Addendum to Idaho part III

In my rush to post the pretty pictures taken along the drive, I neglected to mention the worst part of the trek.

Our rental car reeked of gas.

Can you imagine spending 3 hours trapped in the small confines of a little Kia Sorrento choking on fumes of gasoline? Rolling down the windows did not help much and only led to complaints from the back passengers. We hoped the smell would disappate by the time we reached our destination, but it remained strong and whole for the entire duration of the trip. I felt nauseated.

The driver of the Explorer had arranged the rental from Budget. He called a branch located in Twin Falls (we planned to visit Shoshone Falls before heading to the hotel). The people at that branch were very nice and willing to help out in any way they could. I hopped into the Explorer and he drove the Sorrento over to the branch while the rest of us headed to Shoshone.

Long story short, he was unable to trade the vehicle for a new one because the people who owned the branch in SLC were uncooperative. The rest of the trip I did not ride in that car.

Stay tuned for lovely pics of Shoshone Falls.

Trip to Idaho for work, part III

See here for part I and here for part II.

Warning: this whole post will basically be pictures. Not much to discuss about the drive itself. We got into the two cars. We drove for a few hours. We got out of the cars. Exciting story, right? So enjoy these pictures of Utah & Idaho countryside.

I do have to note that this was my favorite picture. You can see how small and insignificant the horses look against the rising expanse of the mountain behind.

So that was the drive. A very alien landscape to someone who grew up in the Midwest, but beautiful in its own right. I hope my pictures conveyed some of the variety of landscape.

To be continued...

Trip to Idaho for work, part II

See here for part I.

The Texans arrived in due time. We waited some more for our second rental car, which was supposed to be another nice Explorer.

Of course it wasn't.

It was a dark green Kia Sorento with a grey cloth interior still a bit dirty from previous use. Upon opening the driver's side door, strong gas fumes wafted out, making us nearly gag. My coworkers figured that whoever brought the car back must have stepped in some spilled fuel before parking the car. We had already waited in line quite awhile to get this vehicle, and we needed to head out for Idaho, since the drive to our meeting location took three hours.

Driving into Salt Lake City, we passed a bomb squad and many police cars surrounding an apartment building.

We continued driving through downtown SLC towards Temple Square.

Despite all the construction going on, we did manage to find some on street parking, and we walked through Temple Square to meet up with the first group by the Mormon Temple.

After our quick walk through tour of Temple Square, we loaded back into our cars and headed out towards Idaho. On the way out of SLC, I noted some large homes built on the tops of the surrounding foothills. It reminded me a little of the houses in the Loess Hills of Iowa perched precariously on the rims of steep hills formed by debris deposited long ago winds.

To be continued...

Trip to Idaho for work, part I

A few weeks ago, my company had a few of us from each location meet at our facility in Idaho. We were told we could either fly into Boise or Salt Lake City, then rent vehicles to drive the rest of the way. I decided that the Indiana people (3 of us) would fly to SLC, since I have a cousin who lives there, and I would be able to visit her before or after the meeting. Turns out SLC was the logical choice anyways, because there weren't many options available for Boise.

Our flight out of Indiana departed at the ungodly hour of 6:00 in the morning. To make the flight, I met my fellow employees at an even more unholy time, 4:30. This was after a night with only a couple hours of rest because I had to finish preparing the materials we were supposed to bring with us. I tried to relax for the very short flight to Cincinnati, seated by the window next to a stranger.

I deliberately chose seats away from my co-workers on the plane. They aren't horrible people, but I am not the most comfortable with them. I still feel a lot like an outsider at my new place of employment.

After the short hop to Cinci, the next leg of our journey loomed before us abruptly. Our layover didn't last long, and we boarded the large jet. A packed flight and yet another pair of strangers next to me on that shiny metal tube.

Bear Lake, near SLC in Utah

It was fun to take pictures and see just how close I could get with the zoom on my new camera. These pictures weren't full zoom but still turned out neat.

The descent into SLC allowed a full view of the Great Salt Lake looming below, a brilliant shade of azure blue against the whites, browns, and reds of surrounding salt mining fields.

Ours was the first flight to arrive in SLC of the four comprising the SLC group. Three locations were flying into SLC and the others would travel through Boise. We ate lunch then pulled our suitcases from the luggage carousel. I checked the arrival boards and found that the Pennsylvania group had already landed, much earlier than their scheduled time! I called my counterpart with the group, and he said they were at the car rental place working on obtaining our vehicles. We had reserved two SUVs for a total of eight people.

After a bit of a wait, we had our first vehicle, a black Ford Explorer with nice tan, leather seats. We were still waiting on two flights from Texas (the two people chose to take different routes). Some of the PA guys commented that they had yet to eat, so two of us stayed behind while the rest climbed into the Explorer and headed into the wilds of SLC to sight see and dine.

Ok, I've run out of steam for now. To be continued (I know you wait with baited breath)...

The ponies are in Indiana!

It was a long trip in a very short period of time, but they are here! Last Weds evening, I caught the Greyhound to Chicago and then on to Omaha. I would've rather flown, but part of the reason for my trip was to obtain valid photo identification that Iowa would not mail to me. Without current (valid) photo ID, I certainly would not be able to fly to the meeting in Idaho next week.

My friend Kevin (the D.Q.'s mechanic) picked me up in the morning in downtown Omaha. I was still bleary eyed from a long, cold night uncomfortably squeezing myself across two seats of the bus in order to attempt some semblence of sleep. Hopefully I'll have the energy to detail the full story some other time. Kevin drove me to Julie's house, where I could finally shower and rest (but only after saying hello to my ponies!).

Julie helped me run some errands during the course of my brief visit. We headed out at around 11 am on Saturday morning, intending to take mostly interstate in order to avoid stop-and-go traffic. We weren't aware, at the time, that stop-and-go traffic did NOT intend to afford us the same courtesy.

In case you aren't aware, this has been one of the rainiest summers in Iowa ever (as well as other places). Severe flooding, primarily in central Iowa, has garnered national headlines. While we saw some of this intense flooding, that was not the main cause of our troubles. Our delay resulted from an accident (an apparently devastating one) when people driving past the flooding did not pay enough attention to the road as they must have been gawking at all the water everywhere. The only exit we passed where we might have been able to escape the backed up interstate proved to be under water as well, and cars that had attempted to ditch the traffic jam found themselves turning around to return and join us on the sweltering highway.

After roasting for at least two hours to travel perhaps 4 miles down the road, Jazzy and Zeplin were NOT happy campers. We pulled over to offer them water, but they were so upset they refused to drink. Both had slick summer coats soaked in perspiration from the heat and muscle use required to brace against ever shifting flooring.

Here are some flood pictures (Julie took most of these with my new camera):

Can you see the ambulance and the vans nearly submerged?

Farther down the road, we checked on the ponies again and found that the breeze created by cruising along the interstate at normal speeds dried their sweaty coats. We fed them while fueling up, hanging hay bags in front of each velvety muzzle. They were no longer angry, although they still didn't want to drink. They quietly munched their hay and gazed out the dropped down trailer windows.

We stopped a couple more times for gas, and in Illinois gave the horses an extended break in a hotel parking lot, enjoying the quiet still of the night after moving for so long. We pulled handfuls of grass and proffered them to the goat in her crate in the back of the truck, along with the horses. She seemed to take the trip a bit more easily than the horses.

For the remainder of the trip, we untied the horses' heads and let them relax their necks, heads hanging wearily from equally tired shoulders. This time they drank all the water we had with us. We did not unload them for fear that they wouldn't want to get back in the trailer so soon after such a difficult journey.

We reached our destination in Indiana in the very early hours of the morning, probably around 3:00 or so. The horses unloaded gratefully, stretching necks to take in all the new sites. They both snorted at unusual objects shrouded in clouds of fogs created by the heavy humidity in the air. Although Julie and I were just as exhausted, we made sure the horses were comfortable in their new barn, throwing them some hay and rubbing some linament (made from wintergreen isopropanol, witch hazel and water) along their sore muscles.

Julie unhooked the trailer and I drove us silently over to Jane's house to rest for a short time, combatting the humid condensation with sluggish windshield wipers.

My ponies were finally here!!