The roads were so wonderful that we forgot our aching backbones and enjoyed every mile of the way into Ogden, to the Reed Hotel. We spent two days here, as there was much of interest to see and do. The hotel is old, but well kept up. We had a room large enough to hold a convention in, with a smaller bedroom and bath adjoining, and eight large windows altogether. Again the hotel was crowded. The railroad strike was on in California, and people were marooned in every city; only local trains were running.
The next day we drove to Salt Lake City, a distance of about thirty-five miles. Of all the Western cities, we were most anxious to see the capital of Utah. And now a joke at my expense! I asked the clerk in the hotel where we could get the steamer for Salt Lake City.
“What steamer?” he asked in surprise.
“Can’t you go there by boat?”
“Say, lady, I guess you come from the East.”
I admitted the truth of that.
“Ever been West before?”
This time a negative.
“Don’t you know that the boat has never been built that will float on Salt Lake?”
I thought of “Cowboy Charlie” and his book of “fool questions.”