Thursday, September 07, 2006

WY: A Whole Buncha Nothin

Today we saw a whole lotta nothin'! Not really, but it felt that way at times. The Plains are certainly that - plain!

We took our time getting on the road this morning because we stayed up later than we wanted to last night. I had a bugger of a time getting reservations for a room in Wyoming. Either the hotels/motels were completely booked, or they didn't allow pets. At around midnight I finally called LaQuinta Inn in Rock Springs and accepted a reservation despite the $139 + tax per night fee. I told Rick we had three options: bite the bullet and willingly become the victims of extortion; drive really, really, really far today and spend the night in Utah, or have a really, really short day and spend the night in Cheyenne. We chose to bite the bullet, but called the Holiday Inn, which was full, every hour to see if there had been any cancellations. Honestly, I think the staff took pity on us (or got sick of me calling) and a room mysteriously appeard (for $99 per night) at around noon. The clerk called me and set us up, then I called LaQuinta and happily cancelled our reservation with them.

Southern Wyoming didn't get the memo that gas prices have been falling for a couple weeks now. Many stations were still charging $3 per gallon. The highest we saw was $3.12 the lowest was $2.54.

At 2p.m. we stopped in Laramie for lunch at Pizza Hut (Bren's choice), and really enjoyed it. The lunch rush was over and we were the only customers. The staff was very friendly and treated us like we were celebreties. The pizza was delicious too, although my stomach hated me for it later.

Bren kept herself busy on the road by watching movies, listening to music and reading. I waved my hand vigorously in the air to get her attention whenever anything remotely interesting popped up on the landscape, such as:


    storm clouds
    windmills (Wyoming is WINDY!)
    oil pumps
    signs ("Beef - It's What's For Dinner")
    cows
    cows
    horses
    cows
If you are really at a loss for something to do to keep everyone occupied on a road trip, just let a fly into the car. It'll transform all vehicle occupants into homicidal maniacs and no one will rest until the fly's guts are plastered all over the window.

We couldn't have been more happy to pull up to the hotel tonight. It's a nice one and we had a fun time looking around. After getting settled in, Bren and I went to the hotel gym for a workout which felt real good. Sitting all day causes my ankles to swell, and since I can't drink much on the road, I try to get in a couple bottles of water in the evening and work up a good sweat. From here on out I will attempt to nix the salt from my diet while we are traveling.

Thank you all who are reading and leaving comments for me. It makes my day to log on in the evening and see that someone has left me some love. Blessings to all who read.

Wyoming out.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello sis, good to read your doing fine on the trip. Give my love to all and keep up the blogging (I read it everynight b4 bed). I must confess I got really jealous when I read that mom made you her LAZAGNA!!!!!!! Post to you later , be safe,

Love Chester.

Anonymous said...

Hi Donna, I've never been to Wyoming, but even with the nothingness I think it would be so interesting...well, maybe for awhile. I'm continuing to enjoy your accounts of each of your travel days.

Anonymous said...

This is so cool you are blogging about your trip to Alaska. ( have I told you that already?) Anyway, I'm glad you are and glad things are going well. Pizza Hut would have tasted great to me, too, and then my stomach wouldn't have been happy somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no bathroom.