We have more wheels

After our jaunt into the mountains of central Idaho, we hit Interstate 84, heading for Salt Lake City, Utah. On entering Utah through the desert and salt flats in the north west corner of the state, we paid a visit to Golden Spike National Monument where, in 1869, the Union Pacific Railroad from the east coast joined up with the Central Pacific Railroad from the west coast, forming the world's first transcontinental railway. The railroads were joined with two ceremonial golden spikes, marking an event that changed the face of the American West forever. The railroad brought floods of European settlers and ultimately spelt the end of the traditional way of life for Native Americans. We arrived just in time to see Jupiter, the first engine to traverse the continent chug up and down on the short stretch of now defunct railway that remains.

The state of Utah and particularly its capital, Salt Lake City, are inextricably linked to the Mormon Church (or more properly, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). For the benefit of the Brits reading this, who like us, were ignorant of all things Mormon, there follows a potted history. Mormonism began in the 1820s, when New York farmer Joseph Smith experienced a series of visitations from an angel named Moroni, who imparted to him the word of god written in an ancient language upon golden tablets. Using the “stone spectacles” provided my Moroni, Smith translated the tablets, after which the angel and the tablets disappeared, never to be seen again.

Published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon, Smith's translation recounts the supposed arrival of the first Americans from the Old World some 4000 years ago, and the teachings of Jesus Christ in America. Harassed and persecuted, followers of the new Mormon sect left New York in search of their “Zion”. After 16 years of being pushed from place to place, the band arrived at the remote and unwanted Great Salt Lake. Joseph Smith, having been murdered en route in Illinois, had been succeeded as leader of the church by Brigham Young, who founded Salt Lake City as the centre of the Mormon Faith. At the centre of the city lies Temple Square, where the most important Mormon buildings stand. The photo shows Assembly Hall, where services were held until the congregation grew too large and the main temple was built. Incidentally, "gentiles" (i.e. non-mormons) are not allowed inside Mormon temples.

Voluntary missionary work is an important aspect of the church, with young male missionaries (“elders”) and young female missionaries (“sisters”) being sent all over the world to recruit converts. Indeed, the strategy has been highly successful, the church having doubled in size in the past 20 years to over 11 million members (with 1.5 million resident in Utah). While the Mormons run missions globally, they do not neglect the heathens on their doorstep, i.e. tourists like us in Salt Lake City! We were shown around the conspicuously opulent buildings of Temple Square by two friendly sisters, who while giving an engaging historic tour, needed only the least prompt to extol the superiority of the Mormon theology. The highlight of the visit was the daily organ recital in the Tabernacle, which is famous for its awesome acoustics (as well as the Mormon Tabernacle choir, which unfortunately did not perform on the day we visited).

Overall, Mormonism struck me as a very American religion. Not satisfied with the stuffy, distant religions of the Old World, the Mormons have constructed a theology with special relevance to the people of the New World. Impatient with the arduous time-scales of the old religion, Mormonism has modern day apostles and a prophet, through whom God communicates with the masses twice a year. As saving souls is big business in the US, the Mormons are also savvy salesmen: the excellent (and free) visitor facilities allowed us a glimpse into the squeaky-clean world of Mormon family values and charitability, without being pushy or preachy (had I thought my soul needed saving, I might have considered the Mormons more than capable!). In fact, as I walked away I realised that given the distance of the New World from the Old (both geographical and social), it would be surprising if the birth of America hadn't spawned a new religion.

Although the Mormons did not get our souls, they did get our admiration. They chose a beautiful part of the world in which to build an impressive empire. As we headed south and east to begin our tour of the parks of southern Utah, we were awed by canyons, mesas and mountains at each turn.

Although we had intended to head for Arches National Park first, when we arrived at nearby Green River, we saw some bicycles advertised in the local paper, across the state line in Grand Junction, Colorado. As we'd been hoping to pick up some cheap mountain bikes, and southern Utah where we are headed is premium biking territory, we decided to check out the Grand Junction bikes. Though we didn't actually buy the bikes we'd seen advertised, we managed to pick out two from a yard sale - $30 for the pair (with some spanners thrown in too)!! As you might imagine, given the price, they were pretty much a pair of munters, in need of some renovation.

They are almost identical to each other, and are actually the same models (though a little older) as our bikes at home – Specialized Rockhoppers, so Andy knew exactly what was needed. We converted a campsite in the nearby Colorado State Monument into a workshop with a view, and with a few parts from Walmart (is there anything they don't sell?), and some elbow grease, the two red devils were gradually made roadworthy.

Using PVC plumbing pipes, Andy even constructed a roof rack to carry the red devils on the top of the van!

After a couple of days graft on the bikes, we eventually got time to tour the monument! It basically consists of a high mesa (plateau) above the Colorado river that has eroded to form a variety of weird and wonderful rock sculptures.

Our next stops will be Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, back in Utah, where we expect to see a load more weird rocks!