She warned me about that! It was a brand new pair of blue jeans to boot. That’s right all my clothes went into the washer along with the blue jeans. From the dryer, my white towel and my whitey tightys all had a baby blue patina. In my mind, they looked better than before.

That was in Casper, WY, at the Plaza Hotel, a local place that did small conferences as well. With the room (Boxxer right out the door) I got 10% off dinner (Saturday steak special for $8.50), the second drink free, free breakfast, and a clothes washer just down the hall. The room was $70 and dinner with 2 gins & tonic was $11.50 (Poor waitress;I gave her a 50% tip). I really needed that stop after 3 nights camping.

Into Idaho Ken and I decided to ride together to John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The temps were near 100 again and winds were gusty, but the scenery was spectacular, especially in the painted hills part of the park. John Day had a great visitor’s center: all about the accumulation of fossils of fascinating plants and animals over geologic time in this fossil-rich place. Is the earth only 6000 years old? If you want to believe that, don’t visit this place.