Traversing the Wasteland

It looks like I will be heading back to Oklahoma sooner than I thought - most likely this weekend. We decided that I would pack the car with as much of the stuff we realized we needed (clothes, kitchen stuff, etc.) and put the rest (that we don't sell or donate) in storage.

I am trying to plan my route. I'd like to stay in Mariott hotels because we can use Shelly's rewards points instead of cash. It limits where I can stop but I'm finding that doesn't matter much. Utah, Wyoming and Colorado are mostly devoid of towns, much less hotels.

I first looked at driving from Boise to Cheyenne then to Stillwater but we were concerned that it would be a 10-12 hour drive both days. I've been looking at splitting it up into 3 days. Going out I could stop at Salt Lake City but that's only 340 miles - I can do that easy. The only two towns between SLC and Cheyenne are Rock Springs and Rawlins. Boise to Rawlins is 588 miles, which would be a good stretch (8-10 hours) but the hotel reviews in Rawlins are not good - none of them. I either have to stop at Rock Springs - which has a LaQuinta that Shelly can get a discounted rate for - or on to Cheyenne for a Fairfield.

The short version is I either have to do a long stretch at the front of the trip (Boise -> Cheyenne -> Hays -> Stillwater) or at the back of the trip (Boise -> SLC -> Loveland -> Stillwater). It doesn't matter which way I'm traveling. There are no clear stops at 1/3 and 2/3 of the way. Coming back I'm looking at Stillwater -> Loveland -> SLC -> Boise or Stillwater -> Hays -> Cheyenne -> Boise.

Is my bald spot getting bigger?