The one day trip to another country

 Good morning and welcome to another adventure down the road less traveled. Myself and Mr Womack decided that we needed to get the hell outta Dodge so we pointed Old Yellow west and went out into the desert to escape. Not quite sure on where I was headed, we arrived at mile marker 33 that leads to the Devils Playground at which point I consulted with my phone and began the search for the Republic of Zaqistan. This foreign country within a country was begun in 2005 by an artist from New York who purchased 4 acres in the west desert of Utah on Ebay. It was on this property that Zaq Landsberg formed the Republic of Zaqistan. 

 Earlier stories have placed Zaqistan in the middle of nowhere saying that it was a 2 mile hike from the nearest road. This is no longer true as you can drive right up to the border. This road requires a high clearance truck. We would recommend a 4x4 for any travel during a wet period of weather. The soil of the area turns to an incredible slick mess when wet. If you do not own a Jeep or a truck I highly recommend that you don't try your luck on driving the road. Cell service is non existent in Zaqistan with the nearest signal on the other side of the mountain you will cross to get there.   

 That said, the country is guarded by robot soldiers. The robot in the above foto is, I am guessing, the head of security. He is 20 feet tall and appears to be quite new to the country. He stands watch night and day over the small Republic of Zaqistan. 

 There are 3 more robotic soldiers in the country on a never ending watch but they appear to have gone AWOL. Each of these robots seem to have drinking problems which has led to their demise. Not one of them has remained "together" to do their duty. To see more fotos of Zaqistan visit www.mtnmad.com. To get to Zaqistan, you can send for a passport that comes with the coordinates or you can use the address of the country. I will not reveal how to get there, but I will give you the clue that we used to find it. The address of Zaqistan is " old railroad grade road, Park Valley, Utah. Using this should make it wee bit easier to locate the place. If you do go out and find it, please remember that this is owned by someone else. Don't use any of the objects in the country for target practice or destroy any of it just for the hell of it. Leave it alone so others can visit and enjoy the visiting the Republic of Zaqistan.  

 We came in from the west on our trip to Zaqistan and by doing so, you get to go through 2 railroad ghost towns. The first one is Watercress. This was a small town on the original Central Pacific line and was basically a water stop for the steam engine trains. Once the train ceased to pass through the town, due to the trestle built across the Great Salt Lake, the town faded into just a memory. 

 Though the town was literally located in the middle of nowhere, it appears that it had some of the finer things in life. I found this remnant of a fine china plate while walking through the town. Someone, sometime, had used this plate when it was a plate to eat their meals. The design on it shows it was, at one time, a very nice plate. It seems hard to imagine that a place, in the middle of nowhere, would have such nice things.    

 Traveling east from the town you run into 3 bridges that are still up. These are original bridges built way back in 1868 or 1869. This bridge is the largest of the 3 and it is still in great condition. The only use it sees anymore is the occasional person to walk over it or larges bird that build nests in the framework. Above, Kirt is walking across the bridge to investigate a large nest of a raven.   

 From under the bridge, you can see how large the timbers are that they used for its construction. The upper ones are massive boards that I assume came from the large growth trees in the Sierra-Nevada mountain range. I find it hard to imagine that this has been here for so long. Back in the good old days they sure built things to last.

 Continuing east you will next come to the ghost town of Terrace. Terrace was a huge town that some say had a population of 7000. It was built as a service town for the Central Pacific Railroad. At its peak, the town boasted 8 sidings and a roundhouse that could hold 16 engines. As before, when the railroad moved the main line from the Promontory route to across the lake, Terrace gave up the ghost. What stayed alive after the trains were gone was eventually moved to Nevada where the new maintenance facilities were set up. Terrace doesn't have much left. There is a cemetery and a huge pile of red bricks. 

You can also see where some of the sidings were located. A few of these sidings still have to railroad ties in the ground. There are even more ties scattered about the town. I think it would have been quite an adventure to take the train from San Francisco to Ogden. Even today I would love to take Amtrak from Salt Lake to the west coast. It really isn't very expensive and think of all the stuff you could see along the way. Maybe someday I will get to do this. The only drawback to passenger train service is the fact that it is slow. People nowadays want to get to their destination asap not wasting any time. Me, I think it would be a great way to relax and see sites you otherwise would not see. Oh well, all in all it was a great day. I wish we could have spent more time out there but the Jeep started throwing a warning code that if I shut it off, it may not start again. Ya gotta love modern electronics: NOT! Jeep on my friends.