Wilson Price Hunt Trail (‘Astorians’) 1811 — 1812

Day 34: September 15th, 2006 Meridian — Evanston

Today I almost slept in. There is an appointment with Precision Automotive in the morning. Therefore I hurry up to get to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Around 9am I arrive there and around a quarter to ten I pay and depart. Lucky me, the garage is not too far away. Dodie is not in the office and they are also not able to find the oil. But they can feed the computer with all my personal data in the meantime. And having this opportunity, they check out my rear differential — just to be sure the noise is not coming from the transfer case. They can definitely nail it down to the differential. There is no need to investigate further. The rest can be done in Pittsburgh.

In the meantime, also Dodie arrived. But there was the wrong oil delivered. So she quickly orders the correct synthetic oil. It arrives really fast and they can do the oil change on my truck. I pay, but when I want to leave, the mechanic pulls in my truck once again in the garage. Something is leaking! I tell her about the oversized oil plug and this is really the problem: It is not possible to get the screw sealed again. Lucky me, I still have this piggy–back screw with me. This one fits now really well in the threads. And they also have a good replacement for this rubber seal on the piggy–back. Dodie does not want anything for this extra work and the additional oil. Finally I am able to convince her to take at least $10 for the additional work.

We say good–bye and I drive over to the gas station next door. Around a quarter to noon I do a quick side trip to Wal–Mart. I need another video tape. A quarter past noon, way later as originally planned, I am eventually back on the road.

Interstate 84, ID

Interstate 84, ID

Interstate 84, ID

The sky is pretty overcast on my way back.

Interstate 84, ID

Interstate 84, ID

Interstate 84, ID

Interstate 84, ID

Again I pass Glenns Ferry, this time in easterly direction.

Interstate 84, ID

Interstate 84, ID

Interstate 84, ID

Then I continue in direction of Utah.

Interstate 84, State Line ID and UT

Interstate 84, UT

Interstate 84, UT

Interstate 84, UT

Interstate 84, UT

Interstate 84, UT

Interstate 84, UT

The state line to Utah is completely invisible and I miss it — there was no sign. Instead, it now starts slowly to rain.

Tremonton, UT

But for my stop at the gas station, it stopped raining. On the top of the mountains I already see the first snow. Hopefully I make it over the mountain range without issues.

Just before 5pm I continue my journey. At Ogden I am already back in the rain again.

Soon I am in a heavy shower where almost little creeks are floating over the Interstate. Into the bargain, I urgently need a restroom. Eventually I reach a rest area. But it seems like the restrooms are closed. Because of the heavy rain I don’t want to give it a try and drive on. But then the rain finally slows down and at the next rest area I get my relieve.

Due to the problems with the oil change and the real bad weather, I have lost a lot of time. Therefore I decide to stay at Evanston in the local Motel 6 this night — if they have free rooms left. And indeed, they still have free rooms. So I check in around 7pm. I put my stuff into the room and check my video taping of today.

In the phone book I find two restaurants, whereas I decide to go for the “Old Mill Restaurant”. When I arrive there, the rain has changed to snow rain. Stupidly, I only wear a shirt and it is already a bit cool in the restaurant. Also I am the only guest right now. But my server is really nice. The dinner is excellent, even though it is a bit pricy.

Around half past nine I pay and ask again about the weather forecast. She says, this will be not an issue for me, because I am going east. When I remark that the weather is currently moving east she says, that things are a bit funny in this valley. When there is snow, it will be first at the western side. Then it goes to the east. So I need to trust her and leave the restaurant.

When I exit the restaurant, I am totally shocked, because everything is white now! Almost an inch of snow is on my truck. But it can still be handled by my wipers. Let’s see, how things will look like tomorrow. Back in my motel room, I check the rest of my video taping. Then I go to bed. The motel room is really big and also very quiet. It seems like the motel is not really booked…