Wisconsin to Yellowstone and back in 7 days?

[PNW Judy]

Googlemaps shows a handful of hotels so, really, not many to choose from. Prices are always higher when there's less options. Not enough competition to drive down costs.

Per Googlemaps, there are a lot more options just 35 miles west in Livingston.

For future reference, it can be worth it to toss a sleeping bag/pillow in your car even if you're not planning on camping because Tony could have rented a camping cabin at Big Timber's KOA for $46. Since they provide the bedframe/mattress, it would probably have been just as comfortable as a hotel for a significant savings.

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

Looks like you were a captive audience in Big Timber. My mapping program shows that the Super 8 is the only hotel in town and hotels.com doesn't show anything.

I found a couple of motels on Tripadvisor well after the fact, but they're all about in the 80 buck range. It looks like the Super 8 were living large thanks to being the only game in town.

Unfortunatly, Big Timber was one of those "It's really late, all the motels in the target destination town are full, and it's the next closest thing" situations, and not my first choice of stop. It was about 9:30 when I rolled into Harlowton and found out there was no room at the inn, and 10:15 when I finally got to Big Timber and was hitting the "All I want is a soft pillow for my head. . . NOW" point - so yeah, they totally had me at their mercy.

Ah well, live and learn. After that night I made it a point to stop and find a motel just about as the sun was setting and not leave it till the last moment.

For future reference, it can be worth it to toss a sleeping bag/pillow in your car even if you're not planning on camping because Tony could have rented a camping cabin at Big Timber's KOA for $46. Since they provide the bedframe/mattress, it would probably have been just as comfortable as a hotel for a significant savings.

And upon reflection, I probably should have brought them. Thing is - when I took my road trip down to Four Corners last year, I did pack a blanket and pillow with me, with the intent of just sleeping by the side of the road (or wherever) as needed, but for some reason I didnt this time. I think it was because I didnt even bring them out of the car last time that I didnt think they were nessassary.

Goes to show you, I guess! Live and learn, live and learn. . . .

[glc]

Tony, that's the only downside of winging it without a plan or reservations. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay a lot more for a room than it's worth. I paid close to $80 for a room at the Super 8 in Kingman, AZ once because of that - but it was almost midnight, I was dog tired, and it was a Saturday night and something was going on in town. It was the very last room in the hotel. I had already been turned away by every hotel in Boulder City due to an activity in town, in hindsight I would have been better off backtracking to Vegas, but I wanted to get to the Grand Canyon as early as possible the next day.

Was the room worth $80? Hell no! It barely met my (quite low) standards but it served its purpose. Not one of the better Super 8's I've stayed in by a long shot. Place was full of partying drunks.