Great Road Trip of 2017....Part Nine/Day Seven & Eight

Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

So last time we were driving South in Wyoming toward Colorado.  I saw what appeared from the highway to be a bison on top of a hill but as we got closer you could see that it was not an actual bison but a cut-out of the shape of one. lol

We drove some more and passed some cattle grazing.  Hey there Mr. or Mrs. Cow!

We passed through a small town by a bank with an interesting name....

As we pulled onto the Interstate we noticed this sign....

A sign with flashing lights(they weren't flashing then)about the Interstate being closed ahead?  I suppose out here on the Prairie when they get a BIG snowstorm even Interstate's have to shut down.  So what do you do if you are on the Interstate and it's closed down ahead??

Pretty soon the terrain of the surrounding land changed....

We passed by "The Home of CHUGWATER CHILI.  Stop in for a FREE taste".  This was off a rest stop on the Interstate in where else but Chugwater, Wyoming.  We didn't stop as we had dallied long enough at other sites that day.

The we hit Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

We passed right by the State Fairgrounds the week as they were setting up for "Frontiers Days".  Seems this is a big deal in Cheyenne.  It runs for about 10 days and in 2017 the headliners for entertainment were Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Jason DeRulo and Flo Rida.  Not my cup of tea and we weren't hanging around Cheyenne for another week to see this as we had tracks to make to get to Idaho.

And just like that, we hit Colorado.....

                                       

"Welcome to Wonderful Colorado" the sign says.

Then we saw a sign for our destination for the evening, Fort Collins.
We found our hotel fairly quickly once we got to town.  Towns and nightly accommodations can be few and far between given the vastness of the Western states so we "had" to stop in Ft. Collins.  The Cambria Suites was the least expensive place to park our bodies for the night and it was still over $200 for the night AND that didn't include any sort of breakfast in the morning!  I used some hotel points I had so we didn't have to pay for the entire bill with cash/card.

Even though  we saw this thrift store sign driving into town Fort Collins gave off a "hipster" vibe.  And as we drove around a bit more it seemed everything was upscale(the shops)and and everywhere the "nature" was landscaped.  This town was too "bougie" for my liking.

I knew it was a college town(Colorado State U.)and they had over 21 Craft Breweries there.  We drove right past the one for New Belgium Brewing but Hubs didn't even want to stop in for a cold one like I thought he would.  So we made a quick detour to someplace I wanted to go before backtracking to the hotel.......

A Marijuana Dispensary in town.

Where I picked up this......

A small container of edibles.  I only ate two and brought the rest home with me. 8-)

Back at the hotel I saw these in front in the parking lot.

Electric car charging stations for guests of the Hotel.  Now remember this was SIX Years ago so electric charging stations for electric cars was so not "a thing" where we lived.  Again, just too "bougie".

So we lugged our belongings into the hotel, checked in amidst a swanky lobby with a fake flame fireplace and seating area.  We made our way up to our room(after peeking in on the indoor pool which was just as glammed up as everything else).  We navigated the elevators and the labyrinth of hallways on the floor our room was on and found it.

It was a two room affair with a desk and a living/sitting room with sofa, a chair, a bar area and a large TV plus two Queen sized beds in the bedroom with another large TV.

Such extravagance after staying in a teepee the night before and a ramshackle motor inn the evening before that!

Being as we were famished as we hadn't eaten yet since breakfast back at the B&B we headed out for an early dinner.  Not knowing the lay of the land if you will, and not wanting to spend a fortune on a "nice" meal as we suspected that given all we had seen there, a fortune indeed it would cost, we settled on this place.....

"Taco John's".  Somewhere we'd never eaten and they don't have out on the Eastern part of the country.

Just like everything else in this town, this "fast food" place was more upscale than say a Taco Bell.  I can't eat fresh Cilantro so I had to ask what was in certain dishes first so to avoid having my dinner taste like soap. lol

I'll say that for a Mexican fast food place it was quite good and more of a casual Mexican restaurant quality of food but the food was placed in paper containers and wrappers and served in a sterile, tiled fast food dining room. ;-)

After eating we went back to the hotel, watched tv and went to bed early as we were worn to a nub.

The next morning after checking out we hit the highway and made our way out of Dodge, er, Fort Collins.

On the way to the Interstate ramp I saw my very first Tesla.  Whoopee, right?

Of course their Walmart was all fancy and Western themed too.

These are just some photos of the landscape as we drove North out of Colorado..........

And so just like that, we were BACK in Wyoming!

A gas station stop with a Wendy's hawking Bacon Queso Burgers.

Back on the interstate......

Uh oh!  A tractor trailer rollover.......

We passed a combination Saloon and Laundromat.  Interesting.

Some low hanging ominous clouds.  This looks like a funnel cloud is forming.....

Luckily no tornado formed.  We passed a billboard for the Outlaw Inn in Rock Spring, WY.

We ended up getting off the Interstate in Rock Spring, WY as we wanted to go to COWBOY DONUTS.

Found out they closed at 2pm and we rode into town just before 2 so we were SOL.  Good thing Kim wasn't with us or she'd have had a FIT! lolz

Instead we stopped in a liquor store across the street to browse.

Look at this.....Pennsylvania Dutch brand of cream liquors.  Not my thing though....

As we headed back out of town we passed this statue.......

A group of children.  We wondered what was this all about?

Found out later there were lots of public art/statues in this town.  Here's a better photo from online.  This was called Children Saluting the Flag.

Back on I-80 and more land formations.

Later on during this stretch there was a tunnel through a mountain......

Sign for the turn off South for Lyman or NorthWest toward Fort Bridger.

We pass a massive Wind Farm.

Getting close to the Utah state line.

Lots of interesting(at least to me)and varied landscape formations.....

Besides the flashing warning signs about exits or the whole danged Interstate being closed ahead, you know you're in serious "Snow Country" when you see this type of "fencing" along the road.....

Those are to keep snow drifts from covering and piling up on the  roadway.

Then the landscape around us really started to change.....

A crossroads on the Interstate....Salt Lake City or Ogden?

A small farm or homestead in a valley......

And then ginormouos mountain slopes with snow still in the nooks and crannies......

36 miles to our destination for the night, Brigham City UT.

And a peek at the Great Salt Lake as we drove past.......

We were staying the night in a dingy little motel(use to be part of one of the big chains before this particular motel got too rundown and was sold off to an independent owner).

We dropped our bags in the room and went down the road to find dinner and happened on this unassuming restaurant.

Hey!  They've got a Conestoga Wagon on top of their sign.  How bad could it be?

This menu was so bizarre.  And NO they weren't cooking and selling Chihuahuas for $5.59.  I guess this was an owners pet and they were proud of him/her so stuck their photo in the menu. lolz

I ordered a light meal-soup and salad, then my salad showed up.....

IN WHAT KIND OF UNIVERSE DO THEY PUT BEETS AND PEAS! IN A SALAD??!

If you don't know, I can not STAND green peas! so that was a big fail.

Note to self-when in Utah, ASK what they put in the salad before ordering it. ick.

The soup was rather delightful though I can't recall what kind it was but it was obviously made there and not poured out of a can.  Some sort of chowder....corn, potato, who knows?

After polishing off that scrumptious meal(eh-hem)we wandered over to Shopko or something like that.  It was a Western chain of department stores, like a K-Mart but I heard they have all gone out of business now.

I got this shirt for my daughter, who loves her adult beverages.......

And this will be the ONLY shirt I'd buy with Lincoln's face on it! lol

Hubs found a deal on "Earp's Sarsaparilla".  What a find. *snort*

Wandered around in there and then headed back to the motel before dusk.

Uh oh, we are in Room 113......

This such a classy joint so they also wrote with a red crayon the room number on the wall by the door. 8-)

And this whole motel was built into the side of a mountain.  Notice the slant of the parking lot.

And notice the bags under my eyes at this point in the trek across the country.  I was wearing out......

The bathroom was such a joy.  Notice how the lever for the faucet is turned "slightly" to the left.  That is with the water off.  If you tried to turn in level water continued to pour forth.

And the shower also had an odd configuration. Very narrow and the shower head couldn't be moved so you had to stand with body parts touching the wall to wash. lolz

The next morning we skipped the "free" breakfast(I think they had Sunny D, coffee, some boxed cereal(but no milk)and prepackaged sweet buns.  bleh.

So we headed out after making a stop at Mickey D's in town for egg McMuffins, coffee(for Hubs)and iced tea for me.

Wagons Ho!!  Onward to Idaho.

Sluggy