by Jesus himself, then we discussed faith some more. That was the end of our tour. We hadn’t actually seen much! It seemed it was more to do with learning about the faith than seeing the architecture, but I wasn’t all that disappointed. They didn’t seem to mind that Arvind and I weren’t religious, but hoping that they could enrich our lives with their beliefs.

Arvind and I stuck together after leaving the visitor’s centre. I learnt that he was a nearly-graduate of computer science, in Salt Lake for a job interview so he was making the most of his time here. He had another gig lined up next week with google. I told him about my Tesla experiences but he seemed pretty well set. That was me six years ago! Fresh out of school and the world at his feet! We wandered the temple grounds going into most of the buildings. There were sisters everywhere we went, keen to teach us anything we wanted to know about the Christian faith or the story of the Mormons. The only building we weren’t allowed into was the main temple, that was reserved for the devout only. It was the grandest building in the park, so understandable that they should keep that one to themselves. The architecture of the whole place is stunning.

Arvind’s uber driver had told him that you can get onto the roof of the conference building, so after finishing with temple square we headed there. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by a gentle old man who offered us a tour. No need to wait for a group of people! He, like everyone else we ran into, was keen to know where we were from and where we were travelling to and we happily abliged with our stories. The conference centre has an auditorium that seats 21,000 people. When we walked in at the bottom level, both Arvind and I were astounded. It was such a huge open space, I couldn’t fathom seeing one person on the stage addressing so many people. Our guide pointed out that there was no obstructed views in the place, not a single column of beam between the floor and ceiling. Without knowing it, this is what made the room seem so huge-scale. To top it all, there was another huge organ at the head of the stage, drawing everything in to that central point. Very effective.

From there, we continued up the levels, admiring paintings that depicted the story of the pioneers that first came to Salt Lake City to settle, and their religious journey. Our guide explained each one as we went, repeating some of what the sisters had said. He even told us that we seemed to know quite a lot about the story of the Mormons. The sisters taught us well! We finally made it to the roof of the building, which is covered in trees that are supposed to represent the peak of an alpine mountain. There was also a fountain atop the roof that cascaded down to the levels below outside the building and six glass prisms that allowed natural light into the auditorium below us. It also gave a great view of the city. Our tour over, the three of us stood at the top of the roof looking over the city and we learnt more about our guide’s life here in Salt Lake City. After a while, he took us back down to ground level, we shook hands and departed. Arvind and I had similar views about the whole experience. It had been really interesting to learn more about something at least I knew very little about.

Arvind had to head to the airport for his flight back to LA and I was headed off to the State Capitol building just up the hill. We exchanged information, hugged goodbye and I wished him luck with his interviews. I’m sure he’ll have his pick of the bunch.

I could feel autumn in the cool breeze as I climbed the hill through some suburban streets to the Capitol building. It was similar in architecture to its sister building in Texas. I was getting the impression they all resembled each other, even the White House. Walking across the grounds up to the grand building, I eventually found the entrance I needed to have a guided tour. I startled the two people at the visitor’s information desk when I said hi. I asked if I was too late for the 3pm tour since it was five minutes past. “Not at all!” the lady said. “You’re just in time”. Then she got up and took me on the tour, all on my own!

I told her I was an engineer so she told me all about the earthquake-resistance retrofitting they did during a four-year restoration of the building nearly ten years ago. It was amazing. They lifted the whole building on a steel framework, cut out 25 of the concrete pilons and inserted dampers beneath them. All of the dampers had to be installed within a twenty-four hour period. I’m sure that would have been a stressful time! My guide (I’ve forgotten her name) took me through the House of Reps, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the Reception Room. Each had its own nostalgic charm, with just the right mix of new technology mixed with heritage.

I loved the granite work, the gold fillgary that lined the ceilings, the walls, the chandeliers. The state emblem, the bee hive, was to be found anywhere and everywhere you looked, like a subliminal message. The main foyer was exceptional. So open and looking up into a grand dome, with dramatic paintings and statues all around.

Probably the most impressive was the wall-art they’d created out of the granite slabs used to build the structure. By cutting a granite slab in half, they were able to make beautiful, unique symmetrical patterns.

I must have spent an hour with my guide, then she left me to my own devices so I wandered the building a bit more before heading back outside. The sun was dipping below the mountains now and the warmth had left the day. I donned my jumper and walked back down the hill towards City Creek, an indoor/outdoor shopping mall. It was a pretty layout, but none of the shops interested me, so I only had a quick walk through there. I was contemplating doing a hike up a mountain nearby for a sunset view of the city, but I decided that I was much too tired from all the walking I’d done already so I started making for the car via City Hall.

City Hall I only saw from the outside but it had beautiful architecture just like the rest of the city. As I walked and waited at traffic lights, I watched the people in their cars stuck in traffic, going home from work and looking absolutely miserable. I just hoped they were happier than they looked.

By the time I got back to my car my legs were weary. I thought this would be a good time to pop my Walmart camping cherry and camp in the illustrious shop’s carpark for the night. When I got there, I was sad to discover it was a huge Walmart with a double-story carpark, not the kind one would normally camp in. I considered my options and when I saw that the place is under surveillance, I decided I could do better, but I was tired so my standards were low. Freecampsites.net put me onto a Flying J’s on the outskirts of the city. I didn’t know what a Flying J was, but I’d had nothing but success with the freecamps website so far so navigated myself there. It was a truck stop with not only trucks parked for the night, but a couple of RVers as well. I wasn’t entirely sure of the situation, but parked myself where I thought I’d be out of the way. There was a recorded message sounding from somewhere that I couldn’t quite catch that start of, but it ended with come in and enjoy a hot meal and a hot shower. My paranoid brain thought the start of the message said “We can’t offer you an overnight stay”, but I could never make it out (despite trying several times as the message repeated).

I made and ate dinner and stayed couped up in the van, wanting to keep to myself hidden under all of these lights. It felt strange to be in a concrete jungle instead of the wilderness.