Looking for the “real” America
It’s all real I guess, but I want to see where people actually live and what that is like.
When we travel we like to take the backroads as much as possible, to see what I call “real” America. You can get places pretty fast on the Interstate, but traveling by Interstate is much different than taking the two-lane blacktop through small towns across America.
A gas station-convenience store on the Interstate is not very different in Montana, Kansas, or anywhere else. There are the same national chain restaurants and fast food dealers along the Interstate no matter where you are. Still, if you need to make time, the Interstate is as efficient as you can get.
On our recent trip we took the Interstate from Kansas to Cheyenne Wyoming. From there we took the small roads as much as possible. But in Wyoming and Montana, very sparsely populated states, the differences in the Interstate and the small roads faded some.
The wife is a research fanatic and likes taking pictures of murals, statues and courthouses. I shoot everything and don’t care if we have an itinerary or not. I leave the “where we going” question to her and it works out well. We were headed to Glacier National Park, and I was starting to get concerned that we were hanging out in Wyoming too long. She ignored my protests and handed me another brochure to read. I have to give her credit. No one can pack more into a day.
One thing I do like is eating local fare. Things we would not normally have, or checking out the local fare.
In Cheyenne we stumbled into a small Mexican grocery store to get some water. We ended up getting burritos. They had a small kitchen in the back and served up some really good Mexican fare. The menu was in Spanish. The tacos and burritos were as good as any I have had anywhere. The lady at the register spoke broken english with a heavy spanish accent. They also had some cookies that were made there and were outstanding. They seemed surprised to see a couple of gringo tourists but they were still friendly.
Onward to Laramie before the day ended, which was not real far away.
We looked for a place to stay in Laramie. We like cheap hotels. Places run by Indians probably, but in more remote areas you may find old hotels that have been run by a local family for 50 years or more. They are basically clean, comfortable and cheap.
Often they are not listed in tour guides or even on the Internet. They probably have free WiFi, that works most of the time. They may or may not have breakfast. On the Interstate you are lucky to find something under $100. On Main Street in a small remote town you can still get a room for $50 or so. It has some character and often is even better overall quality.
You can ask to see the room first, and she has turned a couple down based on that. She looks at the front of the motel. If they take care of the yard, grassy areas and the appearance, they also take care of the rooms, is her philosophy and it has been correct so far.
I usually take some time to chat with the owners in the morning. The second bonus to these places is they know the local area better than anyone. We show them our plans and ask for advice. We ask about things that are interesting. What things are over-hyped. What are roads like.
We got to Douglas Wyoming the next night. We found what turned out to be my favorite hotel of the whole trip — the Plains Motel. A big room with a big tv, Wifi that worked great and comfortable beds. All that for $55. It looked old, pre 1940s styling. Still the front looked good and the people were really nice. I asked for a bit of ice, and the lady said to bring in our cooler she would fill it up for us. That’s the kind of thing small town hotels do.
We got to Billings, Montana the next night, and finding a hotel was an experience. There was a big motorcycle event going on and a lot of hotels were full. There was heavy duty road construction going on, making it hard to find your way around. We ended up paying too much for a national chain hotel. Beds were hard. We checked in at 11 p.m. and were gone by 7 a.m., and it cost us $100. The breakfast was lousy too. Thus the difference in Interstate travel and backroads small town main street travel. The ice machine was in sight of the front desk and there was a sign saying to not fill up your cooler.
It’s always an adventure. You never know what you will find. We try to take both as they come. We didn’t talk to the person at the front desk as they seemed busy and pretty much not interested. I’m not really complaining though. Sometimes you find a great place and sometimes you don’t.
She had “just a few things” in Billings she wanted to see. Of course she did. I asked her when we were going to get to Glacier. She ignored the question.