Hello Everyone!
It has not been the best week out here on the road, but that doesn’t mean I’m complaining because it also could have been significantly worse. I’ve spent most of the week in limbo, waiting for things that were out of my control. I was in tiny Challis, Idaho for five days, waiting for some unexpected work on my van to get done. The rest of the week I’ve been just up the road from Challis in Stanley, waiting and hoping for the weather to clear. I’m very grateful to have had two excellent mechanics, John and Scott, working on Shadow Catcher. During my time in their shop I not only came to trust them with my van, but also to consider them my friends. I spend most of my time on the road drifting in and out of towns across the country, playing the familiar-to-me role of The Stranger. This week was different because it’s hard to stay a stranger in a town of a thousand people for very long. When I finally got off and running again I drove up into the mountains and straight back into winter. I had to break out all of my winter clothes again and find places to hang out and avoid the snow. When the clouds finally lifted, the Sawtooth Mountains showed themselves and they are spectacular and were well worth the wait. And now I’m finishing off my week here in Twin Falls in the rain. I’ve only gone about 200 miles this week which has definitely saved me on gas, but I’m hoping that now I can keep moving for a while as I get back into my more regular routine.
As I’ve just mentioned, my week got off to a rough start. When I pulled into Challis to finish up this post last week, I turned down my radio and heard a terrible sound coming from my rear wheels. I decided to park and get my work done and give it a while to fix itself, which would have been amazing if it had worked. It, of course, did not. Challis is a small town and the closest thing I could find to a mechanic on my phone was a tire place just on the edge of town. I went and talked to them and they said they didn’t really do much beyond tires and oil changes and pointed me to another garage behind the Napa Auto Parts up the road. This was definitely a garage, but with no sign, no online presence or reviews, no nothing. I went in and talked to Scott and he said he would take a look at it in the morning. I didn’t really love the situation, but I was stuck and grateful he would have a look and see what he could do. Worst case scenario, I could call AAA and get a tow up to Salmon which has a couple of mechanics. I found a parking spot nearby and then took a nice, long walk around Challis. It’s clearly in the midst of an old mining region with mining still being the main industry today. Challis was founded way back in 1876 as a supply center for the different mining districts in the area, including the Lucky Boy, Custer, Sunbeam and Charles Dickens mines, and continues to be the main town and county seat for the region. After having a good look around, I stopped into Bux’s Place, a classic, old-school, taxidermy-and-pool-tables kind of bar on the main street. It was smoky, but nice enough for a beer. Then I went across the street to Shyla’s Hideaway which had less atmosphere, but also less smoke and they served food. Shyla’s would be my go-to spot for the rest of the week. I had a tasty sandwich and chatted with the bartender who told me that Scott was a good mechanic and a decent person which left me feeling a little better about the whole situation.
