Our eighth day’s travel was entirely within the state of Utah, from Logan to Green River, taking the “back roads” — US 89 to Ogden, I-84 and I-80 to US 40, US 191 to Green River, with mostly light traffic in beautiful country.  The rain stopped for us, hovering over the Wasatch Range as we headed south and then through the I-84 gap into mostly clear skies after the obligatory stop at Starbucks before heading into Starbuck-less territory. We also topped off the tank at Costco: the rest of the day would be nearly 100km between fuel stations.

We stopped briefly for a snack from our on-board larder before turning south on US191 at Duchesne, and stopped at the Greek Streak restaurant in Price for lentil soup and pitas before filling up once again for the 80km no-services run into Green River. The promised thunderstorm of the day broke ahead, though the lightning was already passing to the east, with alternate showers, gusty side winds, and dust storms, fortunately not all at once, or it would have been a mud storm.

With the prospect of two months on the road, and high vacation season ahead, we had decided to book on the cheap side for lodging the next two nights, a mistake, at least for Green River. Green River has fallen on hard times more than once over the decades without recovery between, and now is no exception: our destination turned out to be a large derelict motel recently acquired by an investor hoping to rehabilitate it. With only 40 rooms refurbished, and those in the last month, fresh paint and a heavy dose of perfume spray could not disguise the mold of neglect. The refrigerator didn’t work, the only light in the bathroom was the heat lamp, and the WiFi was elusive and intermittent, when it worked at all (and then only at the office).

After running the fan for an hour, the room was still uninhabitable when we returned from a largely unsuccessful attempt to connect with civilization at the office, so we packed up and moved up the street to double the price for the honeymoon suite at a reputable chain, cheaper rooms having been already booked. Storm or not, we would have pitched our tent in the nearby state park before we could have spent the night itching and wheezing in the first motel, most of which should have been bulldozed. Once settled in the new lodging, a shower and wardrobe change took care of the mold exposure, and the WiFi works, as well as expected in stormy weather in the desert.