My wife and I were trying to make it to Missoula from Lake Tahoe in one day (I'm no stranger to…read morelong drives, but it was perhaps a bit ambitious). We made it to Moore, ID before night fell, and almost immediately had our first of many near-miss encounters with large, be-hooved creatures. We drove white-knuckle and puckered for almost two hours, dodging elk and deer and marmots and cows (yes, cows)...and progressed maybe 70 miles. Missoula was still a disheartening 200+ miles away, and as we couldn't likely return the rental car with a cow lodged in the front seat ("I'm aaaalmost certain that was there already"), we decided we needed a place to stay for the night.
It was really late already, so we called every number of every hotel we could find in the area, but to no avail. Finally, with our options almost out, we called Trails End...and the nice lady who runs the place answered! We explained our situation and she said no problem, we could check in whenever we liked, even though it wouldn't be until around 1am.
We finally arrived in one piece. We rang the doorbell and she came right out (it was pretty obvious she had been sleeping, poor lady), as cheery as if it were midday and she weren't having to deal with a pair of city-slickers who were somehow surprised at the fact that, hey, sometimes animals roam around at night in the country. Who knew!
Now, we were just happy to have a room. But for $50, we weren't expecting much...until we walked inside. Huge TV with cable, free wi-fi that was actually really fast, incredibly comfortable bed, great shower, nice linens, everything super clean...this would have run for *easily* $100-$150 in Missoula or any other town I've ever stayed (I've paid double for a room in Carlsbad that you wouldn't let your worst enemy stay in).
Definitely one of the best hotel experiences I've ever had. Thanks for saving our bacon, Trails End!
