May 31 was rather uneventful, up at 5:45 am, did a final inspection of the house to make sure everything was in order and hit the road by 7:15 am. The long drive to Pocatello, 860 miles, went by surprisingly quick, arriving at the Clarion Pocatello Inn at 9 pm. I called and spoke to Ashley, the desk manager twice over the previous two days to insure the King Room, NON SMOKING we requested would be available. She insured me it would be. I even went so far as to email the hotel manager, concerned about the reviews they received on Tripadvisor. To my surprise, as of today, I have yet to receive a response. When we went to check in the desk clerk confirmed our reservation for a Queen NON SMOKING room. I informed him that I called on two separate occasions and spoke to Ashley confirming a King Room. We ended up in a Queen room, which was somewhat dated and musty smelling like many accommodations we have booked into over the years. Choice Hotels are pretty predictably average and very hit and miss in most countries. When trying to book on Priceline, Hotwire, and Hotels.com, Pocatello had a maximum 2.5 star rating for all accommodations. Overall the stay was very average but did the trick!
The fun started on June 1, waking up at 7:30 am and on the road by 8:30. We set Garmin Nuvi Bee-ach to the fastest setting, Pocatello to Calgary. It took us off the I-15 on some convoluted route on and off smaller highways throughout the drive and never hit the I-15 again. This segment of the trip seemed to drag and go on forever. About 4 pm, we hit the beautiful metropolis of Browning, Montana. Browning is located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and probably the dirtiest, town I have ever seen. You have to witness it to believe it. Very sad...drunken and disorderly natives hanging out at every turn. We had to gas up at the local gas station and we witnessed natives filling their vehicles that were so drunk they could barely stand up! I have to say we were somewhat intimidated and couldn't get out of town fast enough. It was Friday afternoon, June 1 and may have been welfare pay day, which probably explains some of the behaviour. The story really deteriorates from here and not 15 minutes from Browning, approaching Mary's Pass near Waterton Park, we hit the "Mother" of all potholes. I glanced in the rear view mirror a few minutes later and noticed my bike was no longer attached to our bike rack. I slammed on the brakes, ran to the rear of the vehicle and noticed the bike attached to the bike rack with a bungee cord, dragging on the asphalt. It's a miracle it wasn't in a million pieces and to our disbelief, there was no noticeable damage. After re-attaching everything to the rack, we are now running over 2 hours late for our arrival in Calgary. We stopped in Cardston, Alberta after crossing the Canadian border to email Ryan & Jenn, advising them of our late arrival and no sooner did Leslie get to the door of the tourist centre when the iPhone fell out of the case and on to the concrete, smashing the screen. When things go bad, they really go bad!!
We arrived in Calgary at 8:45 pm with the realization, life is still pretty good and the day could have been a lot worse.
The fun started on June 1, waking up at 7:30 am and on the road by 8:30. We set Garmin Nuvi Bee-ach to the fastest setting, Pocatello to Calgary. It took us off the I-15 on some convoluted route on and off smaller highways throughout the drive and never hit the I-15 again. This segment of the trip seemed to drag and go on forever. About 4 pm, we hit the beautiful metropolis of Browning, Montana. Browning is located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and probably the dirtiest, town I have ever seen. You have to witness it to believe it. Very sad...drunken and disorderly natives hanging out at every turn. We had to gas up at the local gas station and we witnessed natives filling their vehicles that were so drunk they could barely stand up! I have to say we were somewhat intimidated and couldn't get out of town fast enough. It was Friday afternoon, June 1 and may have been welfare pay day, which probably explains some of the behaviour. The story really deteriorates from here and not 15 minutes from Browning, approaching Mary's Pass near Waterton Park, we hit the "Mother" of all potholes. I glanced in the rear view mirror a few minutes later and noticed my bike was no longer attached to our bike rack. I slammed on the brakes, ran to the rear of the vehicle and noticed the bike attached to the bike rack with a bungee cord, dragging on the asphalt. It's a miracle it wasn't in a million pieces and to our disbelief, there was no noticeable damage. After re-attaching everything to the rack, we are now running over 2 hours late for our arrival in Calgary. We stopped in Cardston, Alberta after crossing the Canadian border to email Ryan & Jenn, advising them of our late arrival and no sooner did Leslie get to the door of the tourist centre when the iPhone fell out of the case and on to the concrete, smashing the screen. When things go bad, they really go bad!!
We arrived in Calgary at 8:45 pm with the realization, life is still pretty good and the day could have been a lot worse.
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