The stuff pictured above is what got me through the night. Kate had gone out to a nearby eatery/gift shop the night before and brought back the softest, most friendly-looking stuffed animal she could find. I didn't know anything about Beanie Buddies until later when we added some to our
gift shop, but I now know that Beanie Buddies are among the softest of stuffed animals. I looked directly into her (the elephant's) eyes and named her "Olympia." I didn't know where I'd end up on this trip, but we were driving toward the Olympic Peninsula, which is actually in Washington, but it sounded like a good name.
In the morning things looked brighter. I felt better. Walking in the cooler morning air was nice. I walked around the edge of the parking lot, enjoying being on dirt, not pavement, and looking at the mountains (below). When the patrons of the Days Inn had said rudely to Kate, "I hope you go today," it seemed to be a mutual sentiment. Things were definitely looking up. We found a nice trucker who offered to help us out of there, and he clearly knew more about turning a rig like this in an inadequate space than we did. He knew exactly how to turn to make a certain thing happen. We watched somewhat in awe, because it made sense afterwards, but it wasn't what one would have expected. He made it look easy.
Springville was actually kind of pretty. For some reason, mountains are always reassuring to me.
The lovely Days Inn. I must have been getting some of my spirit back, because I enjoyed taking these photos, if only for the memory book.
We drove through Salt Lake City uneventfully, only stopping for gas and probably peanuts, trail mix, and water, or something like that. I took this picture in Idaho. I think these are not roads, but potato patches. I'm not sure. I kept thinking about potatoes as we drove, and thinking the countryside was pretty boring. It looks nice in a single photo like this, but we were getting tiring of driving mile after mile with nothing new to look at. Somewhere in the middle of that long stretch of Idaho - actually while we were stopped at a cafe having a baked Idaho potato - Alex called on the cell phone and ordered something from our (now itinerant) gift shop. All of the stuff was in the back of the truck. He said he'd wait till we arrived in Oregon, which was a good thing.
It was hot when we arrived at the Best Western in Twin Falls last night. There was a nice easy place to park the truck, and that was alluring for sure. And this morning it was nice, so we went down to take a look at the river.
The Snake River and the canyon were certainly a nice break from such boring countryside. You couldn't even see it until you got close. It was a nice surprise welling up out of the flatland - or down - we hadn't expected this.
I didn't find an angle to get a picture of the bridge, but his is the monument to the man it's named for, I.B. Perrine.
The parking area near the bridge allowed breathtaking views in both directions.
Time to get on the road again. That's the Mazda I bought slightly used in Santa Barbara and had had for the whole eight years I'd lived in Colorado. My mom helped me buy air conditioning for it, which had certainly been a big help.
The idaho high desert. There was lots of this. Miles and miles. The interesting (sight for sore eyes) Snake River was now left behind as we continued to travel west along the southern part of Idaho - brown like a potato. 
