Hearkening to the Gospel of Business Success

To prosper in this world, to gain felicity, victory and improvement, either for a man or a nation, there is but one thing requisite, That the man or nation can discern what the true regulations of the Universe are in regard to him and his pursuit, and can faithfully and steadfastly follow these. These will lead him to victory. --Thomas Carlyle

As I approached the outskirts of Boise, with the opaque white fog now turning dark in the unseen sunset, I remembered that the motel I'd booked that night in Meridian was a Motel 6. A couple weeks back when I made the reservation, I'd figured that would be sufficient for a night on my own.

But it was below twenty degrees out, and I'd been driving a long time that day. I wanted to relax in a warm comfortable bed. Suddenly I regretted not booking a Best Western Plus.

But as it happens, my worries were unworried. It turns out the Meridian Motel 6, just off I-84 on the west side of Boise, was one of the new Motel 6 properties with the brand new style of rooms---a large king-size bed and a flat screen television. And just like the one in Santa Barbara it had TCM. If all Motel 6es were this good, I'd probably make it my go-to place. The Best Western next door was twice the price, but I would have felt like a sucker for booking there.

The next morning the temperature was frigid, and the fog was just as thick. After grabbing breakfast at the Shari's next door, I had to scrape ice off the windshield of the Bimmer while the engine idled. I had no reason to stick around Boise, and the day looked awful.

Moreover I had a conference call for work in the early afternoon, so I had to figure out in a advance where to stop along I-84.

I had thought the drive west of Boise would be the easy part of the trip, completely on the Interstate along rolling hills. But it turns out it was extremely unpleasant. The thick fog made weaving in and out of the thick stream of semi trailers a harrowing experience.  I kept both hands on the wheel and my eyes glued on the road, thankful I had brand new tires.

I pulled off the highway at Mountain Home for my conference call, detouring off the Interstate to find a local independent coffee shop that thankfully had working wi-fi and power outlets. The coffee wasn't bad either.

For the rest of the day, crossing Idaho, I decided I needed something more than my normal silence so I set up my Macbook on the passenger seat of the car and played the audio book of Jon Taffer's Raise the Bar, which I'd recently bought on Audible.com.

I found it extremely entertaining to listen to his advice about running a bar. Actually it's as much about people and relationships, as it is about the bar business. Taffer's basic approach to business boils down to something he calls "reaction management."

Back in Portland I'd been talking by phone with my friend Greg S. in Memphis. He runs his own import business to the Far East, and went through many occupations in his youth, including being a bartender in Atlanta.

"So you going to open a bar?" he asked me.

"I hadn't really thought about," I said. "But now that you mention it, you think I should?"

He said it might be the thing for me.

"Yeah, Taffer said that you shouldn't become a bar owner if you like hanging out in bars, and I don't really like hanging out in bars, so maybe it would work for me down the line, when I stop traveling."

He said it was a good way to lose a lot of money.

"Yeah, I'd only do it if I had some other source of income," I said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Greg got a laugh out of that.

While listening ot the audiobook, it took a longer than I planned to get across Idaho. I stopped a couple more times along the Interstate, including at a McDonald's in the little town of Burley, where I bought a cup of ccoffee so I could send some work-related emails using the wi-fi (I was in Starbucks no-man's land). By that time the fog had begun to clear thankfully.

By the time I got the Utah border, I was far behind the schedule I'd planned for that day, and fatigue was catching up with me. After sunset I had to cruise south past Logan and the other nearby towns while following a string of red tail lights on the freeway. I don't like driving at night. In that respect I'm like a traveler through Old Transylvania. I like to be cozy inside by sundown. Thankfully the speed limit in Utah is 80 mph, and I pushed the Bimmer up towards almost 3000 rpm to make good time (I usually keep it below 2500, to make it easy on the old engine).

As I approached Salt Lake City, the lights grew elaborate along the sides of the roads---housing developments along the mountainside, and the sparkling Christmas-like splendor of oil refineries. It felt almost magical, although the thick traffic felt like a video game.

At last I neared downtown. I could see the white rounded outline of the Utah Capitol building. Beyond that were the tall contours of the buildings of Temple Square.

This was cue. I got off at the next exit. I could see the jagged pointed tops of the Temple itself. I followed the signs that led me right towards it, drawn like the proverbial moth.