Close Encounters and a Day of Rest

I neglected to mention in the last post the most entertaining/terrifying part of our drive into Jackson.  We knew while running on battery power alone that we couldn't use our headlights.  They would drain the battery the quickest and possibly strand us somewhere.  The plan was to drive as far as possible during daylight hours only.

In a navigation blunder due to the dying battery on my cell phone, we missed a turn and ended up over 40 minutes south of our intended route.  Re-routing us back on track put our arrival time in Jackson now a full 30 mins past sunset.

I drove as fast as I safely could but we simply couldn't make up the time.  As we entered the Teton National Forest the sun was fading rapidly into the west and visibility was getting more challenging.  Our first surprise came when a very large elk and her calf appeared out of nowhere, narrowly missing the front of the Lotus.  Heart in my throat, we drove on, albeit a little slower.  Not long after the elk near miss we passed the entrance to Yellowstone National Park and encountered another elk, this one standing inches from the road just hanging out.  We drove by slowly as we had no idea if he would spook and slam into us like a freight train.  Moments later we slowed again as we saw a large-ish object in the road, just on the other side of the center line.  Turns out it was a beautiful, white snowy owl!  Why it was hanging out on the road is anyones guess.  Needless to say, Stephen was on eagle-eye alert, leaned out far over the dash and scanning the highway the remainder of the drive.  We ended up running with the headlights on for safety the last 20 mins of the drive.  Our trusty, new battery held out just fine.

After all the drama with alternators, batteries and near attacks by vicious elk and wild-eyed owls, we needed a short, easy drive and some down time.  Thankfully, Sun Valley, ID was only 4.5 hours away and a pretty boring, straight shot across eastern Idaho.

We took our time leaving Jackson, had a nice lunch downtown and got a quick photo op in front of one of the antler arches.  With all three batteries locked and loaded, we hit the road.

Tourist doesn't even notice the supercar to her right. Sheesh.

Who knew I was buying an electric car?

My co-pilot slept the entire way and we made great time into Sun Valley on one battery only.  We made a quick stop to grab a drink at the Sun Valley Lodge, had a relaxing dinner at the Pioneer, one last drink at the Cellar Pub and called it a night.  Tomorrow she gets a bath and a proper photo shoot.

WASH ME