Leaving the beach at 10:00 was good--we would pass through Portland after the rush hour traffic. It would be an easy day's drive to Ontario, OR...hopefully. We hadn't made any reservations to avoid committing ourselves to a particular distance or destination. Mistake. Calling our hotel chain about halfway there, we learned there were no vacancies.
But a voice in heavily broken English, probably somewhere in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia told us there was another about 45 miles down the road in Boyz. After some moments of stammering and grouping my atlas to see if Boyz was a town on our route, I finally asked in frustration, "Do you mean Boise?" She did.
Trying to make reservations was too difficult for someone fortunate enough to have an outsourced job formerly held by someone more familiar with US geography. We would call Boyz ourselves. She gave us the number.
But from previous experiences, I was extremely skittish about spending the night in Idaho. So it was that circumstances "lived down" to expectations when a road sign just over the Idaho border, warning of "game on the road," a bird flew into the car as if an omen of things to come. The recoiling I was experiencing at the thought of that poor pigeon now adorning our front bumper was to return again and again as our night in Boyz progressed.
(Reminder: Don't order a cheese boca burger at Denny's in Nampa, ID because it doesn't have any, but they try to charge you for it anyway, calling it a "cook's problem." We thought it would be a good place to eat dinner from the overflowing parking lot. Little did we know many of those inside had been there since lunch.)
And now it's morning and I can't wait to leave. I never imagined Utah could sound good to me. Wyoming even better.
Meanwhile, with some anxiety of news from back home--El Paso's experiencing flooding from record downfall, we're anxious to return. So far, things sound okay back at the ranch. But it's time to saddle up and hit the trail.
It's been a real experience in Boyz, in the state of my own private Idaho!
3 comments:
What, no cool pic to start off my day from my favorite traveloguer? Hey, at least your idado cheeselessburger wasn't served by a neonazi supremecist! I don't think they work there anymore since that whole racial issue went to court. and haha, "boyz" sounds more like a brooklyn-in-da-hood accent to me.
Sorry you're having bad omens, esp if you're headed into Cheneyland. We're having only good ones here. Weather down into the 90's (that's right, DOWN). No rain (apparently el paso's sucking it all that way). I think we're about 10-hrs from Boyz, as the pigeon flies. That's the route we'll take next yr for our own reunion in Spokane, maybe the Missoula route to return, very pretty area.
Birds are usually better at avoiding cars, but sometimes the sick ones take a hit. Kinda like some of the beached whales are later found to be suffering from various plagues. So don't be too hard on yourself, perhaps you did him a favor with a quick, hopefully painless, death. omg, there must be a metaphor in there somewhere, huh? D.K.
Hi DK:
Oooh boy...the windshield got "ROCKED" in my favorite state, Idaho. It was just a small hole with four or five short arms coming out from it.
Of course, I got depressed thinking by the time we got it home those small cracks would be spread enough to render the windshield replacable. But wife saved the day!
Suggested we find a glass doctor. I figured this would really curtail our progress for the day, but at the first sizeable town we came to she asked and they directed us to the Windshield Welder in Brigham City. On way there we called and they were expecting us...15 min. and we were on our way!
The people of ID we dealt with were all nice, as were the Utah folks--really nice. Now we're in a posh Wingate Inn somewhere in WY where it's customer appreciation night with free beer and wine! What a difference a night makes!
But just to safeguard the ambience or the evening, we'll stay away from a Denney's dinner!
A Glass Doctor, huh? Good thinking on Mrs. Dada's part! And they were "really nice" (like stepford zombies), or pleasantly mannerly (as long as you didn't mumble something 'bout their man in the WH)?
oooh, watch out for the freebies ... maybe they're just trying to render you insensible so the country's largest monolith (Cheney) can shamble by unnoticed!
I finally looked at a map & noticed what a lot of driving you've done in relatively few days. Thanks for taking us along! D.K.
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