Happy birthday, kinda

I made it through Oregon and Idaho (no... Udaho!). I was going to stop just inside the Wyoming border for the night the first day. I got to the first town and all the hotels were full. I got to the next town, and all the hotels were full. So I asked what was up, and the lady said they had been booked for months in advance... she said it was the "oil boom". Huh? She asked which way I was headed, and when I said east she just shook her head. Crap. I ended up going almost to Colorado for the night which was far further than I had intended. I got to sleep at 1am mountain time. That pretty much put me off kilter for the rest of the trip. I made sure I called ahead to find a place to sleep each night, which meant I either went farther than I wanted or not far enough. The second day I got up late and went down through Colorado. Apparently I missed a big storm by going south. I had never been to Colorado (save the airport) before, and I wanted to see Pike's Peak. I got off the interstate at Trinidad CO and nosed around. That is such an interesting town. I ended up in Las Vegas New Mexico for the night.... also a neat town.

The next morning I got up really early, determined to make it to Jim's parents house, or at the very least Little Rock Arkansas. It was my birthday. My 35th birthday. So I was wondering what wonderful things the day would hold. Ha! About an hour into my journey I lost a tire. I had no idea where I was, except I knew I was on I-40 in New Mexico. AAA was good to me. Jim was good to me too... finding the nearest Nissan dealership since there was NO way there was an Infiniti dealership for hundreds of miles. The nearest Nissan dealership was i Amarillo TX, which was not close. My car has a very odd size tire on it, so there aren't many places that would have one. I could not get to my cheater tire without unloading a completely full trunk. I couldn't even drive the several hundred miles to Amarillo anyway. A nice guy came and towed me to Amarillo. It was actually nice to have someone else drive for awhile, and to have someone to talk to. Of course it was kinda like hiring a date. He was not a cheap travel companion. When I got to the Nissan dealership, they ordered the tires (yes I got all 4) and worked me in.

Needless to say. I got a ride with a crazy tow truck driver and 4 new tires for my birthday.