Day 3 - Part 2

Utah Rest Stop
Originally uploaded by LiAps.

Here's my advice to all you cross-country travelers. Don't EVER say, "Oh, I'll just pee/get gas/grab food as soon as I cros into Utah." There is NOTHING until you hit Green River. Nothing. And, you'd better stop in Green River no matter what. I, as you can probably tell, needed to stop regardless. But, had I not been planning on it, the small sign on the exit signpost which read "No Services on I-70 for 106 miles" would not have caught me in time. Seriously, shouldn't they give you a mile or so advance notice?

Anyway, Utah is beautiful too. This picture was taken at a random highway rest stop, for Chrissakes!

This was the day when I truly had an epiphany - the rest of the country is so incredibly beautiful, how can I live in NY?? There was a middle school up in the CO mountains that I passed by, and thought, "How could a kid not be permanently happy with this as the backdrop for his days at school?" Something like that anyway.

Somewhere along the way (I think in CO), I passed a Halliburton truck. Ha.

Stopped at the Best Western Butch Cassidy Inn in Beaver, UT. It was immaculate and perfect for a road trip motel. I could have driven further, could probably have made it all the way to Vegas, but I was in no rush.

I asked the woman behind the counter at the hotel for a dinner recommendation that was not fast food. She said her favorite place was a steakhouse, which sounded good to me. So I changed my shirt (totally unnecessary, as it turned out), and headed out.

The "steakhouse" was a glorified trailer. And as I pulled up, the three faces in the window were unabashedly staring at me. They were the only other customers, and the only other car in the parking lot was a construction/utility van. When I walked in and sat down, I was fully prepared to take some shit from these guys -- I pulled up in a BMW with NY plates.

They started with, "You're a long way from home, aren't you?" And I settled in for the beating (hoping it would only be verbal). They turned out to be 3 really nice guys. As were the owner of the steakhouse and the waitress. We all shot the shit a little. Talking about Vegas - where I was headed, and where the owner had lived for 27 years, where he ran a catering company which catered all of John Wayne's later movies.

The food was really good, and crazy cheap. It was a good evening.

Here's one thing I thought about: I could have made up any story I wanted when talking to these people. People, including friends of mine, make shit up all the time when talking to strangers. But I told my true life story, down to admitting I was a lawyer (poor attempts at jokes followed) and that I had borrowed the BMW I was driving from my mother. I am such a bad liar, even when it doesn't matter, that I just don't do it.

OK. Enough for now. Gotta go to sleep. Rest of trip will follow