On the Way to Grand Teton
We left Moab with not much of a plan. We were going to drive up to Salt Lake City. Maybe stay in Salt Lake City. Maybe just keep on driving. We ended up planting in a Starbucks just outside of Salt Lake for an hour and trying to figure out what we really wanted to do. We left that Starbucks hopped up on caffeine with not much of a plan.
And so we just drove on into the night. Driving up into Wyoming proved to be an interesting experience. It was incredibly dark, and people seem to default to high beams. There were many signs warning of wildlife in the road, and more than a few blood stains on the road. We drove by a car going slowly, hazards flashing, front end all smashed up. My guess is that it had hit an animal.
After a couple hours of driving nervously in the dark, we started looking for someplace to stay. There was a motel about an hour away, the Hideout Motel in Cokeville, WY. It sounded like a winner, so we set our sights there and hoped for the best.
We got to the Hideout Motel and were greeted with a No Vacancy sign. Our spirits were crushed. We went into the front office anyway to double check, and we were hoping maybe the person inside could direct us somewhere else.
We ended up speaking to the owner inside, and he was incredibly nice. He confirmed the No Vacancy sign was in fact accurate. And that the nearest motel was about an hour up the road in Afton. He must have sensed our dissapointment, he asked if it was just the two of us and then he mentioned that if we had sleeping bags, there was a teepee outside that he would let us sleep in for twenty bucks. He had some extra blankets as well.
We briefly debated sleeping in the teepee, it was pretty cold out, but neither of us had another hour of driving in us. And then Ashley mentioned that we had a bed in the back of the van, and asked if we could just sleep parked next to the teepee. I don’t think he thought twice about it, and we had a deal. We didn’t have any cash on us, so he told us not to worry about paying, seeing as we weren’t using the teepee. We were stoked.
The owner saves some space in the back of the motel for RVs coming through, and so there was a separate bathroom and shower outside that we were able to use. It was quite perfect and we slept pretty well for being in the parking lot of a strange motel.
We woke up early and shuffled to the bathroom to brush our teeth. The owner of the motel was up bright and early, looking sharp in a full suit, heading off to church. We drove up the road a bit to find an ATM, then returned to slip a thank-you note and a twenty under the door.
