Day 20

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Enter The Water (or go on the road…)

Well, it seems that the car wasn’t really fixed when we picked it up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The mechanic told us we had to get the wheels aligned (closest place to do so, Idaho Falls, 100 miles away, go figure….), but in that process other things were found to be wrong as well. We’re now the lucky recipients of a free day in Idaho Falls, temperature 20 degrees, for at least another day. Hopefully that’s all.

Idaho Falls, ID

Thank goodness for the public library. We’ve been here the majority of the day. Since we don’t live in the county, we were allowed to use the “Internet” computers for up to an hour, the rest of the time we’ve spent lazily reading magazines we’d never take the time to read cover to cover in our otherwise busy lives. It’s been a nice change of pace.

Overheard…

In the restaurant at breakfast:

Waitress: Well, you won’t believe what he did next. (pause) He poured sugar down my shirt and then soaked me with water. Can you believe that?

Daniel and I exchanged raised eyebrows. He whispered, “Do you think “he’s” a baby or a boyfriend?” I had just assumed a boyfriend. And then…

Waitress: You know, I’m not sure how old he is. Twenty-nine? Thirty-one?

Boyfriend.

In the taxi as we passed a “Gentlemen’s Club”:

Driver: See that bar right there? That’s where I was during the big earthquake of ’57. You know, the one that took all those tourists in Yellowstone when the mountain just slid down?

We nodded, not really knowing, but wanting to hear his story.

Driver: Well, I had gone in and ordered a scotch and soda. I took one sip of that drink and the earthquake hit. We could feel it, mighty strong, right here in Idaho Falls. I looked up and said to the bartender, I don’t know what you put in that drink, but I’ll take another one…

And with that he slapped his knee and guffawed.