Yesterday (the subject of this entry) was mostly about roaming off the beaten path, much like the day before in Idaho. Unlike the day before, the weather yesterday was a bit more impactful on the overall trip. In the morning and early afternoon things were good, but by the late afternoon and evening things were mostly clouded in.
Anyway, I got the day started off by discovering the expensive hotel breakfast isn’t free. So I decided since I was going to Starbucks anyway, to wait until then. I checked out and went to Starbucks to find out two unfortunate things: First, Idaho doesn’t have its own Starbucks mug (yet). Travesty. Second, I apparently left my main credit card at the hotel. D’oh! (Not an exact quote)
I left with my substandard coffee and a coffee cake and went back to the hotel. Sure enough the front desk had my credit card waiting. The lady was impressed I was able to recite the card number, security code, expiration from memory of the card and had no doubt it was mine when I came for it. Apparently I left it in the check pouch when I paid for my meal at the hotel bar. Anyway, all is good so whatever.
So, no Starbucks mug for Idaho. So sad. The great state of Idaho deserves a Starbucks mug. Mountains and potatoes are what should be on it. I’m not really sure what else Idaho has. Oh yeah, cows. Lots of cows. They have many mountains, potatoes, and cows, but not enough Starbucks stores to justify a mug. Do you know how far I came for that piece of ceramic!?!
Anyway I left Idaho Falls. I was using my trusty atlas to guide me to the Grand Tetons. Unfortunately at some point I missed a turn. It didn’t take me long to realize because the built-in compass in my car was telling me I was going South West not North East. After assessing the situation I realized I needed to make a U-turn and all was good. Sometimes not using a GPS can make things more difficult. But since I’m not looking for specific addresses or places, once you get on the road you’re looking for it’s pretty easy.
Once I found the road I was looking for, everything else disappeared. Towns, cars, people. I took the desolate route. Of course I also remembered it’s a Thursday and school isn’t out, so I should expect to be fairly alone. After a period of time I found a rest stop talking about the Teton Scenic Byway. After reading the sign and consulting the alas, I took the byway. It was pretty awesome and culminated in a final mountain pass overlooking Jackson, Wy. I stopped to take pictures and met two girls from Switzerland who were touring Yellowstone and Salt Lake City. Too bad for them, Yellowstone isn’t completely open in April, so half the roads are closed. I was planning on going into Yellowstone on this trip, but before I left I found that out and decided to save it for another time when Nancy can be on the trip too. I did go in 2009 and it was awesome.
I stopped in Jackson, got some food, used the bathroom, and headed on. Shortly I was beside the Teton mountains. I stopped several times to get out the DSLR and take pictures. I think I got some good pics.
Once I left the Teton area, I remained on US Route 26 / US Route 287 for many many hours. I crossed an Indian Reservation, some mountain ranges, passed through multiple snow showers. The vast majority of the time, I was the only person visible on the road. These are roads that you can see miles down. There just isn’t a whole lot happening in the middle of Wyoming. Honestly, the solitude and isolationism felt pretty good. As someone who lives in a crowded neighborhood, in a crowded city, in a crowded county, being able to get away from it all is mentally refreshing.
Eventually, I made it to Casper, WY where I-25 intersects. It was dark by then with nothing really to see. Since I decided in the post yesterday to get on I-90 to come back, I got on I-25 going north and decided a good place to hole up for the night would be Buffalo, WY since that’s the town I-90 and I-25 intersect. After about 90 minutes of crazy lonely interstate driving, I made it to Buffalo WY. I think I saw maybe a total of 30-40 cars (both ways counted) the entire 90 miles of I-25 I drove. The lack of cars meant I needed to watch out extra careful for wildlife on the road. There were a few times earlier in the day where deer and other animals were in the road when I got there.
The hotel in Buffalo, WY is good. It’s nice, it’s cheap, and I got a room on the first try. I plan to check out of here shortly and get on the road. Today I will end the day much closer to home. That’s right, this is the drive back. 🙁
I got what I was looking for out of this vacation. I saw the mountains. I got away from work. I drove really fun roads, saw really beautiful things. I did what I love to do. I feel mentally refreshed. It went by fast and I didn’t tour the cities and towns, but that’s how I wanted it.
I miss Nancy and Blizzard and look forward to getting home to see them. I am thankful and fortunate to have a wife who supports my crazy plans and lets me do things like this independently.
Today’s journey, if you can call it that, will be all I-90 all the time. I’ve been looking at the map and I’m not sure that I will take I-90 all the way to Chicago, but I might hook up with I-29 on the eastern part of South Dakota and head south through Iowa and ultimately get back on I-70 near Kansas City. That would avoid the Chicago tolls and traffic. I’ve been to Chicago multiple times, and avoiding it seems like a prudent choice on this trip.
If I can squeak out 12 hours of driving today (currently 8:45am Mountain Time here) I think I can make it to I-29 and beyond. If I continue on I-90 through Minnesota, I’ll need to go south at some point. It’s possible I-35 might be the route to take, but I will investigate it some more once I have made a lot of progress getting down the road. I have almost 200 miles to go to get to South Dakota, and SD is a massive state so just getting across will take all day.
Well, time to do this.
