This was my last morning in Salt Lake City. I was ready to get moving north again. Utah was very nice. But the saturation point was starting and I was getting bored of Utah. My plan was to have lunch and then just head north so I could get to Idaho Falls, ID for my next hotel.
Leaving Utah
I was able to get out of Utah without any sidetrips, even though I had been tempted by some state parks. I also had thought about one last look at the Great Salt Lake.
However, after getting into Idaho, I saw something tempting enough to get me to leave I-15. There was a sign which mentioned Lava Hot Springs and Soda Springs on a particular exit. Lava Hot Springs is a resort area near the Snake River. Supposedly, there are actual hot springs. I didn't care about the resort; I just wanted to see an interesting natural feature. Soda Springs was a point on the Oregon Trail computer game I played in elementary school. I couldn't be that close and not visit Soda Springs.
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Lava Hot Springs
When I got to Lava Hot Springs, I found a local park that bordered the Snake River. People could go tubing down the gentle falls of the river. I didn't do that as I didn't have time. I got some nice pictures, however. See the photos.
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Soda Springs Geyser
After that, I went on to Soda Springs, which was 33 miles from the I-15 exit. As usual, there was beautiful mountain scenery along the way. There were markers talking about the Oregon Trail. At first I assumed Soda Springs was just a small town. See town photos. I'd see it and turn around. But, I noticed a sign indicating a geyser. I have never seen a geyser before. I knew I would see some in Yellowstone but since I was already here...
It was definitely interesting. There was a small "fountain" of water continuously flowing out. But there was also a small pipe next to it. Every so often, a huge eruption would take place. I was able to get photographs of the eruption. See the photos.
As I was leaving, I saw some signs describing the geyser. Apparently, this is not a natural geyser. It is the world's only man-made geyser. So, the first geyser I ever saw was artificial! Oh well, I would see plenty of natural ones in Yellowstone.
Cracked Windshield
After getting back on I-15 and driving for a while, I heard a loud noise and saw a stone bounced off my windshield. A tractor trailer was in front of me. I then noticed a small spider-web crack in the windshield. The truck evidently kicked up a stone and it landed right on my windshield. It was not directly in the line of vision, but it was on the driver's side. I remember hearing a radio ad saying that unless these are taken care of sooner rather than later, they can get bigger. See photos taken the next day.
From looking at signs along the interstate, it appears I was in the Pocatello. ID area. I got off at the nearest exit. I knew the agency I rented my car from had an office in Pocatello. I called and they had a Chevy HHR that they could give me. I was not pleased because I know it gets less gas mileage than the G6. When I got there, I found it had Washington state plates. I had just turned in another car to avoid having West Coast plates. The staff person told me they give out the West Coast plated ones to people who are not going to return them directly to their agency. He suggested I might have better luck getting a non-West Coast car in Idaho Falls. He said the crack would be okay for the remainder of the drive to Idaho Falls.
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I called the Idaho Falls airport rental office. They did not have cars in my class and suggested I go to a downtown office outside the airport. They were not open but did have cars in my class. They also said there would be a good chance I could get a car with an Idaho, Utah, or Wyoming plate.
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Perhaps just fix the windshield?
I really liked this car and thought perhaps it could just be fixed so I didn't have to give it up or lug all my stuff to another car. I called road side assistance to see if they could just have someone fix it. They said that was not a possibility; I had to do a swap or just drive with the crack. There was absolutely no way I was going to drive back to the northeast with a cracked windshield.
I liked this car quite a bit. It had nice room and drove a lot smoother than car #2 (a Dodge Caliber). I only had it for just a few days. I only put about 600 miles on it!
No Internet Service
Finally, I got into the hotel. This was my last freebie night thus far. It was an okay hotel. But then I opened my laptop and tried to get online. It took forever to connect and then provided local access only. In other words, no Internet. This was a hotel which indicated free wireless Internet was available in all rooms. I took my laptop down to the lobby to test it. It wasn't any better there. The clerk informed me that "sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't." That's not acceptable in a hotel that advertises wireless Internet service. It's fine if it was just down for a day. But if it's routinely not reliable, that's not right. I filed a complaint with Choice Hotels but as of September 4, I still have not received a response.
At this point I was making reservations each night. I would see Yellowstone National Park the next day. Of course, this was Labor Day Weekend so it was the worst possible time to see Yellowstone. Since I had no Internet service, I had to call Choice Hotels and have the clerk tell me the distance between where I was now and each hotel plus the distance between the hotel and Yellowstone. The Choice Hotel brand hotels were terribly expensive near all the Yellowstone entrances. Some were totally booked. I found one in Rexburg, ID, which was reasonable. This was only twenty-six miles from Idaho Falls. However, it was eighty miles away from the Yellowstone entrance at West Yellowstone, MT. I decided to go for it because
it was the cheapest of all Choice Hotels in the area.
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