In ancient times, there was a large saline lake on this spot called Lake Bonneville in Western Utah, not far from the Nevada border. That has since evaporated, but has left a thick layer of salt (in some places, six feet thick). There's so much salt that nothing can grow - a desert of salt, really. However, for whatever reason, vehicles move faster on the salty surface here, and many land speed records have been shattered at the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speed Way (apparently, people have driven over 600 mph on this site). This is me at the site.