The Last Leg

Besides free wireless Internet, I always judge the quality of a hostelry by the height of the showerhead and the healthfulness of its breakfasts. The higher the showerhead, the better quality hotel; it's axiomatic. Some places boast of hot breakfasts, which often turn out to be total heart attack food such as make-your-own waffles or bisquits and sausage gravy, but not a slice of fresh fruit in sight.

With my travel mug full of steaming coffee and some bananas and apples for the road, we got a fairly early start, which means around 9 AM no matter how hard we try.

Gas was $2.89 in Twin Falls, and most everywhere else except for a couple of gougers along the road that went a high as $3.19. Moscow was $2.99, which is at least under $3.00, but as usual, way more than in Lewiston 30 miles south, which I'll never understand.

I thought I would give the Pharos 143 GPS navigator a chance to redeem itself as it had been misbehaving badly, and I didn't want to have to write too terrible a review. So, I asked it to take us home, which is a simple maneuver with only a couple possibilities, I thought.

Ho hum, I expected it to tell me to take a left turn on I-84 and head west past Boise to Highway 95 north and take a right and go until you arrive in Moscow, 400 some miles later. To my utter surprise, it announced that I was to take a right and head east on I-84. The little rascal, I mused, it probably wants me to go up Highway 93 to Montana and turn left on Highway 12 over the Lolo Pass to Lewiston and north to Moscow, which is one of my favorite drives, but it adds 300 miles to the trip, and that wasn't an option. We were eager to get home after three weeks on the road.

You'll never guess what it had in mind. It wanted me to take I-84 to the I-15 into Montana and then head over I-90 west. You'd think it would then invite you to hang a left at Coeur d'Alene and go down Highway 95 to Moscow. Instead, it went all the way to Spokane and the down 195 to Pullman and over Highway 8 to Moscow. Talk about roundabout. That was a 760 mile itinerary.

The moral of the story is that GPS will always get you where you want to go--eventually. But, it might be a good idea to check a real map once in a while to verify the route, especially in strange territory. By the way, I'm not even going to waste the time to review that GPS unit, and I certainly won't be recommending it.

We got home, and most of our plants were still alive thanks to Jimmy Deringer, but there was a leak in the lower pond and it was completely dry. I guess the raccoons got the fish.

It was a great trip, but it's always good to get back home and put your head on your own pillow. Man, we got out of the hill country of Texas just in time. The place has been experiencing torrential rains and is now awash in floods with cars floating down the rivers and people dying. On top of that I have to worry about a hurricane headed that way. My family there seem to take it all in stride without much concern, so I guess I shouldn't worry. They think we are crazy for living in a place with black ice on the roads in the winter.

Oh well, we're headed to California before long, if it hasn't burned up from forest fires or fallen into the sea from earthquakes. Or, maybe it will declare bankruptcy and China will foreclose on it.

OK, end of moblog for now. I guess I'll pick it up again when we're headed to California. Meanwhile I may post a few of my favorite pix when I get time and if the spirit moves me.