Quick hits

The return trip was pretty much as expected with a side trip to Promontory Point to see the National Monument where the Golden Spike was driven into the last joint of railroad track, connecting east and west by steel with the first transcontinental rail line. So starting there, let me mention a couple things I learned:

The rail lines did NOT meet at Promontory Point! That was a fabrication of the press that collected to watch the event. The spot where the ceremony met had no name, it was out in the middle of nowhere (it is now called Promontory Summit). Needing a name to use in the newspaper, the reporters got out a map and grabbed the closest landmark they could find, Promontory Point, which extended out into the Great Salt Lake. The summit is on the north shore of the lake.

The government subsidized the expense of building the rail bed. The two lines (Union Pacific and Central Pacific) could not get a decision from Washington as to where they should meet (go figure!) and subsequently built two lines parallel to each other, expanding in opposite directions, overlapping by 250 miles before a final location for the joining of Eaśt and West was decided upon.

The two company representatives each got one ceremonial swing of the hammer, which was wired to the telegraph to be "broadcast" live. Both men missed the spike! So a foreman was brought in to finish the task, thus completing the first episode of Undercover Boss.

As for the bike I found out:

Frequent stops help immensely with all the little aches and pains discovered in my old body.

It is possible to go directly from "little too chilly" to "little too hot" without passing through "just right".

When passing a vehicle at highway speeds, remember that the right turn signal button, which would be pushed to let the other driver know you are pulling over in front of them, is directly below the ignition kill switch which, when pushed accidently, causes rapid deceleration.

Lessons learned and duly noted. Launch is scheduled for April 26th.