Had breakfast and great chats with all the people in the lobby enjoying theirs. These included the sweet attendant, an older couple from Seattle, a bridge jumper (with parachute), and a nummy group of worker guys, maybe highways. I didn’t find out what they did as they were enamoured of Audrey and asked lots of questions, even took pictures. Seems Miatas aren’t as ubiquitous as I thought.
I had forgotten a belt and was tired of hiking up my drawers so I stopped at Target which also happened to have a Starbucks so I grabbed my one of the season….
And came out to be horrified by this …
Thanks to Dan Bennett charging my battery before the trip she started first turn, phew! Having survived that scare I went here….
It was fun scoping out the possibilities.
And then I was on the road again.
It took me 1 hour to outrun the rain and another 20 until I stopped to drop the top and take a picture facing back to Idaho…
And one towards Utah…
I spotted this earlier on, what?…
This is hard to read as I did a quick shot with a State Trooper on my tail…
It says Drowsy Drivers Next Exit. There were many warnings along the route for said DDs and then I realized Utah has many caffeine free, thus drowsy people!
Today was 756 Km of mostly watching the weather change and remembering that a year ago today was the long goodbye in Lima Peru. I love that by weeks end I will reunite with many of those friends but am sad so many couldn’t make it.
A few exciting moments of the day:
A police incident in Fillmore rest stop with a woman having her purse microscopically inspected on the sidewalk.
Saw two Alberta plated vehicles and we acknowledged with excited waves.
A plastic bag blew across the road and I didn’t realize for a couple hours that it was stuck to my front license plate (how uncool is that?)
The highest elevation I noted of the day was 7720 feet
I nearly had a heart attack when a Jackelope ‘ran’ across the road. No, seriously! Ok it was a jackrabbit but I have never seen a live one before and this was freaky. I was going 65 miles an hour and suddenly this thing streaked across the highway in a semi upright, kangaroo like way at super speed. My heart was pounding!
I was in text contact with Wendy and agreed to try to get into the same accommodations as them in Bryce Canyon but it was sold out. I was at a gas station in Panguitch, 20 minutes away when I got the news so decided to stay there and thus began a strange evening. The lady at the gas station was so nice and recommended the Knights Inn which is a Wyndham so points again. Also the State Trooper who sped past me just before the jackrabbit incident was staying here , so it must be ok…….. (Hmmm perhaps government budget)(or divorce)
Turned out to be a great deal for this area $50 all in but only a space heater as something is broken. The desk clerk was so sweet about it all. Smells a little sketchy, love the bathroom but glad I don’t want to take a bath…
I went down the street to the Flying M restaurant. It is everything old school, small town you can imagine and less. It was packed being the only place for several motels. 2 or 3 very busy servers, booths with cracked or peeled vinyl, big butt divots, carpet from the 70’s maybe earlier, loud, and friendly. It even had an old school salad bar! I chose pork chops as the least scary thing. They arrived too soon in my estimation and were pink inside. The mashed were powdered, etc, etc. I just couldn’t do it so I finished my beer and when she was able to come back just asked nicely if I could pay and slip away. She went to kitchen and came back saying cook was very embarrassed. I paid for my beer and tipped a dinner portion. She seemed moved by that but hey, smeg happens. So it was back across to the gas station for dinner. The lady and I had a good laugh when she asked how my room and dinner were and I blamed the whole adventure on her. Panguitch might not be much but the people are lovely. So back to my room for dinner….
And to top it off, I am blogging with Rocky Horror Picture Show on the Telly, how apt 🙂
triumphgal 