Day 11: Getting the Heck Out of Dodge
Today dawned bright and.....hazy. Womp, womp, womp. Sadness. Today's breakfast was pure laziness. Papa Bear had a bowl of cereal, and I had left over mini-kolaches and a cup of coffee. Over breakfast, I pulled up the trusty ol' internet and started checking weather, air quality and talking with Papa Bear what our options could potentially be.
The air quality throughout Idaho was even worse than it had been the day before. Outside activity was not advised at all so that meant that our planned trip out to to Shoshone Falls and Massacre Rocks was not going to happen. Sadly, air quality was just as bad around Jackson, Wyoming which nixed the option of diverting toward Grand Teton. So...what were we to do?
We decided to get the heck out of dodge and try to get away from the poor air quality. We loaded up pretty quickly after breakfast and headed south toward Pocatello and then southeast toward Wyoming and I-80. Here's where I started burning bandwidth to try and figure out 1) if there was anything to see on the route, 2) where were we going to stop for the night, 3) what the rest of the trip itinerary looked like now that we had this disruption.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot to see on this route. There are some places but they are so far off the main track that it didn't really make sense to divert. Once we reached I-80 we stopped at Little America - which is both a town (?) and a very large gas station and convenience store. I made some tasty burritos out of left over cilantro lime rice, refried beans, chili and cheese. Not too bad and continues to make use of my leftovers so there is no (less) waste.
Travelling across Wyoming was pretty much the same this year as it was last year, except that there seems to be WAY more construction, and of course the air issue (have I mentioned that lately - insert dripping sarcasm). Traffic across I-80 was very heavy and Mr. Chirpy pipped up occasionally as we ascended and descended some of the steep sections. The smoke alarm tripped scaring the bejeepers out of us. I ran through the coach looking and sniffing for smoke, fire or gas. Just as quickly as it came on it turned itself off. Of course now I was paranoid and looking in every place that I could think of. Never found anything, so I'm assuming maybe there were some exhaust fumes from the very slow/idling traffic on the highway. We stopped at a rest area and checked everything just to be sure.
Traffic on I-80 really was bad due to miles of construction, an accident and just the slow ascents up hills. That meant our day ended up being a lot longer than anticipated. We finished up right around 7:00 pm by stopping at the first rest stop on my list and squeezing ourselves into a spot not really meant for RVs or big rigs - both of which were jam packed into every nook and cranny of the rest area. The view in the distance was pretty though, despite nearly being asphyxiated by all of the diesel fumes. Dinner was quick and easy salads for us this evening. We were a bit too tired to do much more. Once we were satisfied we weren't going to get sideswiped by a trucker, we settled in for some television, and when we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer, we went to bed hoping that we'd be able to sleep.
So...what does this mean for the rest of the route? We have decided to alter our route to continue east on I-80 into Nebraska, stopping in York at a campsite there for one night so I can wash my hair and do the last bit of laundry for this trip. Then we will head south through Kansas and into Oklahoma, stopping Thursday night at the Riverwind Casino for some rest and recreation.
After that we will continue southward to stay with some very good friends of ours and celebrate the Labor Day holiday. That's all for now folks! We'll give you more updates tomorrow. Thanks for sticking with us.
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