A very warm, and surprising, welcome.

US customs officials are usually very scary...they make it their business to be intimidating...or at least that's what I thought.
Customs lady (noticing my passport was issued in Glasgow): "Do you still live in Glasgow?"
Me: "No, I live on the isle of Skye"
Customs lady: "Portree?"
Turns out she had been on a day trip from Inverness. She then went on to ask me about Brexit and Scottish independence and sent me on my way wishing me a lovely holiday and saying how much she had enjoyed our chat.  Friendly, interested and million miles from my stereotype of customs folk.

I collected my car at Thrifty, who instead of having employees in the office make you video conference with someone in an office hundreds of miles away. Thankfully, our driving licence design is such that it can't be read by their video camera, so, grudgingly, someone had to talk to me in person, which was obviously a real inconvenience for them.  Anyway, I was soon on my way in my Nissan Note...not very Thelma and Louise, but very comfortable and big enough for one and my ginormous suitcase.

Negotiating the Interatate 70 was definitely scary, but I managed it and found my way to my motel without any wrong turns, missed junctions or near misses...a Comfort Inn has never been more comforting.

I had dinner in a Mexican diner near by, which played (very) loud Mexican music, which folk were singing along to heartily, and served their margaritas in goldfish bowls.  My meal, would have fed a family of four, was very tasty and will keep me going for my long journey to Fruita today....or is it tomorrow?...haven't quite got my time shift sorted.

So I'm making the most of my very comfortable, queen size bed...I'll  be under canvas now for a while.

PS One of my traditions when travelling abroad for me is spotting the first foreign bird (of the feathered kind) at the airport...still haven't seen one! Lots of unusual looking roadkill mind you...maybe I'll have to adopt a new tradition.