Day 4 - Driving day

We all got a fairly good nights' sleep last night and were up about 7. I got some coffee and prepped a bit for the phone interview I had at 8am. I'd been contacted by the Downers Grove North English Department Chair about a leave position. He asked me to interview today, and when I told him we'd be on the road, he asked if I'd be willing to do it over the phone. So, this was my first interview, sitting in the car, wearing spandex and a t-shirt. Not bad! The department chair was very nice, and I feel like the interview went well. But, then, I usually feel like they go well, so who knows? He said it was possible they would do another interview with the teacher going on leave, but he may pick someone after the interviews today. He goes out of town tomorrow, but he said I would hear from him, either way, in the next week or two. So I'm on the way up the roller coaster one more time.

Speaking of roller coasters, our drive today was HILLY! But before we got to the hills, we made an unexpected trip to a Midas in a somewhat large town in eastern Wyoming. Our check oil light was going on the last couple of days and then another light went on, despite the fact that we had it changed right before we left on this trip. But with all the mountainous driving we've done and will be doing, we did not want to risk breaking down, especially since towns are few and far between. Thankfully, the nice guy at Midas checked, and he thinks exactly what Will expected: the guy who changed it back home forgot to reset the counter or whatever for when the warning light would go off again. We changed the oil earlier than needed, so now that we've driven 1000 miles or so, the warnings were going off. I got really nervous that it would be something serious, which would not have been fun. I'm glad we had it checked.

Shortly past this stop, we could see the white caps of the Rockies, and the drive got a lot more curvy. We went through Bighorn National Forest, where we went up and down and wound this way and that, all with gorgeous vistas on either side. Will is surely getting good practice for driving through Yellowstone. 

We did have an ornery Eleanor several hours into our trip. She went to a dark place and tried to bring the rest of us down with her. Honestly, the kids have done so well in the car. Today was our longest drive. Looking back, she was clearly hangry. We packed pb&js for lunch, but she refused, so she ended up having a blueberry muffin for lunch, along with some carrot sticks. After dinner, she perked up considerably.

We only made one short stop after the Midas stop, this time to check out a view in Bighorn and stretch our legs a bit. The drive after that was smooth, but had a ton of downhills and switchbacks. Once we were out of Bighorn, we had more straightaways. We arrived at our hotel right around 4:30, which meant the trip was 7 hours. It was supposed to take 6.5, so we did pretty well considering we had one bathroom, one Midas, and one stretch break. 

Our hotel, just before downtown Cody, is better than we expected. We are not in the main hotel building but in a stretch of motel type rooms with an outside door. We have a large room with two queens and the one bed is in a separate room of sorts. It doesn't have a door, but it is nice to have a little more space. (Our last place was TINY, reminiscent of our Banff hotel.) The last two nights, I've gone to bed with the kids. Now, Will and I have our own area and can stay up a bit and read. Not that I will last all that long. All the sitting in the car has worn me out! 

For dinner, we drove into downtown Cody and hit up a Mexican restaurant. It was decent. Then we walked around town for a little bit and went in some shops. Will talked about doing the nightly rodeo tonight, but I said I was just too tired. We may do a rafting trip tomorrow. We talked about doing one when we are in Jackson because we are staying along the Snake River. But I was thinking it might be smart to do it here since we only have two full days in the Tetons (Jackson), so spending half a day outside of the park might not be the best use of our time there. I know the kids want to do some white water rapids and we saw a "family trip" advertised. We will research tonight. 

For now, it's time to sip a little of the well-deserved tiny box of wine I got at the liquor store. Wyoming is apparently like Florida. You can't buy wine/liquor in the grocery, but there is always at least one or two liquor stores right next door. The one I went to had a drive through window!