Category Road Trips

After the dam yesterday our day consisted of a lot of miles driving through mostly beautiful western landscapes.  We didn’t pull over to grab dinner until shortly before 8PM at some cafe that was part of gas station/convenience store deal.  For the second time on the trip we showed up for dinner a few minutes before the posted closing time which in this case was 8PM.  Once again the staff was happy to help us.

They actually had pretty authentic Mexican food including sopapillas for desert which were simple but surprisingly good.  One of the guys that worked there had his family there including his two little kids whom were cute.  We didn’t expect to have such a nice interaction for dinner last night.  This is a scenario that has played out repeatedly during the trip, random positive experiences.

We didn’t pull into the hotel in Albuquerque until almost 9:30 which sort of sucks.  I did the nighttime driving which isn’t much fun.  The room accommodations were nothing spectacular but at least we got soap, shampoo, and two washcloths, something the Stratosphere housekeeping staff was unable to provide us for some reason. We set an alarm for 6AM this morning and were back on the road by about 7.

We found a nearby Dunkin Donuts.  As we got out of the car I saw a short young guy that was in bad shape, his eyes were bloodshot, he was sort of staggering, shivering, and had various stains on his shirt.  I am like a magnet for these sort of people and he came my way asking me if I could help him out with some change or food. I said “You look cold bud”  ” He said he was as  I immediately reached into my wallet and gave him most of my small bills which was maybe 15 bucks.

The guy was very surprised at my offering and thanked me.  I could hear Cindy making “what are you doing” type of noises as I handed the guy the money.  She doesn’t believe in giving people like that money as she assumes the first thing the will do is go buy their next fix with it which this guy very well could have done.  But maybe, just maybe, he actually used it to go grab some coffee and something to eat.  Perhaps as he sat there enjoying the food that was made possible from the generosity of a stranger he thought about why he is in a situation where he has to ask others for support and maybe, there is a remote chance it is at that moment he decides to make a change.  At least that is the narrative I prefer to believe.

This is the third time on the road trip I have handed out cash to strangers.  Of course there was the flat tire guy at the parking garage in Vegas.  I handed a big pocketful of change to a guy in the Fremont area that asked for it and now today with the Dunkin Donuts kid.  Each and every time Cindy chastised me for giving money to these people and each time I didn’t really care.  If being overly sympathetic in these situations is a problem in other people’s eyes it’s one that won’t keep me up at night.

We are now hurdling at 75MPH towards Dallas, home of the hated Cowboys.  I have my Phillies baseball hat on backwards today, ready to take on all challengers.

Our full day in Vegas was just about as full of activities as you can imagine.  It was so much that it made it feel we spent longer than day doing it all.  We started  the day with a cheap breakfast at a diner/casino across the street from the Stratosphere.  I found it odd that it did not accept credit cards.  After that we went back into the hotel so Cindy could score a deal on some cheap Vegas themed t-shirts.

We decided to explore the in house attractions of the Stratosphere, heading up the 1000 foot plus observation tower.  We showed up right before it officially opens at 10AM.  After a quick 37 second ride we unloaded into the main observation deck which gives you and incredible 360 degree view of the greater Las Vegas area.

Cindy and I have both been to the Strat before to do the rides and we originally did not intend to do them this time.  However after watching the ride that simulates driving off the side of the building Cindy seemed to be interested.  While she was in the bathroom I made a command decision to buy two all access passes.  Each of the three rides cost 15 a pop to ride.  You can buy the unlimited pass for 28 bucks a person which allows you ride everything as much as you want until 1AM so it seemed like the better deal.

When Cindy came out she initially was not very happy with my spur of the moment purchase that meant she now felt obligated to ride the rides even if she didn’t want to.  I told her I thought she said she wanted to do them but if she didn’t I would just go on them myself.  Eventually she calmed down and we ventured up to the “drive off the building” ride.

There were only a handful people up there this early so we were first in line, meaning we got to sit in the two front seats, maximizing the feeling of going over the edge.  The car is similar to a roller coaster set up except it is mounted on top of a long single beam.  When the ride begins the beam tilts downward and the car hurdles towards the edge at a pretty convincing speed before the brakes are slammed on.  This is repeated several times.  Even though you know you are safe, getting shot downward at a 45 degree angle off a 1000 foot building is enough to get your blood pumping.

We next moved to the sky spinner thing.  Once again Cindy and I were the only ones in line.  The weight needs to be balanced on the ride so we actually sat on opposite sides of it, facing each other.  The support arm for the ride rotates outward so riders are totally suspended over nothing but open air.  It then begins to rotate.  As it does this the arms that support each 2 seated rider compartment angle outward so that you are facing the ground at close to a 45 degree angle.

For the first few moments I felt ok however once it got cranking I felt immediate nausea sweep in.  In the last 10 years or so I have become drastically less able to endure spinning motion without feeling sick, another wonderful side effect of the aging process.  Ironically Cindy was the one that was more worried about getting sick on the ride.  She felt fine and I was the one that was trying to stare at a stationary spot as I counted down the seconds until the fcking ride was over.  I emerged from my seat pale with two very wet palms.

The final ride was the best, the tower on top of the building that shoots you upward with 4G’s of force and allows you to feel weightless for a few moments as you reverse direction.  The ride again was only partially populated, we had to wait a few minutes to have a person show up to balance the ride weight distribution.  Despite doing this ride before the sensation was still awesome and terrifying for  brief moments.  Doing it on top of a structure that is so high just adds a new dimension to it.

Although we could have continued riding more we called once per ride as good enough due to other things we wanted to see/do during the day.  Each ride we did was photographed extensively of course by staff with the hope you will buy the prints afterward.   There were some really good pictures of us but the pricing was f’ing ridiculous, $17 for one and $25 for two.

I think the people that run these photo outfits are idiots.  Instead of making them so outrageously expensive so that only maybe 5-10% of people actually buy them, why not drop the price and have a lot more people buy them?  Plus they need to get with the times, no one really wants a big 8×10 print anymore.  Charge me $5-$10 to have all the pictures emailed to me or thrown on a 50 cent USB stick.  It’s a bad business model as is.

They added a new “ride” to the Stratosphere since I was last there called the Sky Jump.  It is over priced at something like $120 to basically bungee jump off the side of the building.  We watched a few people take the jump.  I was a bit concerned about the rig that was used, it appeared to have a single point of failure, a pretty narrow steel cable.  There were rigs to guide wires on either side of the jumper as well but they appeared to just keep you straight and would not help you if the main wire snapped.

When a person jumped you heard the spool unraveling for quite awhile as the jumper descends something like 900 feet.  If money was no object I suppose I would make the jump but I had other things I would rather spend $120 per person on at this time.

We headed down from the tower and out onto the street to catch the bus heading north.  I told Cindy I wanted to check out the Old Vegas scene by Fremont street.  In many ways I prefer this section of Vegas to the main strip.  Cindy had never been to that area before so I thought it would be cool to show her.

It didn’t take long for the visual oddities of Fremont to show up as Cindy saw two men, one of them looking old enough to be collecting social security, in banana hammocks that left their ass cheeks fully exposed and barely covered whatever they had up front.  It was visually disturbing which of course why its funny.  She later posed for a very funny picture with both of them.

Cindy and I also did our first and only extended gambling session of the trip at the roulette table.  We sat down at one table that only had one older man playing.  I only knew the basics of roulette and Cindy knew even less about the game so we made a few mistakes that the dealer corrected us on.  The old man obviously did not like having roulette newbies at the table.  He got especially annoyed when Cindy won a few rounds while he had his chips all cleared.  He left after a few minutes.

We later went to another table where I gave Cindy 20 bucks that she did very well with, making it last for damn close to a half hour.  Once she got the basics of the game she seemed to have fun playing.  I just bankrolled her play, to me it was just as fun watching her play as it would be playing myself and the potential for loss is cut in half.

So a few weeks ago I stumbled across a first person perspective video of people zip lining over Fremont street, another new attraction that has been added since my last Vegas visit.  It looked cool and I thought it would be fun.  I figured it would be pricey but I was actually mildly surprised when I saw it cost $40.  Sure it’s not cheap but it seemed like a decent value, zip lining above Fremont street is a pretty unique experience.  We decided to do it.

Luckily again since it was relatively early in the day we didn’t have to deal with huge lines.  We walked up the launch tower and got outfitted in our harnesses that suspend you in a flying position under the support wire.  All of your belongings go in a zipped bag that goes down the line with you.  The way you get hooked into the wire is cool.  Beneath each of the four lines is a blue padded table that lifts up so an attendant can hook you in.  It them retracts a couple feet, leaving you suspended above it.

There is a wide door that opens up in front of you, after which the lock on your carriage releases, they instruct you to push off and go.  I basically rocked myself backward and then shoved off out of the loading area.  The sensation as you fly over the ground bound tourists below is cool.  I did not know if fear would be a factor at all, for me it wasn’t.

The zip line is pretty long, I bet you travel at least the distance of two football fields.  You notice a distinct difference on how fast different people travel on the line and that difference is all about bodyweight.  The more you weigh the faster you will go.  I was significantly ahead of Cindy and a big guy to my right that probably weighed at least 250 pounds was way ahead of me.

The worst part of the ride comes at the end.  There is an ABRUPT stop to your forward momentum when they stop you.  I felt a jolt of pain shoot down my back when it kicked in, it was pretty damn severe.  I thought it was sort of stupid that they did not give riders a heads up about the jarring finish so you could brace for it a little bit. I exited the ride content my $40 was well spent but also glad I didn’t pay more.  It was cool but not spectacular.  I would imagine doing the zip line at night when everything is illuminated would add some extra wow factor to the experience.

We grabbed a simple slice of pizza for late lunch before finding the bus stop to head south on the strip.  This marked the start of my most annoying section of the day.  So when we got to the stop a bus was already there, sweet.  Well the bus was there but the driver was not.  Another potential passenger said when the bus pulled up the woman driver did not open the door, she instead retreated out of sight towards the back of the bus.  I bet we stood there for close to 10 minutes waiting for her to return.  When she did she was sucking on a soda so my assumption this is how bus drivers handle lunch breaks.

When we finally got into the bus we found a seat on the upper deck near the front, figuring it would give us a good view as we drove back south.  Well that view did not change for at least another 15 minutes as the bus remained stationary.  I had no idea what the fck was going on but I was getting really perturbed.

Once the bus finally did get going the misery only continued, we advanced to the south at a snail’s pace.  Each stop seemed to be loaded with more people than the bus should be able to accommodate.  We got to enjoy the woman driver repeatedly telling people to either move backwards to stuff more people in or warn others that they could not stand in the stairways. It was such a slog to get to the main strip, I bet in total we spent at least an hour traveling 5-6 miles.  I exited the bus in a very foul mood.

Our plan was to get to the Linq hotel to see a permanent old car exhibit that Cindy had seen when she was last in Vegas.  We exited the bus one stop too far and had to make our way back against the now sizable flow of humanity that was clogging Las Vegas Blvd.  You could not have paid me to smile at that point.  The 95 degree heat and human being soup I was immersed in made me yearn for the quiet solitude we experienced just the day before at the salt flats.

Even though I did not need any more reason to be grumpy, I found some when the directions to the car exhibit inside the Linq were unclear, sending us on a goose chase for at least 20 minutes.  I remarked to Cindy I hoped the exhibit was worth all of the effort and aggravation to see it, a comment that made her feel bad.  Well it turned out the exhibit was indeed worth it.

We weren’t thrilled they charged something like 12 bucks a head to get in, Cindy thought it was free last time.  The good news was they let veterans in for free so we only had to pay for myself.  When you walk into the exhibit you see just car after car, ranging in age from the late 90’s to the early 1900’s.  I also thought it was interesting that more cars than not were for sale, with their price listed on their information card.

Cindy and I took our time checking out all the vehicles, they were all just in exquisite condition.  We passed a guy that apparently works there as he buffed out the trunk of one of the vehicles.  He must just go around a shine the cars all day long.

It was amazing seeing vehicles decades old looking like they just rolled off the showroom floor.  They had some interesting vehicles in there and even a little morbid like the car that JFK was assassinated in.  I took A LOT of pictures while there.  It was a car lovers dream.

So our plan was to take in the Eagles/Falcons game.  After some searching we found a mexican style bar that had some free seating at the bar.  We settled in and ordered some drinks since we had at least 3 hours there.  My drink of choice was Bud Light, something that I can drink for long periods of time without hitting a wall due to it’s smaller alcohol content.  Cindy had a couple ciders.  We ordered some food later into the game, scrapping our original plan to go out for a more fancy dinner later due to time constraints.

The game was rather aggravating.  The Eagles played poorly in the first half,  basically getting next to nothing done offensively.  The running game was especially anemic and the defense seemed to have no plan to stop Julio Jones.  In the second half the offense got things into gear but a missed game leading field goal attempt by Cody Parkey late doomed the Eagles, earning them a loss in a game that most people would say they surely should have won.  Unfortunately I expect this will be the case a few more times before the season is up.  It was a disappointing way to start the season after all of the hype of a preseason where the Eagles were putting up points by the bushel.

After the game we made our way back to Hexx for some more ice cream combined with people watching.  Both activities didn’t disappoint.  The ice cream was great and the people watching even better.  Before catching the bus back to the hotel we spent some time walking through the Paris hotel which is very beautiful.  Cindy and I agreed the next time we go to Vegas we would try to be more centrally located, the Stratosphere is just too far north.  A stay at a hotel in the Fremont area would be interesting too.

During our travels I was sad to see that O’Sheas, a small little casino that Troy and I had spent MANY memorable hours at years ago during a Vegas trip had been knocked down and absorbed into the Linq.  There is a small section of the Linq that is now dubbed as O’Sheas with absolutely not a shred of the original feel of the old place outside of the sign above the space.

The O’Sheas discovery was a feeling that I felt repeatedly since arriving in Vegas.  The Vegas I knew from my prior trips was substantially gone.  There are so many things that have been torn down in that 10-15 year time period it is kind of sad.  There are HUGE plots of property with construction walls where the latest and greatest mega-resort is underway.  It all just makes me a little sad for some reason.

When we got back to the room last night we were very tired.  I am not sure how we expected two days in Vegas to allow us to “rest” from the prior 8 days of travel.  Sure we haven’t had to drive for a couple days but we were basically on the go non-stop since arriving.

This morning we checked out of the hotel after breakfast, a quick stop in the gift shop, and a few unsuccessful pulls on some progressive slot machines on the off chance we become instant millionaires.  We headed over to the Hoover Dam which is only 25 miles or so away.

I had been to the dam before but again, a lot has changed since that visit.  It looked like they made a lot of improvements to the area that I didn’t remember from the last time I was there, including finishing the massive overpass bridge that was only partially underway when I was last there.  We opted to just do a self tour, opting out of the pay tours that let you go inside the dam.  We just had too much driving to do to spend a ton of time there.

The massive horizontal line on the walls of the river where the water line used to be is a shocking reminder of just how dire the water situation is in the west.  The water level easily looked 75-100 feet below the marks on the wall.  Cindy found the dam to be really cool, it’s such an impressive structure and rivals any other man made feat of engineering I have seen on my travels around the country.

We are now on the road to Albuquerque, losing an hour along the way thanks to our switch back to Mountain time.  The end result will be us not getting to the hotel until around 9PM local time.  The rest of the trip now is the long sprint back to Naples.  We are planning chewing up roughly 650 miles a day from here on out.   The total mileage for this trip is going to smash my original estimate.  I would not be surprised if we crack the 6500 mile mark, making this my longest road trip ever by a large margin.

We have had a fantastic time on the trip with more memories than I can stuff into my old brain.  It’s a very special way to experience the different areas our beautiful country offers.  Getting to share these memories with Cindy makes it even better since she appreciates it all to a level that I can’t even approach to reach.

A quick addendum:

We just stopped at a gas station located off an exit on route 40.  It just happened to be at the entrance of a petrified forest national park.  The station actually had old style analog pumps, something I have not seen for at at least 20-25 years.  I was worried if they took credit cards or not.  I poked my head inside and asked the woman that was working there. Sure, she said, just pump it and let me know what the total is.  Haha, wow this was truly like a step into the time machine where you did not have to pay in advance and they took your word as to how much gas you pumped.

After pumping and going back inside I told the woman how much I pumped and how cool it was the place still had these old style pumps.  She said they were built in 50’s and installed in the early 60’s.  She said they were originally built to accommodate gas prices up to 99 cents a gallon.  When prices rose above that they had to be retrofitted to accept gas prices up to 1.99.  After gas prices exceeded that watermark there was one final retrofitting that would allow gas prices to go as high as 9.99 a gallon.

She said when gas prices were very high the pumps would break down quite a bit, the internal guts of them were not designed to spin at the velocity that 4 dollar a gallon gas requires.  I found this gas pump history entertaining enough to add it to today’s blog entry. 🙂

During the homestretch into Vegas as I was driving I found myself needing to pass a few slower vehicles on the two lane road we were traveling with a 70 MPH speed limit.  The road was very straight and very wide open with a line of sight that extended for miles.  As I swung out to pass I had the urge to try something I was unsuccessful at doing at the salt flats, get the Prius up to 100mph.  It took a little while but with constant pedal pressure the car actually hit 102 which may be a new land speed record for the hybrid.

As we pulled into Vegas the thermometer in the car touched 100 degrees outside, quite the contrast to the low 60’s we started the day with.  It was about 5:15 local time, we lost another hour during the days drive and were now on Pacific time.

As we pulled into the drive in front of the Stratosphere I saw 4 rows of vehicles, each with a sign that said VALET above them.  At first I thought these dozens of cars were all waiting to be parked.  I then realized that almost all of them were empty and waiting to be driven into the parking garage.  I did not want to use valet, I never want to use valet, but it looked like there was no other option.  I stopped the car and started to pull out some bags as one of the valets walked up.

Cindy didn’t want to valet either and thought there had to be an option to self park.  Well the valet started tagging our vehicle when Cindy asked him about self parking.  He said we could self park if we wanted to as he pointed to around the corner.  At the far end of the lobby ceiling there was a small SELF PARK sign that pointed around the corner.  I thought it was bullshit that there was no such sign when you enter the area as I threw the bags back in the car, annoyed. We followed the signs up into the garage and found a place to park on the fourth level.

As we were unloading the car some man that had been on his phone came walking up to us.  He seemed distressed. He told me his truck had a flat, which he pointed to down the row of parked cars.  I did see a red Ford truck that looked like it was leaning to one side like it had a flat tire.  He said he has been calling around to a bunch of places to come out to fix it and only one place would come out on a Sunday but they only would take cash.  He said he was twelve dollars and some change short of what they charged and they only would take cash.  He said he would let me hold his watch or his wedding ring as collateral to assure me he was on the level.

Cindy said nothing during this encounter as she later told me she didn’t buy the story.  I thought the guy seemed legitimately in need so I pulled 13 bucks out of my wallet and gave it to him.  He said he could try to pay me back if I had a room number.  I told him we didn’t check in yet and to not worry about it.  He was very grateful and got back on his phone, presumably to call back the garage as he walked back towards the truck.  As we were getting ready to walk down he thanked me again from across the garage.

So as we walked Cindy voiced her opinion to me that she thought the guy just worked me and he will probably work the same story on the next nice looking person he sees.  I hoped she was wrong but even if she was right my conscience was clear.  If I truly helped a man in need I feel good about it, if I just got shook down for 13 bucks, oh well, life goes on.

The check in line was long but moved quickly.  As we entered the main casino area it was my turn to sidestep another much more expensive shakedown.  A nice woman called Cindy over and said they had a free gift for hotel guests.  Cindy, being naturally friendly engaged the woman who started asking her questions like if we were on our honeymoon.

The woman walked us over to a counter and turned us over to another woman that would “show us the gifts”.  I looked at the signage on the counter and immediately realized they were trying to sell us a timeshare.  I stopped the woman very early and told her we weren’t married and that we had no interest in a time share.  I told her I had one in the past and had no interest in another.  The woman realized she was wasting her time and told us to have a nice day.

We made our way through the casino, found our elevator and went up to the 6th floor.  Our room was very nice and modern although the view out the window of the wall surrounding some cooling units was less then spectacular.   We found it odd that housekeeping neglected to leave any soap or shampoo in the bathroom.  Cindy tracked down a housekeeper and grabbed some soap.

After eating a simple dinner at a spot inside the Strat mall, we decided to go walk down the strip.  The Stratosphere is located at the very north end of the modern strip.  It quickly became apparent we would have a very long walk in front of us.  I did not make a great choice in footwear to do this with just a pair of flip flops on my feet.

I was disoriented as we walked, very little looked familiar.  I was last in Vegas about 7 years ago for my 40th birthday.  Things looked much different than I remembered.  There were huge construction walls covering blocks of real estate where something was ripped down in order to put something bigger, brighter, and more high end.  There were some casinos that I never saw before like the Cosmopoliton.  For the first 30 minutes of our walk it almost felt like I never had been in Vegas before, things looked so different.

Eventually we got to more familiar sights.  We went into Senor Frogs and grabbed a beer while we watched the end of the Cowboys-Giants game.  (nice choke Giants)  We wind up talking a decent amount to one of the bartenders that was a beefy guy.  It turns out he used to play college football and later Arena 2 ball.  He was a running back.  His time as a football player has left him with two wrecked knees.  He said he is looking to get a double knee replacement soon even though he was only 37 years old, ouch.

We then got smart and hopped on the Deuce bus, buying two 24 hour passes for 8 bucks each.  It will allow us to hop on and off as we chose to save us a ton of walking in the hot, dry desert air.  The bus was very full with hot, stale air.  We rode it down a couple stops which got us into the heart of the strip.

We stopped by a group of street performers that were getting ready to perform.  Cindy wanted to see the performance.  I was fine to hang and watch.  It was 4 young guys that were street dancers along with a guy doing an incredible job of using Home Depot style buckets as drums.  The did some impressive moves before they started pulling people out of the audience to help with their big final stunt which involved one of them doing a running front flip over them.  In total they pulled out 5 people and of course two of them were Cindy and I.  At first they made it appear the kid was going to jump us while we were standing upright.  In the end it was just me and one other guy bent over that were the hurdles to be cleared.  Cindy was recording most of the experience, it will be some great footage when we get it online.

We then wanted to grab something sweet before heading back.  I pulled Cindy into a place called Hexx that was a high end candy store and ice cream place.  We got a small cup of decadent chocolate ice cream to share.  We enjoyed it at an incredible spot, a small ledge in front of the store looking out over the sidewalk.  We loved sitting there and watching the crowd funnel by.  There is nowhere better to people watch than the Vegas strip.  Man, it was just crazy.  We sat there for a long time, long after the ice cream was gone, just taking it all in, it was great.

Before getting back on the bus we briefly dipped into Planet Hollywood so Cindy could try her luck at slots.  We were very conservative only doing penny slots.  Cindy went to several machines, cashing out each as soon as she got slightly ahead.  At the end of the brief gambling session she was 24 cents ahead, a small win but a win none the less.

We hopped back on a bus and road back to the hotel.  I was surprised when we got back in the room and realized it was nearly midnight, or 3AM EST.  No wonder I felt like my eyes were burning into my skull.  I am sure today will have enough activity to fill a week of normal blogging.

Last night we arrived at our hotel just outside of Salt Lake City, a Quality Inn.  It’s pool was under construction but we didn’t really care since we had no intentions of using it.  We wound up having a great dinner at a chain called Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill.  It was sort of awesome because they had a TON of seafood based Mexican selections.  Cindy had a sea bass dish she loved and I had some mahi mahi tacos that were equally good.  Cindy and I both wished this chain was in our area, we would frequent it routinely.

After dinner I was on a mission to find a USB mini cable, the type used for a GoPro.  I forgot to bring my wire.  There was a Best Buy so I figured I could easily pick one up there.  Well after 15 minutes of searching and finding nothing but micro connectors I asked an employee, I had to simply be missing them.  Nope, he checked inventory and they did not have a single USB mini style cable, that is unbelievable.  We popped into the Barnes and Noble next door on the off chance the Nook used a USB mini style cable and again came up empty.  I was pissed at myself when we were almost back to our hotel and realized I could have also scored a SD to micro SD adapter to accomplish the same goal, dumb ass.

The hotel seemed nice enough but there were a number of small details that wound up giving us an overall negative impression of the place.  The first came to light last night when we were showering.  Cindy spotted some mold/mildew on the ceiling and on some of the grout in the shower.  Yea that’s gross but I did not feel motivated enough about it to want to repack and unpack in another room. Then this morning I was annoyed that we ran out of tissues, something that should always be checked by the cleaning crew.

The biggest annoyances came at the breakfast bar that they seemed to deem as very valuable since a coupon was required to get access to it.  They also had a large sign posted on the door that said you absolutely were not allowed to take any food out of breakfast room. Well the breakfast was the worst we had on the trip.  The scrambled eggs were swimming in water, the juice dispenser spit out more water than juice, there were no knives, the dispenser for the cereal was broken, and the yogurt was squirted out of dispenser normally reserved for ketchup or mustard. The experience made Quality Inn drop down quite a few notches in our potential future hotel accomodation list.

We again set an alarm today so we got out on the road early en route to the Bonneville Salt Flats.  We were glad to once again have a Dunkin Donuts nearby, a luxury we were missing the last few days.  I could tell Cindy was not all that excited about this stop on the trip but I had wanted to see it for quite awhile after having to skip it on prior road trips.

The drive out there was roughly 90 minutes and allowed us to briefly see the Great Salt Lake, something I never caught a glimpse of before.  As we appoached the salt flat area it almost looked like winter with foggy skies and nothing but flat whiteness on either side of the road. I did not really know what to expect when we got there.  I assumed there would be some sort of visitor center since it was a state park.  Instead it was a road with a small sign by the left of it where the road ended and the drivable part of the flats began.  No rules, no regulations, just a huge white expanse ahead of us.

I had told Cindy repeatedly that I planned to do some high speed driving with the Prius on the flats.  She told me repeatedly she didn’t think it was a good idea.  I did not agree.  The surface of the flats is quite rough with the hardened sand.  The texture reminded me of a thin layer of snow after it has melted, refroze and been driven on a few times.  It was very crunchy under your feet.  I got down on my knees and put my toungue on the ground to verify it’s salt content.  I confirmed we were indeed standing on millions of tons of salt.

So I did a preliminary drive on the salt at speed, getting up to around 50 mph.  The car felt a little odd driving across the resistance the crusty salt offers.  It also creates a LOT of road noise.  I then told Cindy to do a high speed drive by while I shot video.  Her idea of high speed and mine were totally different, she went by at maybe 50 mph a couple times.  I said it was my turn.

I had joked with Cindy I wanted to push the Prius to 100 mph, an idea she absolutely did not agree with.  I made several passes by her as she ran the camera.  The fastest I went was 75 mph, it just felt like going a lot faster could have been hazardous.  After our high speed runs the tires and wheel wells were absolutely packed with wet salt, a side effect I did not expect.  I knew we would have to get the salt out of there asap as nothing wrecks paint/metal faster than salt.

Cindy did another short tabata workout on the flats which again offered up a very unique back drop for a video.  I also made a triumphant return to the sky with my Phantom, after reassembling the camera frame.  I utilized the one battery pack I knew was good.  Despite it’s very rough life the last few days, the copter still flew well as I zoomed back and forth over the salt flats with the GoPro recording.  Cindy broadcast the flight on Periscope at the same time and had a surprisingly large audience.

I also had a brief exercise video shot as I dropped and knocked out 50 push up reps for the hell of it.  In total we may have only spent an hour at the flats but I thought it was great fun.  During one of my high speed runs I noticed there was an abandoned orange cone in the middle of nowhere.  I told Cindy that would be the ultimate unique Salt Flats souvenir that could serve double duty as part of my Green Machine Timing equipment stockpile.  At first she was very opposed to the idea, saying we didn’t have room and she didn’t want a big salty cone amongst our luggage.  Eventually I convinced her of the awesomeness of this idea.  She put the cone inside of a couple empty bags.  It will now be our companion for the rest of the trip.

So the first priority was to find a place to wash off all that salt.  I could not believe that the gas station at the exit for the salt flats did not have a car wash, they would make a freaking fortune with one.  The clerk said the closest wash was a few miles away in town.  Even though we didn’t have the car wash at the gas station Cindy utilized one of the windshield washer tools to try to scrape as much of the salt off as she could.  She worked hard but there was still a TON of salt in the wheel wells.

So we found the car wash in town.  There were two people in front of us.  I asked Cindy to run in and pay for the wash so I wouldn’t lose my spot in line.  She returned with a ticket for the express wash service.  The two cars in front of me took forever, I bet each cycle was at least 7 or 8 minutes long.  I was happy to see the wash had a real high strength rocker panel blaster as part of the service.  So after about 20 minutes of waiting we pulled into the wash and I immediately realized the express wash doesn’t include extras like the high pressure rocker panel blaster the car so badly needed.  I immediately got really frustrated since I had been waiting so long for a wash that I knew was not going to be all that effective.  I gave Cindy a hard time about getting the express wash, a harder time than I should have in retrospect.  The sign for the different wash levels indicated the express wash included an under carriage wash but that was just a low pressure deal.  I knew we were going to have to make another stop at some point to try to fully address the pounds of salt sticking to the car.

So after we stopped for lunch there was another gas station with a car wash. While we gassed up Cindy again did another extensive salt removal with the windshield cleaner wand.  Some other people pumping gas asked us if it was snow.  When we pulled out there were four substantial piles of salt.  I paid for my second car wash of the day, paying full boat for the best wash they had.  It did a nice job but there was still salt in areas of the wheel well that were up above the tires.  Thankfully we then spotted a water hose near the vacuum station.  I was able to use it to dissolve the rest of the salt that was stuck.  The flats were great but getting all that salt off was a major pain in the ass.

We are now less than 200 miles from Vegas, closing in on two days of fun that should not involve any time in a vehicle, a luxury we both could use by this point.

Our accommodations at the Clarion Inn in Pocatello Idaho were not bad although anytime we stay at a place with outdoor facing room doors we know it is rolling the dice.  For dinner there was an Applebees within walking distance.  I downed a 20 ounce beer with my meal to take the edge off.

Our meals were a low calorie shrimp dish that included broccoli that was good except for one thing, they appeared to forget to cook the broccoli.  We asked the waitress if the broccoli was supposed to be served raw with the meal.  She said it was not so she brought each of us a side dish of steamed broccoli that was actually cooked.

We went to bed relatively early last night as we both have been dragging from a lot of poor nights of sleep on the trip.  Unfortunately that pattern continued last night.  I woke up for the first time at 11:59PM courtesy of some idiot that thought it would be cool to whistle a song loudly as he walked by the ground level rooms.  After that the rest of the night was on again off again sleep that had some odd dreams thrown in there.  The last one I remember had something to do with Rhonda Rousey trying out for the Olympic cross country skiing team.  It was very weird.

We actually set a 6 AM alarm this morning to try to get out on the road relatively early.  After breakfast we loaded the car and got some gas.  Gas fill ups in the Prius are almost fun.  I have had a number of stops where the bill has been less than $10.  We also ran the car through the car wash at the station.  It looks pretty terrible with a bug facial and road tar down the passenger side from our repeated run ins with road paving crews.

On our way to Craters of the Moon we stopped in Arco at the Pickle Palace, a famous hole in the wall that looks like it hasn’t changed in 50 years.  Cindy and I had some coffee and split a big, calorie packed but delicious cinnamon bun.  We also grabbed some of their world famous special seasoning that I was told about first by George from our running club.  Before we left Arco I showed Cindy the top of a submarine that is on display across from the restaurant.  I never understood how it wound up to be in Arco, Idaho but it is cool regardless.

We pulled into Craters of the Moon about 10am.  We filled up our two water bottles at the visitor center and then got our cave permit.  Since I was here last they began requiring a permit to go into the caves because of some disease bats were coming down with.  To qualify for the permit you have to vouch that you have not been inside a cave east of the Mississippi River during the last 10 years.

We entered the park and quickly stopped to hike a short portion of a trail.  Cindy was immediately impressed by the beautiful volcanic rock that was extremely  lightweight but sparkled like gold.  The park is at 6000 feet elevation so even a short walk got our breathing rate elevated.  When we got back to the car I dug in the luggage, looking for a light colored shirt to help reflect the warm sun.  I had nothing white, the lightest color I had was the yellow Iowa Hawkeyes shirt that got me so many comments in Mt Rushmore.  Oh well, I guess Hawkeyes it is then.

Our next stop was the Inferno Cinder cone which is basically a small mountain that is made entirely of cinders.  You were allowed to hike up it but before we did I took the quadcopter out for a flight, the first one since my crash at Yellowstone that sent debris into the prop motors.

I had fully charged all three of my batteries since Yellowstone in anticipation of flying again today at COTM.  I was a bit nervous but the copter took off and flew more or less normally.  However after only a minute or two I saw the status LED on the copter flashing red meaning the battery was already low.  WTF????

I was over a relatively flat cinder area about 50 yards from me so I brought the copter down there instead of risking flying it back to me.  My landing again had a little to much bounce to it, sending the copter props first into the cinders before the motors turned off.  There was no apparent damage but I was pissed the battery pack is apparently going bad.

I grabbed another one of my batteries and got a full 10 minute flight this time doing nice gradual loops around the area.  A nother couple had stopped in the same spot and found the drone interesting as I gave the husband basic info about how it worked.  When it was time to land the drone this time I decided to use the air snatch method where I just grab the quad as it hovers in front of me.  I didn’t want to risk another bumpy landing.

Cindy also filmed an impromptu 4 minute Tabata workout for her Fit FarmChick channel.  We figured it was a pretty unique opportunity to do so.  We then ascended the cinder hill.  The angle of ascension was pretty damn severe at spots.  By the time we made it to the top we were both sucking wind.  The reward for our efforts was a beautiful elevated perspective of the park.  The ancient lava fields are just like nothing else out there.

At one of the stops we started talking to an older couple.  The husband was ex-military like Cindy.  He asked Cindy if she had her “challenge coin”, something that evidently is handed out in various branches of the military in certain situations.  She said she did not have one.  The man reached into his pocket and showed us his which he apparently carries routinely.  Then when he reached out to shake Cindy’s hand, thanking her for her service he placed an object in her hand.  It was a small wooden wedge with a slot cut in it.

Cindy looked at the man confused.  He told her it was a challenge coin holder.  He said he makes them by hand and he wanted Cindy to have this one.  He said if she contacted her local Air Force office she could likely get her own challenge coin.  It was a very sweet thing of the man to do.  Repeatedly when I am with Cindy she will meet other former military members.  There is a true family feeling in those interactions, regardless of what time, what role or what branch of the military you were in.

We hiked another trail that included Buffalo Cave.  Cindy and I were about to turn around as it seemed like we had walked further than we needed to according to the map.  We just then spotted the cave.  We traversed the short but tricky cave.  The ceiling was very low requiring me to cover most of it sprawled out Spiderman style.  Luckily I only had to do so for maybe 50 or 60 feet.

We had already spent a couple hours at the park and since we still have to drive to Salt Lake City today we had to watch our time.  I told her the only other thing I wanted to make sure we do is the Indian Tunnel which is MUCH bigger and longer.

The walk to the tunnel takes you right through the jagged lava field.  There is a very twisty and undulating small path you stay on for the hike.  Cindy absolutely loved the tunnel.  Even the portions where you are walking normally you have to watch your footing because of the uneven lava floor.  She really liked the sections that required you to climb over huge piles of rock to continue.  It’s also amazing when you enter pockets of dramatically cooler air in the cave, some 20-30 degrees less than the surface temperature.

I was mildly disappointed that since my last visit they did away with the weathered old wooden sign and trail markers.  (look at image at the top of the blog)  They instead replaced them with much more reasonable and longer lasting metal signs and marker poles.  Visually however they pale in comparison to what used to be there.

So we made it back to the car.  I told Cindy I had one more battery pack left, I wanted to just do a quick back and forth sortie over the lava field.  I thought it would make for some really cool video.  Cindy was nervous about me doing the sortie since the lava field I wanted to fly over was restricted ground and if something went wrong it would not be easy to get it back.  I assured her it would be no problem, just a  quick out and back.

So after waiting for a GPS lock I started the GoPro and sent the copter out over the lava field, maybe 20 feet above the rocks.  As the Phantom went out I had the solid green blinking light which means all is well.  I took the quad out maybe 100-125 yards, stopped it, turned it around and then started it back towards me at a slow and steady pace.

All of a sudden it looked like the copter stopped coming towards me.  Not only did it stop coming towards me, it was slowly losing altitude.  Cindy said to me “Is it supposed to be going down???”  The Phantom did not respond to more throttle, I knew that it was going down, this other battery pack must be shit as well.

As the Phantom dropped out of my field of view I just pulled the throttle stick down to kill the motor, hoping I can somehow minimize the damage.  I could absolutely not believe the scenario that Cindy was worried about, the scenario I told her she should have no worries about, had just occurred.  For the second time in three days I had crashed the Phantom, something I had never done before in Florida.

Now I had a real dilemma.  By nature I follow most rules and respect boundaries.  My copter was now sitting somewhere in the middle of an area of a national park that you absolutely were not supposed to walk across.  On the other hand I had a $1000 copter and $400 GoPro camera sitting out there.  I had to try to recover it.

To complicate matters we just passed a park ranger lead tour of Indian Tunnel as we came back to the parking lot.  I could still see the group but they were pretty far away.  I knew if the ranger saw my walking across the lava field he was going to have a shit fit and at best tell me to get off of it asap or at worst fine me.  At this point I cursed my decision to wear my bright yellow Iowa shirt. I stuck out like a beacon against the black lava.  I tried to actually stay bent over and low as much as I could to stay out of view the best I could.

The footing was in a word, treacherous.  This area was not designed for ffet, the lava field was uneven, sharp, and filled with a lot of loose rocks.  I had tunnel vision, switching between watching my footing and scanning the rocks for my expensive toy.  At first I thought the white copter would stand out against the rocks but what I didn’t consider was just how uneven the lava field was.  There were tons of holes and valleys the copter could be hiding in.

After circling out there in the area I thought the copter should have been for almost 20 minutes and coming up empty I was close to giving up.  I knew sooner or later I was going to get busted for being out there.  I had Cindy trying to direct me as to what area she thought the copter went down.  I yelled back to her to grab the controller and turn on the motors, I hoped I could get some sort of audio cue as to the location.

I then heard it, the distinct sound of a prop hitting something off to my left.  About 10 yards away I finally spot the Phantom in a rocky gully.  I was surprised that it was sitting upright and that all four props seemed to be intact.  I told Cindy to cut the motors so I could grab it.  It looked like the mount for the GoPro took much of the impact as it had separated and was laying underneath the copter. The GoPro was still filming.

As quickly as I could I made my way back to the parking lot feeling extremely lucky to not get busted by park officials and to recover my quad more or less intact. I also felt extremely stupid.  Those two shitty battery packs are going in the trash.  I still can’t believe it went down.

After the park we backtracked to Arco where we had lunch at sub shop that used to be a gas station.  Just like many small towns on our journey, they are very cool to visit but living there full time would be sort of terrible.

We are now actively pushing towards Salt Lake City.  Time dictates that we don’t try to get to the salt flats today.  Instead I am hoping to get up early tomorrow to see them before backtracking and heading to Las Vegas.

Last night we got back later than we planned due to slow pace of vehicle movement in and out of Yellowstone.  We decided to do a very simple and low calorie dinner, picking up soup and salad that we prepared in the room.

I also messed around with my Phantom copter, trying to dislodge whatever debris was making the motors stick.  I turned it upside down and smacked each motor mount several times. I followed up by using my mouth as a primitive air blower, using it to try to further dislodge any foreign objects.  I plugged the battery back in and was surprised that all four props fired up again.  This morning I put the drone up in the air for a minute to make sure it was ok.  It appears to have survived my poor piloting decision.

Last night Cindy was trying to nail down our lodging for tonight.  We planned to stay in Idaho Falls.  After some searching it seemed like there was basically nothing available which seemed odd.  Sure it’s a Friday night but it’s Idaho Falls, wtf?  During one of Cindy’s calls where she was told there were no rooms we asked if there was something going on that was causing the lack of hotel rooms.  The woman said that this weekend was college check in weekend and the entire town was basically sold out.  It seemed late to me for college to be starting but at least we have our explanation. We wound up having to book a room at a hotel in a town named Pocatello which is 50 miles further south.

We woke up this morning after a less than stellar night of sleep.  So far on the trip I only recall one night where I slept straight through, everything else has been fragmented.  We enjoyed our free breakfast and checked out.  The hotel was great, the only negative was the the 20 or so taxidermied animals that were used to decorate the lobby.

One of the first places we stopped at in the park was Mud Avalanche, a cool spot with a bunch of thermal activity.  We walked the 1KM path which included a steep incline that had both of us out of breath.  The thin air was doing a number on us.

Even though we were getting out of the car often to see various sights we also were still spending hours driving around.  The excessive sitting is getting problematic.  In my case it is my lower back that is the most sore.  I could really use a day with no driving.

We had some awesome wildlife sightings on day two .  Multiple times we were face to face with packs of buffalo.  We also saw a very large bear crossing a lake near the road, there were tons of people stopped to check it out.

We took the northern loop today, covering the area we did not drive yesterday.  It was definitely different visually including a beautiful canyon area that was very, very cool.  Since we had to still drive a good distance to get to our hotel we made less stops in the park, just hitting what we found cool.

I am finding myself getting a little nuts from all of the driving.  When we took the Prius last year we had those few days in Durango where we basically stayed put.  This time we haven’t had that break since visiting Yellowstone still requires a lot of drive time.  We recently cleared the west entrance of the park, cutting through the corner of Montana before heading south in Idaho.

Our two days in Yellowstone were nothing short of spectacular.  The weather was pretty much perfect and we saw so many incredible things they all blur together.  Being in places like Yellowstone is a good way to realign your internal compass and get some perspective on what is truly important and beautiful.

Tomorrows highlight is a return to Craters of the Moon.  I look forward to taking my time to explore the park.  If you have ever seen the single wooden pole picture that adorns my blog, that is from Craters of the Moon.  It is one of most unique spots I have ever seen.

We have so far put more than 3000 miles on the odometer, a hefty total for 6 days.

The drive into Yellowstone was very beautiful but slow.  The constant ascension and descension combined with the very winding roads makes for slow travel which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since there is so much to look at.  Cindy was very excited when we hit crawling traffic due to buffalo crossing the road.  They were literally a few feet from us, giving us some awesome photo opportunities.  Cindy was not as excited to utilize the outhouse style toilets that are used primarily in the park.  I am not a big fan myself, utilizing mouth breathing and a refusal to look into the deep, dark cavern of excrement below.

Since we have a second day tomorrow to do some additional sight seeing in the park, Cindy worked on a game plan as far as what route we took. We pulled off a few times briefly to check out various cool sites but the first major stop was West Thumb which has a creaky boardwalk that winds between various hot springs and follows the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake. If you have never seen water boiling out of the ground before it really seems weird.  The steam, sulfur smell, and wild colors that come with it are pretty unique too.

We decided to then drive over the the Old Faithful region of the park.  It looked to me like the next eruption should be about 12:15.  Well we arrived on site shortly before 12:15 only to find the geyser was a bit premature, going off around 12:07.  Ok, no big deal, we figured we could eat lunch and then catch the next show since it blows roughly every 90 minutes.

The temperatures by noon had warmed nicely into the lower 70’s.  I walked around in shorts and a t-shirt all day and felt totally fine for most of it.  Cindy dressed a little warmer than me since she has a lower cold tolerance.

We ate lunch at one of places inside a lodge.  Well we got the food and then walked outside with it since the inside was clogged with people.  At lunch a trend we already noticed elsewhere was very evident, there were Asian tourists EVERYWHERE. It was very odd to see so many, there must have been some sort of massive bus trip.  In general there were a ton of foreign tourists there, we heard a lot of foreign tongues.    I was surprised that on a Thursday after school was back in session that there would be so many people there.  Nowhere was it more evident than at Old Faithful which is the biggest area in the park by far.  It literally has stadium sized parking space.

After we ate we dropped off a postcard at the onsite post office.  Cindy talked to the workers there briefly since she is an ex-postal worker.  We found it odd that  the entire park pretty much shuts down from late October to May.  I wonder where all the people that work there go during that time?

So we were about 30-35 minutes till the next Old Faithful eruption which they had posted as 1:41.  We saw people were already starting to congregate around the bench seating by the geyser.  We did not feel like standing the entire time so we decided to walk up and stake out our own bench.  It wasn’t a bad move in retrospect since very quickly after we got seated the mass of humanity piled in behind us several rows deep.

Once again the geyser had a premature eruption, firing off at 1:34.  Since I saw it before it was a little less draamtic but still cool to see.  It blasted water high into the clear blue sky for a couple minutes.  I remember when I saw it years ago the crowd applauded afterward.  There were no applause this time.  After the show Cindy and I walked a long winding path through a geyser field.  We saw a large variety of big and small geysers.  We probably walked 3-4 miles taking it all in.

After the walk we went into another lodge and relaxed for a couple minutes in some comfy chairs by a huge fireplace.  After a brief rest we indulged in what is becoming a weird tradition on this trip, getting some ice cream.  I am normally not a big ice cream guy.  If I have it a few times a year that is normal.  For whatever reason we have been downing it quite regularly on the trip so far.

I can’t tell you how many incredible pictures we took today.  The visuals are just absolutely stunning.  We are looking forward to blowing some of them up to be used as decoration at the house.

Late in the afteroon I pulled off to put the Phantom up to get some unique aerial video.  The spot I was flying at had a creek and a steep mountain on the other side.  Due to the mountains I couldn’t get a full GPS lock but it was close enough.  It was also VERY windy.  I was so confident from my past experiences flying the quadcopter in windy Florida conditions I wasnt worried.

So I got the copter up in the air without a major problem, flying up the face of the mountain and up and down a short section of the creek.  The battery light started flashing red so I brought the copter back to me.  The wind was really kicking up but the Phantom was still handling it pretty well.  I manuevered it behind the Prius and touched it down to the ground.  I held the throttle stick in the down position which kills the motors after a few seconds.  Well before the motors stopped a particularly strong gust of wind came in and picked the copter back up, tipping it into the large wood barrier and then flipping down the other other side of the rocky, dirty hill.

Cindy shrieked as my toy went tumbling down the hill, upside down, with the blades still spinning.  It stopped less than 5 feet from the edge of the water.  I said nothing during the crash although in my mind I was swearing up a storm.  Of course the first thing I tried to do once Cindy retrieved the copter was firing up the Phantom.  My heart sunk when only two of the four propellors spun up.  When I tried to move the two dead props there was immediate resistance.  Further inspection makes it seem like when the Phantom was upside down sliding down the hill with the props spinning it sucked dirt/pebbles into the brushless motors.  I am crossing my fingers that removing the motors and blowing them out will be an easy remedy.  However if the debris damaged the windings on the motor I will be SOL, requiring at a minimun new motors to fix it.  Depending on the cost of that option, it could be a reason to more seriously consider upgrading to the pretty awesome Phantom 3.

I was pretty pissed at myself after the crash.  In retrospect with as windy as it was, a much better decision would have been for me to just snatch the quad copter out of the air by hand.  It was pretty dumb of me to try to land it conventionally with those kind of gusts.  The only good news is I had the GoPro running the entire time so eventually you will be able to see my boneheaded flying in action.

Our time calculations were not very solid so we are winding up getting back later than we hoped.  There was a traffic jam leaving the park.  We were told it was due to some sort of bear interaction.  The traffic eventually started to flow but we heard what sure sounded like a gunshot as we drove by.  We both crossed our fingers it was a warning shot and they didn’t have to shoot an animal.

Tonight we are hoping to just do a simple soup and salad dinner to atone for some of our egregious eating recently.  We also have a TON of beautiful pictures to get online since internet service inside the park varies from none at all to dial up speed.  Tomorrow we will be hitting another section of Yellowstone as we drive through to the western exit which will eventually take us to our Friday stopping point of Idaho Falls.

So although we had less than 400 miles to cover yesterday the day still ran very long since we spent a lot of time at Mt Rushmore.  We wound up not getting into Cody until something like 8:15 PM local time (10:15 back east)  The hotel Cindy reserved, the AmericInn was surprisingly nice with a warm ski lodge vibe.  It will probably be our most expensive accommodations of the trip so I was happy it was a nice place.

We unpacked and quickly headed over to the nearby restaurant.  We were concerned they would be closing soon.  They closed at 9pm and we walked in at 8:45.  I felt a bit guilty about making the staff work longer but they didn’t seem to mind our tardy patronage.  We had an extremely tasty but unhealthy meal that included batter dipped fish, fries and absolutely sinful garlic toast. Oh well, we will try to walk off those calories today in Yellowstone.

Our room is right next to the guest laundry area which is very convenient since we needed to do some wash.  We only packed enough clothes for a week, not two.

During the last segment of the drive I was in the passenger seat playing Hearthstone on the iPad.  I found it very funny that I was literally in the middle of nowhere and still able to game against some random internet opponent.  Hearthstone has been my time killer of choice when I am not behind the steering wheel.

We had a great free breakfast at the hotel this morning before heading out to Yellowstone.  We just stopped at a picnic area and put the drone up in the air to catch some very beautiful aerial scenery.  Cindy Periscoped the sortie just for sun.

The weather outside is cool and crisp.  It should be a great day to explore Yellowstone.

The only negative about the Grand Gateway was it did not include a free breakfast buffet so we had to make other arrangements.  Cindy spotted a sign for the Morning Side Cafe which shared a strip mall with a 24 hour video casino.  The sign said they served breakfast and lunch, great.

The inside of the place had no real decorative theme, was sort of dirty, and staffed by a woman and a man who was the cook.  One one wall there was a steer skull.  On one ledge was a collection of toy cars and on the ledge below that a collection of John Wayne paraphanlia. You may think this description made us not like the place but actually was just the opposite, I like local, small eating establishments.

I was unsure if the man and woman were married or something else.  The woman had an outwardly grumpy appearance but she treated us nicely. The man, who was also the cook was more interesting.  He seemed even more grumpy and cooked in silence.  He had on a long sleeve shirt, a leather vest and a hankerchief tied around his neck.  He was thinly built and sported a scraggly moustache.  Cindy quietly asked the woman if she minded if she took a picture of him.  She said in a funny way “It’s not like he has anything to say about it”. The woman and man started joking back and forth a bit like an old married couple afterward where she gave him the finger and he threatened her jokingly with a knife.

It was funny seeing the regular patrons coming in, sitting in their regular seats and having the waitress prepare their regular order without them having to ask for it.  It was just old fashioned and cool.

The guy caught up on his orders and decided to put on his cowboy hat and walk outside for a smoke.  As he walked by Cindy thanked him for cooking our breakfast.  Surprisingly he was very friendly and nice, thanking her for coming in, the opposite reaction I would have guessed when we first walked in.  When he came back in from his smoke break he was just as gracious, happy to pose for a picture with Cindy.  He told me he hoped I wasn’t mad because he had his arm around my girl.

Cindy and I were all smiles as we left, knowing we just picked up another one of those random memories that only a road trip can provide.

The drive to Mount Rushmore was relatively quick.  Cindy was very appreciative of the raw beauty of the area as well as her first glimpses of the monument itself.  The temps were in the 60’s which felt great to me but chilly enough for Cindy that she went back to grab her coat just in case.

Even though I had been there before I still was awestruck by just how incredible of an achievement Mt Rushmore is.  We had just started walking on the Presidential Trail when we had our first wildlife sighting, a mother and baby white mountain goat.  They were just hanging on the steep incline chowing down, apparently not bothered by us at all.

I had decided to wear the Iowa Hawkeyes shirt I bought just for the hell of it the other day.  I didn’t expect it to generate so much attention.  I got asked at least a half dozen times about it.  Evidently this area is an Iowa STATE fan base.  One of the park employees joked with me, saying he was surprised I don’t have a bloody nose yet from an Iowa State fan.

The walk along the Presidential Trail and th entire 3-4 hours we spent at the park was just beauitful.  I loved both admiring the monument and learning more about how it was made which is nothing short of amazing to me.  Seeing it with Cindy was even better since she is so appreciative and grateful.  It just makes sharing experiences with her fun.

We headed out of the park a little after noon and wound up having lunch in a town named Custer.  We again lucked out and had lunch at a rustic place that served us two of the best black bean burgers we ever enjoyed.  It was in a word, awesome.  We are now pushing across Wyoming to a town named Cody which will be staging our two day visit to Yellowstone out of.  Yellowstone is an incredible place. I can’t wait.

We pushed out of Omaha relatively early after filling up at the nearby Dunkin Donuts.  Our destination for the day was Rapid City, South Dakota with a stop at Wall Drug which is on the way.

Wall Drug is a place I was first made aware of as a kid when we went on a western road trip with my dad.  I remember buying an incredibly large Wall Drug pencil that was used in the pencil battles I used to participate in regularly.  I returned to Wall drug a number of years ago on one of my western road trips although having the dogs along meant my time to peruse was extremely limited.

Wall Drug started off as just what it sounds like, the official drug store for a town named Wall, South Dakota.  However it morphed into one of the biggest tourist trap destinations in the region.  Wall Drug uses a similar strategy as South of the Border, billboards and lots of them, starting as far as 150 miles away from Wall.

I was excited to show Cindy the place as I knew she would appreciate the endless diversity inside of the huge building which covers almost an entire block all by itself.  We arrived about 3:30 local time after flipping back another timezone during the drive there.

One of the first things we did was indulge in one of the Wall Drug traditions, a 5 cent cup off coffee.  The price has been the same for 50 years or more.  Despite the ridiculous price the coffee was actually quite good.  We then slowly started exploring the place which was sectioned off into various rooms that all connected in some way.

Some of the stuff is so tacky that it becomes instantly endearing like the incredibly unrealistic animatronics that are stationed at various spots.  Wall Drug is also the ultimate souvenir shop, they seem to literally have almost anything you can imagine.  Cindy and I spent a lot of time just walking around and looking at all there was to see, only making a few small purchases along the way.

They added a new section in the back that I had not seen before which included some outdoor exhibits, more food, and shopping.  They also had yet another huge animatronic, a T-rex which made little sense but that is what Wall Drug is, just random things, all designed to make you smile.

We also enjoyed some homemade ice cream at the in house soda shop which was great.  It was served to us by a girl with a russian accent.  There were a number of young workers there with similar accents.  At another nearby store we were talking to another russian girl and asked why there were so many russian young people working?  She said they are part of a student work exchange thing for the summer. How weird.

Cindy really enjoyed the Wall Drug experience and I enjoyed showing it to her.

We then left for Rapid City but made a pit stop at a tiny town to grab gas.  Being the only gas in town meant it was expensive, a full dollar per gallon more than the cheapest gas we have seen.  Luckily paying 3 bucks a gallon for gas in the Prius isn’t a big deal.

Speaking of the Prius, the 80 mph speed limit on most of route 90 has been killing our MPG numbers.  We have barely been able to average 40 mpg during this segment because of going that fast.  The Prius can sip gas at 45-50 mpg if you keep the speeds at 72-73 mph and no higher.

The hotel we stayed at in Rapid City was named the Grand Gateway and it was pretty damn cool with a retro style and unique appearance.  It had a huge lobby with pool tables, ping pong, indoor pool AND a 130 foot water slide.  Our room was old fashioned yet undeniably cool.  The best part was we only paid $68 to stay there.

After unloading we did a simple but decent dinner at the Perkins which was attached to the hotel.  At the end of the meal we did an impromptu hot sauce challenge where I dumped some tabasco sauce on a spoon and sucked it down.  Cindy thought she would be tough and put even more on a spoon and do the same.  She paid for her bravado, looking for things to drink for quite awhile afterward.

Before going up to the room Cindy and I had an intense best 3 out of 5 ping pong match that she won pretty easily, the first time I recall that ever happening.  Our room had two queen beds in it.  We thought we would be fine squeezing into one of them.  The decision resulted in less that great sleep for both of us.

Although we just finished up our Mt Rushmore visit I will break today into it’s own entry.