Okay, it’s Monday, Memorial Day (actually my 6th day on the road) and I’m in Boise, ID, about an hour from my final destination for this part of the trip. In my last post, I wrote about my little tire blowout incident. Here’s some follow-up on that.
First, the Super 8 motel that I stayed at in Kimball, NE was a real interesting place. The room was okay and comfortable (and appeared secure) and that was the most important thing. But, the entire from of the building facing I-80 was boarded up. I didn’t ask – and I didn’t really notice it in the dark, I was tired and needed a bed. I have photos. I also paid more for this room then I thought it was worth – tried to talk them down, but the motel was owned and run by a family who appeared to me immigrants from India. Like people from various different ethnic and national origins, they have their own unique style of doing business and are usually very good and often very strict and frugal about their business practices. End result, I paid about $20 to $25 more for that room then I thought it was worth based on other places I have stayed over many years of travel.
On Saturday morning, I took care of some business (I had wifi available, though, again, not great).and then prepared to hit the road and limp to Cheyenne – about a 50 minute drive at 80 mph – but I was going to limp along with my emergency flashers on at 55-60 mph and hope some 18 wheeler wasn’t going to drive over me. I went to the couple gas stations I could find to get some air in that little donut spare tire – but none of them had air compressors. I finally found a “convenience” store in the little town of Kimball (the town looked very much like those little western towns we’ve seen in old rodeo movies and such) and they had an air compressor in front - $1.00 in quarters to put air in my tire.
I, then, uneventfully, limped to Cheyenne – it took about an hour and 20 minutes. I had programmed the address of the Walmart into my GPS and it took me right to the door. Fiona (my GPS) was spit on, accurate. I decided that Wally World was the best place to buy two new tires. You need to replace two tires when you blow one out, due to the age, tread wear and tread differences – they can create serious handling problems. I figured if I had any problems with these tires during the trip, I just needed to find another Wally World with a tire department. This experience took about two hours and cost just under $200 (unbudgeted for this adventure). While I waited, I ate the other half of my Subway sandwich from the night before, which had been refrigerated in my cooler. Cheyenne was pretty nice town. The people were nice – a hardy breed of people. I did notice from my short time there, that there was not very much diversity. I saw very few people of color, Middle Eastern, Hispanics and so on. I did see some folks from part of my heritage, REAL native Americans.
I left Cheyenne about 3 something in the afternoon, and headed down the Interstate toward Utah, hoping to make Ogden as my next stop. But, it was so late and Wyoming is such a long state – even traveling at 82 mph average speed, that I realized I wouldn’t make that destination. So, when I reached Rock Springs, WY, I pulled in and found a Best Values in America hotel that had a reasonable rate. It was a large, older property that had long since seen its glory. Large lobby, indoor swimming pool, restaurant, meeting rooms. My room was pleasant and comfortable and probably a decent value. I then asked about finding a local “mom & pop” type restaurant – I get tired of eating at the chains, I want to see some local color and meet the local people. Well, no one could direct me to such a place. I drove around searching for a place on my own and found nothing. I even went into the “historic downtown” area – that again, looked like an old movie – with railroad tracks right through the center of town. But, alas, historic meant “disintegrating.” Downtown Rock Springs, WY made old downtown Winchester, VA look like an upscale area. So, I settled into a Village Inn, treated myself to a fish dinner, went back to my room and crashed.
I did learn from the people I spoke with that Rock Springs existed off the oil industry and the coal mining industry (and, obviously, from all the modern hotels and restaurants and big box stores at the interstate exits – from transient traffic. The setting was glorious in a beautiful canyon, surrounded by large mountains, many of them red in color.
I’ll express more about my experiences and impressions about this part of the country in my next posting.
Enthusiastically,
Ed
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