Day: July 5, 2017

Pic: Surprisingly thoughtful for motel art. Best Western Clocktower Inn, Billings, MT

As I neared Cody and entered the range of mobile internet unswamped by millions of tourists uploading blurry photos to InstaTwitBook[1], my phone blew up with emails, texts, and voicemails from my credit card company. I called them back and confirmed that I did not try to buy over $100 of goods and services from a gas station in Oakland whilst backpacking in Wyoming. They closed the account and promised to expedite a new card to me, which would be a bit of a trick since I was a thousand miles from my mailing address and planned to be in the woods for at least four of the next seven days.

While I pondered my next move, I discovered that my cigarette-lighter-to-usb adapter had failed — no more charging my phone while on the go.

Finally, the first thing I did upon settling into my room was drop my laptop and break the touchpad.

The good news about these routine annoyances of modern life was that they hit at a lucky time — while I was in Billings, a bustling metropolis of more than 100,000 people and a Best Buy.

Best Buy sold me a $9 USB mouse and a new cigarette lighter adapter, but neither they nor Office Depot nor Home Depot carried screwdrivers for the annoyingly tiny and non-standard screws Apple used to keep my laptop together. The nearest Apple Store was in Salt Lake City, so I went to a place called Simply Mac, an Apple Premier Partner, where I learned the following:

• Apple doesn’t allow anyone but Properly Anointed Technicians to use their magic screwdrivers
• The only Properly Anointed Technician in this store was out until Tuesday
• When the Properly Anointed Technician was available, he would charge me $70 just to open the case

I said thanks but, simply, no thanks. This store ended up closing in January 2017, by the way.

Fortunately, the fine folks of Best Western Clocktower Inn Billings were happy to receive a package for me; they would even hold it while I was off in the Beartooths. I added a tiny screwdriver set and a refurbished trackpad to the credit card already being sent to my mom. She would collect everything and send it to the hotel, where it would be waiting for me upon my return to town.

 

[1] Present company excluded only because I stopped trying to upload photos after I was unable to do so while literally standing next to the cell tower on top of Mt. Washburn (five bars, no data).