I woke up ready to keep driving. Sleeping at a rest stop does that, I suppose. It’s not a destination or even a stopping place really. It’s just a pause. I slept in my front seat, woke up and walked around for two minutes, then got back in my seat and started driving again.

     Yesterday I ended up going a lot farther than I intended. I made it about two-thirds of the way down Idaho and I only needed to get a little further south – to Boise – before I started going east again. I decided to make Boise my morning destination. I wanted to stop in a big city where I could find a Starbucks and finish the planning that I started yesterday.

     I did find a Starbucks. While drinking an iced coffee, I reassessed my stopping points on the way to Yellowstone. I found a rest stop for tonight and made a reservation at the West Yellowstone KOA for tomorrow night. At the KOA, I will enjoy the pool, the showers, and the return to civilization.

     With that figured out, I got back on the road and drove east, across Idaho. Driving on the state highways, I saw a lot of fields (which appeared to be predominantly used for growing hay). I felt almost like I was at sea. With a few color alterations, the rolling fields and hovering smoke would have looked exactly like endless waves and billowing fog.

     Unlike the ocean, the fields I drove through were interrupted by other features of geography and civilization I drove through lots of little towns where traffic slowed to meet the 25 MPH speed limits. The highways I took also paralleled several rivers. My favorite was the Payette River. I pulled off once to take pictures of it and every time I turned around a bend in the road, I wanted to stop again and take more. I resisted the urge. I’ve had that problem many times so far in this trip. I wish I could stop to take every bit of the scenery I drive through, but there is just too much.

     I pulled off for the night at a rest stop near Idaho Falls. Tomorrow I’ll start heading north to reach Yellowstone. This is the second rest stop that I have used and I am learning to be grateful for them. They have free overnight parking, clean bathrooms, shade trees, and short walking paths. All wonderful things to find on a road trip!

     I had this rest stop almost to myself (there was only one other car in the parking lot). I got out and stretched, then did my two hundred pushups for Idaho. Now I’ve got four states done! California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Only thirty-one states left.

     After exercising, I played my guitar for awhile and then called home. It was good to talk to my family. My mom asked about my sleeping arrangements. I told her I had just been sleeping in the driver’s seat of the car. She recommended that I move things around in the back of the car so that I could stretch out and sleep there. I liked that idea. It took a bit of reorganizing, but I got it to work. I am very thankful for the suggestion! It’s wonderful to be sleeping in an almost real bed again.