Avon House

After stopping at the Baker City food co-op for snacks, we hit the road at about 11:00 a.m., ready for the nearly 8-hour drive to Avon House. It’s the longest drive-day we planned for the trip. Again, Fiona retired to the covered litter box (I put a padded liner between her and the cleaned out litter) and Chi Chi was once again, whiney and restless. She rode for a while in Lee’s lap while I drove, and then she finally settled down in her cage for the rest of the day.

Again, the scenery was expansive and majestic. The highway has been constructed in a valley surrounded by low foothills. Occasionally our old 2001 Prius had to climb over those foothills to get to the next valley. We were amazed by the perseverance of our old car. 2001 was the debut of the Prius, and our car has more than 112,000 miles on it, yet it climbed every hill at 65-75 mph without a single complaint. Even over-loaded, with the air conditioning on full bore to protect us from the 100 degree heat outside, it is getting almost 38 mpg.  We admired its fortitude and endurance and were glad we sprung for the $1200 for a tune up and an oil change before we left.

We usually get 55 mpg on the highway, so we aren’t used to having to get gas every day. When we stopped at an Idaho gas station for a fill up, we remembered that we’d left the wonderful convenience of Oregon’s anti-self-serve gasoline policy.

Avon House was as beautiful as pictured on airbandb.com where we found this rental for about $45 per night. It is located outside of Salt Lake City about 14 miles from the town of Logan where Utah State University is located. Avon house was more than worth the drive off our route. We arrived near sun down and enjoyed a spectacular sunset. As our hosts returned from their evening duties, they greeted us and we stayed up until ten sharing stories. It was fun.