Thread: A new car!
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Unread 11-06-2011, 09:31 AM   #33
GlenL
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Wyoming is awfully pretty. The kids were really impressed with The Tetons. The previous night we'd driven past the range but it was pitch dark. We stopped in the park to do a hike. We really needed the exercise with all the sitting in the car we'd been doing. Three hours up to Inspiration Point and back. (How many of those are there?) No potential animal attacks.

I'd like to stay longer and contemplate a return someday. I'd like to backpack into the mountains again as I did when a youth.

As we drive out of the park, towards Casper, something flashes over the windshield. A flicker of gold. I recognize it from previous experiences. It's the hood ornament. We turn back to look but it has bounced too far off the rod to be found. A real Porsche hood ornament is $100+ but an aftermarket is $40. No worries.

Heading East we encounter road construction, mountain style. They're repaving long stretches and doing bridge work. There's no realistic detour and people live and work along the road so the road isn't closed. At each segment we have to wait for our turn to follow the pilot vehicle through the construction. Really slow going. The car doesn't bottom or get stuck but it's close a number of times.

And we are...as usual...falling further off schedule.

Central Wyoming is surprisingly beautiful and empty. All the painted mesas and mountains. Makes driving seem to go quickly. That's good because the spaces are wide open.

We clear Casper and head towards our target destination of Newcastle. It's getting dark and I'ev had enough. Don't need another lonely road breakdown. About 9 I figure we'll call it a night. Midwest, WY looks as big a dot as any on the map. We cruise the town but there only open business is a gas station. I ask for a hotel and a young kid offers that there a motel in Edgerton, just up the road. The clerk says "They might have room. They're letting the hunters stay there. It's a man camp, mostly." And off we go.

The motel is just what you might expect. Two story drive-up classic motel. The note on the door says to call mary if no one is there so I do. The guy who answers sounds sleepy and Mary sounds moreso. She says she'll be there in 5 minutes so we wait. As promised she arrives, still in her pick PJs, and checks us in. She's 25-ish and calls me "hun" a lot. We get a serviceable room for $64 including the $10 special service fee. It's a fair deal.

We've had a good day. Saw some beautiful country, only lost 1 car part and are 400 miles closer to home.
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