Me and Cousin Frasier

I ended up January in Salt Lake City, on a lay-over at Sapp Brothers Truck Stop. Along the way their trademark roadside coffee pot sign popped up just off the Interstates on other runs travelling through Nebraska and Iowa. I never gave it much thought, just another place to warehouse drivers for the night. Driver chatter on the CB recommended the stop, so I set the GPS to take me on over. Upon entering, I wheeled over to the big yellow Idle Air tubes. Little did I know at the time, but it would be the last weekend for it. Bankrupt and unable to find a buyer, they suddenly shut down the last day I was there. Too bad, it was a great service for truckers. For a $1.85 an hour, you could hook a big vent-like tube to your window and get hot and cold air, an electric outlet, cable TV and internet. It was great, because you could save fuel by not idling the engine and burning fuel at roughly a gallon an hour. Figure about $2.80 a gallon now for diesel. At least I got to see the AFC and NFC Championship games on the final hurrah.

Usually, when I try a new stop, I’ll case the joint to determine what it has and where everything is. When I entered Sapp Brothers for an initial tour, I sensed an atmosphere geared toward comfort that I had only seen a few times on the road. Big green rugs with the rubber boarder led the way to the rest room. What a great idea. A lot of floors in the rest rooms at stops are just a big wet mess by virtue of melting snow in the parking lots being tracked in by truckers. During the course of my stay, I saw these rugs being changed out a couple of times a day. Just a simple detail, but a nice warm and dry rest room made a big difference. Dam, I wanted to go to the bathroom when I didn’t have to!

The restaurant offered a complete buffet with plenty of healthy selections, including my favorite, chopped spinach in natural sauce. Not creamed, or with a bunch of cheese added. Just spinach. A lot of stops revolve around fast food and I try to avoid it as much as possible. Talk about the movie “Super-Size Me” and I could have written that screenplay. Based on the spinach alone, give this restaurant an “A”. From my booth in the restaurant, I had a nice view of the snow covered Rockies through an impeccably clean window. I like this place.

My exploratory expedition brought me to an elevator leading to the second floor Driver’s Lounge. I felt like I was in a nice hotel on the way up. Level number two offered an ample number of late model washers and dryers along with the shower facilities, a big screen TV room, a chiropractor’s office and a dentist. Long Haul Dental seemed like an appropriate name. Later, when I used the shower facility, I found granite-like counter tops and a quality nozzle in the shower itself. On top of a “How Are We Doing?” scorecard, there were red and white swirl peppermints. On the wall next to the sink, I found a hair dryer for those with long flowing locks. I might have made use of it in 1975 on my long golden locks. If you spent ten dollars somewhere in the travel center, the shower was five. Most showers on the road are ten, but I get most mine free on fueling points. If you purchased fifty gallons of fuel, it was free. Add it all up and you’ve got little touches that made a big impression on me. I carried the survey out and ended up writing a book of accolades. In addition, the entire staff was schooled in customer service. I found them friendly, talkative and accommodating. It’s the honor roll for these folks.

January was an off month with the Fat Cat in the shop so much. Follow that with a 28 day February and a better “get on my horse” attitude was how I felt. Now, being in a nice truck stop is one thing, but when you’re not rolling, it’s a whole ‘nother story. Truckers in general get antsy waiting around for anything. Just when I was beginning to feel weary about being stationary for two days, my phone sounded off with the Price Is Right theme and my little automated friend described a run from right in Salt Lake going to Auburn, Washington. I jammed “3” for accept and Washington State it was. Wouldn’t it be great to hear Frasier on the radio up there, I mused. I’m actually supposed to be related some in some way to Kelsey Grammar, who portrayed Frasier the talk radio shrink from Seattle on TV. His mother was a Cranmer and I've always mused that our paths intersect generations back. Everyone knows all Cranmers are related. He states in an autobiographical piece that he marveled at how his mother and father’s last names were so close phonetically and how close he was to his mother and the Cranmer’s. In addition, one of my best old buddies, Dave Whiting, lives in the Tacoma area near Seattle. Dave and I go back to fifth grade where we traded WABC music surveys. Later on, we shared many adventures in the Boy Scouts. Our travels included a legendary journey to Phimont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico in the summer of 1970. A year later as part of a fearless expedition, we canoed two hundred miles into the Canadian wilderness from Boundary Waters at Ely, Minnesota. On local campouts, we brought more lighter fluid that food! Tall flames were a great pastime on these outings. You can’t put a price on the memory of two young scouts squirting streams of Kingsford’s finest flammable on open flames to exponent the effect. It was kind of like Tom Hanks in the fire scene of Castaway. To all young scouts today, I wouldn't recommend our use of fire.  I'm sure you're smarter than we were.  Lighter fluid is very dangerous, be sure to use it properly. Dave went on to make history and become the youngest scout to earn the rank of Eagle at Troop 154 in Pluckemin, New Jersey at age fourteen. It’s a record that still stands today, if I’m correct. We’re talking about more than 50 years of Troop 154. An obligatory call to him was in order with the good news. During our phone conversation, Dave promised good food and a tour of town when I got there. This voyage would be fun, I can’t wait to get rolling.

The run up through northern Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Washington itself would prove to be a most scenic excursion, even though a majority of the trip would be in the dark and the fog. Imposing Rocky Mountain Peaks are no match for any kind of weather or darkness. Thousands of twinkling lights in the adjoining valleys bounce off these majestic behemoths. A new day would dawn in Oregon leading up to the mighty Columbia River which separates Washington and the Beaver State. As I crossed over into Washington State, I felt an air of accomplishment by setting foot in the Great Northwest. Now, I could “notch” all four corners of America. Maine, Florida, California and Washington were now securely under my belt. The completion of visiting every state in the continental United States was within sight. I love this big beautiful country of ours so much that I want to cover it all. In a figurative sense, I want to meet all the Americans that make up this land of the free. Wyoming on the way back east would make 45. For me, there’s only three more to go from sea to shining sea. Montana and the Dakotas are all that’s left of my lower 48. Now, I’ll have to figure out how to get to Alaska and drop in on Sarah Palin. Hawaii is going to be a trick, I hear the bridge toll is a whopper.