As far as roadtrips go, this has got to go down in my own personal “hardest EVAR” category. I picked up ET around 9:30am, jumped on I-5 and sped North toward Sacramento, jinked my Voodoo Blue Bastard East through Reno and into Winnamucca, then turned North in time to catch the corner of Oregon (the ugly corner no one tells you about) and on into Idaho.
Everything was going swimmingly until that last little bit.
Idaho.
I’ve got family in the state, my late Grandfather grew up there and I’ve been to the family places in Spencer and Shelley multiple times. I don’t remember it being quite like this trip.
There are little towns dotting the landscape, as one would expect, and it’s no surprise at all that they line the 95 corridor through the State. Its a surefire way to generate business and encourage new ventures as needed (kinda…more on that in a sec), but it must also help contribute to the states revenue from tickets.
ET and I were in the car, driving along at around 11pm on our way out there. The map said we had three hundred miles to go, but lost us at the expected 6 hour travel time. So we get on 95, start going 65 mph as is the law – because David was kind enough to warn me that CA driving wouldn’t cut it in ID – when we hit the first town. Speed went like this.
65…….55……45……35……25………………………………………..35………45………55………65
OK. No big deal. I understand.
But the eleventy billion other small towns on that strip of road did the exact. Same. Thing.
Not only did this kill gas mileage, but it drew out the travel time significantly. To the point where we debated pulling over and crashing, because we were both wasted. Not something I like to do.
Why not just chug a Red Bull, gnaw on some jerky and soldier on, you might be asking. Good question.
In each of those little bitty towns, there’d be a gas station and/or market. They were all closed. Each and every one. The gas station with all the lights on, all the neon and the flashy sign out front? Closed. It wasn’t until almost 5am that we found a Conoco station opening and managed to get some hot, week old food and caffeine and find that we were only 25 miles from Orofino, which took another hour and change.
Let me be frank, as if I weren’t already. This trip was freaking awesome. The drive was not. I am not stoked about it at all. But combine lack of service stations with constant speed changes, exhaustion and treachorous roads that looked to drop off into a Lovecraftian abyss at 0-dark-30, and you have two somewhat peeved bloggers arrive at Trib’s Place at around 6:30am Thursday morning.
The view that greeted us at the end of Google Maps comedy of errors.
Still, I was glad to meet David and Derek and Dave the RNS photographer, and even more glad to dive into one of Kenda’s breakfasts. I think that saved my life.
Then, just like that, we were off to the site for the Media Day, bleary eyed but damned excited about the whole thing.
Stay tuned.
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April 28, 2009
I recommend Escort 8500s. Got one before my cross-country trip, and despite traversing significant sections of the country a wee bit faster than Google thought possible, I managed to avoid any tickets that might have otherwise flown my way. Made sight-seeing nicer, too, what with the extra time at the end of the drive.