travels & tribulations

 

So, things haven't gone so smoothly today but I'm still glad I'm on vacation.

I woke up this morning after probably the worst night at a hotel I've ever had to a dead car. When I exited my car last night, the car started dinging before I locked the door like I hadn't turned off the lights or the key was still in the ignition. I gave it a once over and determined that nothing was amiss. Well, fortunately, my insurance comes with free roadside assistance so I used them to come jump-start my car.

It set Ava and I back a little bit as far as time goes but only 30 minutes so we were fine. We headed into Twin Falls, Idaho for gas and then stopped at this scenic view pictured on the top above quick to let her potty and to take some pictures. While I was holding the phone above the chainlink fence for a pic, I fumbled with it and it fell on the other side of the fence onto a small cliff. I wasn't quite sure how to handle it and thought initially about jumping over fence but could envision myself falling down the canyon and Ava being left alone. I thought about walking around the fence but that would involve walking back on the other side along a small cliff in parts. Then I tried pulling back the bottom of the fence to reach the phone. I ended up pushing the fence forward and reaching it that way.

I stopped again in Snake River Valley scenic overlook and let Ava run around off-leash. It's a beautiful view a lil off the highway with very little traffic. We took a little too much time to enjoy it though because when I got back to my car, the battery was again dead. This meant another hour wait but it was a great view, there was water at the rest stop, and plenty of shade. I was slightly perturbed by being behind my schedule but I came for the adventure and I wasn't going to sweat it.

I didn't want it to keep happening though, especially as I was now going to be going through national forests so I turned back and headed 30 miles the wrong way to Idaho Falls to get it checked out. The awesome folks at Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center figured out it was just a missing washer or something on the battery cable and fixed it free of charge which was awesome because I was in for more expenses.

This delay put me more than three hours behind and there was no way I was going to go through 2 or more national parks at night while already sleepy and roll into a Rodeway Inn in Riverton at 11pm. Instead, I went stopped at Jackson and paid a lot more for a room at the 49er Inn but it was their last room and it's dog-friendly. I purposely tried to not be in Jackson because of the cost and the tourists but this was the hand that I was dealt today. It's still all better than being at work. Adventures!