Slipping into Washington

Mine Disaster Memorial

2019-09-15 (Sunday)

With about one month left of our travels, we made our departure from the state of Montana after two weeks there, and headed toward Washington. Of course, for that we had to go through Idaho, but that was only about 70 miles of I-90, so no problem. We had the usual beautiful Montana scenery until we got to I-90 before that, though. We stopped at a huge tourist “trap”, an enormous gift shop next to a casino. I went inside to get a milkshake, but spent some time going through the gifts. I came out and told Joe, “We should probably head for home now, it’s time. I couldn’t find a single thing to buy in that enormous store!” I did, though, get a chocolate malt, and that was scrumptious! We got onto I-90 at that point, and 30 miles down the road, we crossed into Idaho, and into Pacific Daylight Time. So we are now 3 hours behind “home.”

We would most likely not have stopped at all on that 70 mile stretch of Idaho, but for some reason, our tire monitor began shrieking. We took the next exit, a mile down the road, and could find no problems with the tires. However, the stop put us into a historical spot (Idaho actually had a historical marker very frequently along that 70 mile stretch.) This one was in commemoration of a terrible fire in the country’s largest silver mine. 61 men died in the tunnels of the mines. The statue and marble plaques at the mine site along the highway were a somber reminder of the danger miners face to recover the metals hidden deep in the heart of the mountains.

After that stop, we drove through Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and over the border into Washington. We passed through Spokane, and headed for our planned stop, the Northern Quest Casino. We knew it was a free overnight stop. I was somewhat taken aback when we got here, though. For one thing, it was huge and very glitzy. For another, it was evident that something was going on here besides the casino. There were a dozen RVs and lots of cars, and people were tailgating. This was not the usual way we find casinos.

There was a sign that RVs needed to check in at the desk to stay overnight, so after getting lost in the very upscale hotel area, I found my way through the large casino (including table games and OTB, unlike the many “casinos” in Montana which feature only a few slot machines.) I signed in at the security desk, and asked what was going on. Well, tonight there’s an outdoor concert in the outdoor amphitheater (it’s behind the casino/hotel, so I didn’t see it) by the country group Old Dominion. The parking lot is now completely full—we were most fortunate to get here when we did! We are parked along the edge with a lot of other RVs, out of the way. And i suppose it will be a bit noisy when the concert is over and the crowds leave. But meanwhile, we are all set.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to the Grand Coulee Dam. I have to think it’s the influence of my father in me that I am so “into” locks and dams. I’m very much looking forward to it.

Arrival at Yellowstone National Park

No Roof!

2019-09-02 Monday (Labor Day)

We left Jefferson Lake this morning promptly at 10:30, and headed north on US 20 toward West Yellowstone. My thinking was, I couldn’t really expect to get reservations in Yellowstone National Park (I’d done a lot of research a few months back, and with the Jeep, there were limited sites available that we would fit into). But I figured that a lot of folks would be checking out of their campsites on Labor Day morning, because of the end of the long holiday weekend. My destination was Baker’s Hole, a National Forest Service campground only 3 miles from the west entrance to Yellowstone; and the west entrance is the closest entrance in the park to the main two scenic  loops which make up the park’s interior (only 14 miles, if I remember correctly.) Last year, we were 3 miles outside the east entrance; but it took an hour just to get to the main loop. This should be much quicker.

Despite stopping on the road when we saw an RV dump sign (the Jefferson Lake campground had no dump) and handling that little chore, we arrived at Baker’s Hole Campground at 1:00 pm. I was right; there were plenty of empty campsites, and we were lucky enough to get a pull-through site, meaning that when we are ready to leave, we can just hook up the Jeep and drive out of the site. We get half off with our senior national park card, but we are paying $8 extra/night to have an electric hookup. But for a campsite in the pine woods, with no close-by neighbors (the sites are very spacious), and electricity, and only 3 miles from our daily goal, we are very pleased indeed.

After unhooking the Jeep and settling in, we had some lunch and gave Cassie a good long walk around the campground. Then, at about 3:00ish, we threw some drinks and snacks into the Jeep, along with “shower bags”, and we headed for Yellowstone. The shower bags were because YNP has public pay showers in a number of different locations, and we figured if we were in the right place at the right time, we’d take showers. Oh—and the BEST thing we did—my idea, was we took the roof off the Jeep! So as we drove into the park, the glorious air was all around us, and we could see the mountains by looking up, instead of having to peer sideways through the windows! 

It was loads of fun driving along the Madison River with the breeze blowing and the sun shining on the river running through meadows and pine woods. We felt on top of the world! We stopped at a cascading pool, Beryl Pool, Gibbon Falls, and then decided to walk on a path to some paint pots and geysers. While there, we heard someone talking about Steamboat Geyser, which was due to erupt any day now, about 400 feet into the air. She said it makes small eruptions every 12 minutes or so, but that everyone is waiting for the big one! Steamboat was only a few more miles down the road, and we did walk the path to get to it, but it was a little disappointing. It wasn’t being very eruptive, and the most interesting things were the people who were sitting in their camp chairs, just waiting for the big eruption. There were at least a dozen of these folks, taking up most of the viewing platform. But we got tired of waiting, and walked back to the car.

By this time, it was almost 7:00 pm, and we were getting hungry (pretzels and ritz crackers with cheese were no longer helping stave off the desire for a meal.) We gave up the idea of making it all the way around to Hayden Valley at dusk to see the animals (it would have been hours to get home if we did), and instead we just retraced our tracks. But we weren’t entirely disappointed in the animals— we passed a buffalo determinedly walking down the side of the road, and we saw a herd of elk in one of the meadows along the Madison River. We got back to the RV at 8pm, put the roof back onto the Jeep, and came in for some dinner.

A couple of fun tidbits: We met a couple at the first cascading pool we stopped at, and chatted for a few minutes. We then ran into them at 3 other stops along our route! Also, when we got to the Norris Geyser Basin (where Steamboat Geyser is), we had to wait for a parking space because a car was being loaded onto a flatbed truck to be towed away. Needless to say, this can cause a mess in the small parking lot areas in Yellowstone. We ended up taking the space after the car was out of it, and then the owner came up to us to say he’d lived in Flemington, NJ for a while! We exchanged a few comments and then went to see Steamboat. We stopped briefly to sit and rest during that walk, and were joined on the bench by a nice couple who, seeing Joe’s t-shirt, asked when he had been to the Galapagos? He hadn’t, of course, but this started a whole conversation about “doing it all while you still can,” to quote this other woman. They seemed very lovely, and later I said to Joey, maybe we should vacation with THEM for a while!  Finally, as we left Norris Basin, we ran into that first couple again, and they asked us where we were heading next. When we said the Olympic Peninsula, the young people near us said, “You’re heading for our back yard!” So Joey asked, “Can we give you a call? What’s for dinner?” We had fun shmoozing with all these people— not our usual style, really. Back in the Norris Geyser Basin parking lot, I noticed a number of cars completely covered with protective covers, and realized these must belong to the folks waiting for the big eruption! This was because signs at the gate said “Caution—Steam from Steamboat Geyser can contain chemicals which can damage your car’s paint.” I guess these people were just truly optimists, that the fallout from the geyser would get that far!

Tomorrow our plan is to head in the opposite direction, toward Old Faithful and all of the geothermal places where we couldn’t visit last year. We’ve already noted that there are far fewer people in the park than last August, when we could hardly move. I’m playing the license-plate game, too— I’m going to see if I can get all the states JUST in Yellowstone. So far, I think I have almost half of them! (Including Alaska—they are parked across from us!) 

One last note: there is no cell reception in our campsite, and none throughout Yellowstone. We are passing through West Yellowstone every day, and the phone is able to work better, so I will try to upload from there. But pictures are probably a lost cause for now!

Taking Care of Business

2019-09-01 Sunday

We stayed put today in our campground in Rigby, Idaho, so we had some leisure time to take care of some of the more prosaic things which often we don't have time for. Joe's first priority today was to change the oil in the RV. He did an inventory of his supplies, and needed an oil filter, so he took the Jeep to a local auto parts store. Meanwhile, I was cleaning up around the "house", putting away stray items, making the bed, etc.

The oil change went quite smoothly. I was set up outside in a lounge chair, reading my book, but every so often Joe needed me to hand him something under the RV. It was only during the cleanup part, and the disposal of the used oil part, that I really needed to lend a hand. There were some inevitable spills, but we doused them with detergent and used the hose to spray away most of the evidence.

After that, Joey wanted to reorganize his tool boxes, which had gotten a little messy also. And we also decided to put up our sun awning, because the sun was coming in from that side of the RV. So that all took some time, and then we had a quick lunch, so we could go to the Museum of Idaho. This was one of several museums on my list of places we hadn't had time for last year when we came through this way. So I wanted to see at least ONE of them today.

We left Cassie in the RV with the fan on (it was noticably cooler inside than outside, in any case, and our site is shaded) and we drove 12 miles south to Idaho Springs. As we drove through town, we noted the beautiful Snake River and the Riverwalk, as well as the immense Latter Day Saints Temple absolutely looming over the entire city--by far, the largest, tallest building we saw all day.

The Museum of Idaho was very small-- I think because they were undergoing a new expansion. There was clearly a large, modern building there, but all the exhibits were in the original building, which was the Library of the city until it was turned into a Museum. There were three exhibits--one on the history of Idaho, one on Idaho's nuclear energy contributions (the first nuclear energy plant was in Idaho in 1951), and the current special exhibit on Archimedes. (Last year, the one we missed, was about Steampunk, which I thought sounded fun!) The first two exhibits seemed pretty abreviated, although they were well done, especially the Idaho history exhibit. The Archimedes exhibit reminded me a lot of the one we saw last year in Iowa, on Leonardo da Vinci. There were a lot of models built according to Archimedes' discoveries, some of which we were able to play with. We spent about 90 minutes or so in the museum, I think.

Our next mission was to hit the Walmart--we had a long shopping list with everything from face moisturizer to potholders to an oil filter to groceries. But on the way, we decided to stop and see the falls which the city is named for. They turned out to be right on the route to Walmart, so it was perfect. We got out of the car, and there was an ice cream place right there. Both of us were actually feeling quite tired, and I think I was dehydrated as well, so we went and refreshed ourselves. Then we looked at the falls, read the historical signs, and took photos. The river really is beautiful there. Originally the falls were a series of rough rapids, but there is now a diversionary dam in the river which makes an area that is almost like a lake, and then allows the waters to cascade over the rocks in a number of places. They aren't high falls, certainly not as impressive as Shoshone Falls, which we saw last year, but they are beautiful anyway, and the city is smart to have that  beautiful Riverway park along them for quite a distance.

We then drove another 3 minutes to the Walmart. Both of us were really tired by then. We got through the non-food selections on our list, and then Joey begged off and went to rest in the car. I did the food shopping (it must have taken at least 45 minutes... Shopping in Walmart takes forever because the aisles are so big, and it's hard not to miss something, so you always end up going back and forth a couple of times. Tiring!) Joey came in when I was ready to check out, with a second shopping cart to help (mine was overflowing due to all the water bottles and soda.) We finally got home at about 7pm, and rested for a while before having dinner.

Tomorrow we have to be out of here by 10:30 (campground rules). We will be heading up to West Yellowstone, to the Madison entrance of Yellowstone NP. We'll be looking for a campsite for the next couple of days, and then if we still have the energy, we'll take the Jeep into the park.

More Wows and a Yow!

Red Rocks in Wyoming in the Wind River Reservation

2019-08-31 Saturday

We woke up today expecting a long, scenic drive, and we were not disappointed! After getting gas (the prices are going up with each state we pass), we headed west toward Grand Teton National Park. We were not planning to visit the park, but the most direct road to our destination for tonight was right through the park, and through Jackson and Jackson Hole.

But before we got anywhere near that, we were already oohing over the scenery. The Wind River region is beautiful range land, with low rock formations surrounding it. The road went through the Wind River Indian Reservation too (and we saw a herd of antelope!) When the rocks suddenly changed to deep red (my favorites), we stopped at a pull-out to take some photos. They were absolutely beautiful.

The largest “city” on our route was Dubois, WY, which of course is really a smallish town, and is  dominated by the tourist industry. But because it was a holiday weekend, there seemed to be an awful lot of special things going on. We passed a church having a “dog wash” fund-raiser, and we would have stopped, except there was nowhere to park. We passed a trio of people dressed as pioneers (the sheriff waved to us), and all kinds of other things seemed to be bringing people to the sidewalks and streets. We finally pulled up at a curb which was large enough for us, and made ourselves some lunch there, because we wanted to take advantage of the good cell phone and wifi reception we were getting. I was able to add a few photos to yesterday’s blog, although not the scenery ones which needed emailing/downloading via wifi-- it wasn’t strong enough (I took scenery shots today with my phone to avoid that problem for this blog.)

Teton Mountain Range

We continued on after lunch, and were rising higher into the mountains and the national forest land. And then, we saw the incredible pointed peaks of the Tetons rising in the distance. Grand Teton NP has never been one of my favorite parks, but there’s no denying how amazing it is to see those craggy mountains. We drove on into the park, and were soon welcomed by a herd of buffalo grazing in a meadow not far from the road. Of course we had to stop to take photos, even though we’d already seen buffalo up close and personal in Custer State Park.

Joe and Cassie go out to look at buffalo

We wound our way along the base of the Tetons as we followed the road south to the town of Jackson. There we turned west again, and had one more hurdle to get over-- the Teton Pass at a mere 8,432 feet. We were not worried about it, because we’ve gone over lots higher passes--but not, it turns out, while towing a 3,000+ pound Jeep. Also the grade of the road on the way up (and down, for that matter) was a 10% grade, which is STEEP. We started on our way up, and soon felt very sorry for the line of cars following us-- we were chugging up the mountain in first gear! And even at that, we were not going the speed limit and the engine was really working hard. There was nothing to do about it-- there were no turnouts to let people pass until we’d been driving for perhaps 10 minutes. 

At last we came to a large turnout, and by that time we’d discussed unhitching the Jeep and driving in two separate vehicles. So when we saw the large area on the opposite side of the road, Joe turned into it, letting everyone get past us. We stopped, and looked down from this vantage point at the valley and road below us. It was SO far down there, it was no wonder that we’d had trouble getting up it--the steepness was apparent from above. So we unhitched the Jeep, and after carefully making sure we were on the same page as to our plans, I took my phone (which was virtually without any battery left), my handbag, and a walkie-talkie, and I got into the Jeep. Joe had the other walkie-talkie, and he drove ahead of me in the RV.

Looking Down from Teton Pass on the Road below

It turned out that this was a great plan, except we should have implemented it about 8,000 feet sooner. We hadn’t realized that we were almost at the peak of the pass! We soon came to a small pullout that had a lot of cars, and people looking at the view... the RV wouldn’t have fit into it, even without the Jeep. But from there, it was a downhill run. I followed Joe, making sure (via walkie-talkie-- a brilliant idea, and we could hear each other perfectly clearly) that he’d seen the road grade signs and the speed limits. We also exchanged occasional comments. And so we proceeded until we passed a “Welcome to Idaho” sign. Joe asked if I expected any more uphill climbs, and I didn’t, so when we came to a gas station, he pulled in with me behind him (he got gas while I parked on the side of the lot), and we re-connected our two vehicles.

Once we were back together, we discussed the fact that we will be encountering a number of other high mountains during the next few weeks. So we will plan to detach the Jeep at the BOTTOM, rather than when we are most of the way up, and drive the vehicles separately. Although we don’t like the idea of not being together, it’s clearly going to make it a lot easier for the RV to get over the mountain passes. I mean, we don’t even consider 8,432 feet to be that high-- last summer we went over 12,000 foot Independence Pass, a few years ago we went over the Red Mountain Pass at 11,018,  and we took Mo over the Tioga Pass (9,943 feet) to Yosemite (not once but twice!), and the Beartooth Highway at 10,900+ feet.  But the extra weight on the tail end of the RV is obviously a drag (literally)!

We still had an hour or so to drive, but the road was beautiful! To our surprise, we DID have a bit more climbing to do, but the ascent was not nearly as long nor steep as the Teton Pass had been, and we soon came into a beautiful plateau area full of golden cut wheat. This is one of my favorite “colors” on the road, and the fields just rolled away for miles, while the mountains rose up beyond them. Running beside us was the Snake River, which we discovered last year seems to be omnipresent in the state of Idaho. It is fast and beautiful in this part of the state, and we stopped at a wayside rest area to take photos of the landscape.

Looking Down at the Snake River Valley

It was only about 30 minutes from there to our campground tonight, a county park in Rigby, Idaho, with a large lake which includes a beach and campground. I had called a couple of days ago to see if they had any sites open, because of my concern about the holiday weekend, and the woman on the phone said she had one site, because she had had a cancellation that morning! So I grabbed the site for tonight and tomorrow night (I had researched the location a few months ago while planning my trip, so I had the info with me.) It is not our usual venue, being quite crowded with families and young people everywhere, and a bit noisy. On the other hand, the people next to us on either side are not very close. The campsites are on a loop road around the lake, and we are not on the “lake side” of the road, so when the sun set a little while ago and looked so nice over the lake, I couldn’t get a photo without it mostly including RVs, campers, and tents. But we are fine here--we have water and electricity, there’s plenty of room for our Jeep in our site, and we are in a suburban area. There are museums near by, and we have a LONG shopping list which must be tended to tomorrow. So museum and shopping is our current plan for the day.

It has BEEN a DAY!

Map of Bear Lake. We are the blue dot.

Friday, Aug. 17, 2018

This has been one heck of a day, from beginning to end.

Joe and I both slept so wonderfully last night in the Flying J parking lot. Whatever noise there was outside, it didn’t bother either of us, even with our windows open. We had nice cool air and we slept quite late, I think it was after 8:00 when I woke up!

From there, we started slowly. I even took a lot of time to upload photos etc. for the past two blogs. When I finally took Cassie out for her walk, it was a beautiful day--a blue sky, and in the low 70s (but the air IS dry, so it felt perfect.) Joe felt great after his night’s sleep too, and both of us were just feeling smug as could be at how well we felt and what a nice day we were expecting. And because he was feeling so good, and it was comfortable outside, and we were at the Flying J on a flat surface (and would be able to get anything automotive we needed), and we didn’t have to hit the road asap, Joe decided it would be a good morning to do the oil change that Sam (the RV) needed by now, about 3,000 miles since the last change.

He’s changed the oil often. He has all the equipment. So we didn’t expect any problems. He got out all the stuff he needed and slid underneath Sam to open the valve and drain the used oil into a pan. He called me for help with finding the right size socket when the one he had didn’t quite fit, and I stayed around to help pour the used oil into an empty container when it was all drained (that turned out to be a big pain, and I had to run into Flying J to buy a funnel to help with the job. But a bit went onto the asphalt). He added the new oil into the engine. And in about 45 minutes or so, the job was finished.

But after I threw away all the empty oil bottles and came back to the RV, I found him worriedly sitting at the table. He said, “I may have done something absolutely terrible.” It turned out, he was afraid he had drained out, not the used oil, but all the transmission fluid instead. The two valves are quite close to each other under the rig. He asked me what color the liquid was when I poured it from the pan into the empty bottle. Because some of it had spilled, and I’d done a lot of wiping it up, I had noticed the fluid was pinkish. Which is the color of transmission fluid. That confirmed his worry. For about an hour, he kept reading the manuals and looking online at some videos, he went back under the RV, and he used the little dipsticks to test the levels. It seemed like the oil was full, but the transmission indicator didn’t seem to have ANY liquid on it. Uh oh.

Eventually, he was convinced that he had, indeed, drained out the wrong stuff. I was still calm-- all it needed was for us to obtain 7 quarts of transmission fluid and pour it into the engine. We were sure Flying J would have it. But.... they told us they did not.

Now we had a problem. We could not go ANYWHERE with no transmission fluid. We looked up local auto centers/mechanics/services. We found 2 names in McCammon (which is the town we were in) and one at Lava Hot Springs, 12 miles down the road where we were last night. But one place was a disconnected number, one was leave a message and I’ll call you back. The third said they had the fluid at the shop, but “everyone is out on a service call” and they would call back when someone got in.

We pondered trying to get up to Pocatello, about 20 miles away, where they would have everything, but it was a shlep and we might have trouble getting back (we were picturing hitch hiking-- there was no Uber service!) Then I went into Flying J and they gave me a list of guys who had left their numbers at the place in case someone needed help. The first was another “leave a number,” but we finally found a guy who sounded intelligent! He had a mobile service business and said he could bring us the transmission fluid. All this had taken at least a couple of hours-- it was now already after noon. But we were very relieved to have SOMEONE who could help us.

At this point, as we waited, I made Joe change his clothes-- his shirt was soaked in oil, and his shorts were filthy. The new shorts he put on were missing a button, and he went into the Flying J to get a sewing kit, even though I had a small one. They didn’t have that, either! He said to the woman, “You guys are really letting me down! No sewing kit... no transmission fluid....” And she said, “I might have transmission fluid! I will look in the back.”  And she had 5 quarts after all!!

So Joe came back and added the fluid into the engine, and got a reading that it was “enough”. He yelled, “Call the guy, maybe you can catch him so he doesn’t have to come!” but just at that minute, the guy pulled up next to us. So he and Joe did some more diagnosing, we needed two more quarts of fluid (which he had brought), and after some more back and forth, it was decreed that Sam was roadworthy again. The funniest part was-- our savior was a Kiwi-- he had a lovely New Zealand accent, and he and Joe talked about his history (he came to America 30 years ago to work on race cars, and ended up staying in Idaho.) In the end, he charged us a flat $200 cash (mostly for his time, not the transmission fluid), which was a break. Joe thinks it was because he felt sorry for us, and liked Joe. But whatever, it WAS maybe dumb, but it would have been much worse if we could not have gotten what we needed.

By this time it was 2pm, and we were pretty hungry and jumpy. We drove back to Lava Hot Springs and found our same parking spot from last night. Then we decided that we should eat out rather than try to fix anything--it was hot and we were tired and hungry. The only restaurant right near us was a Thai restaurant, so after our New Zealander mechanic, we encountered a lovely Thai man at the restaurant, where we had a tasty lunch. Then we went back to the RV, and after pondering all our options, I realized that we both needed to destress, and Joe’s body needed some TLC. So we got into our bathing suits and went into the hot spring pools again. The sky had gotten overcast, bringing the temperature down to a comfortable level, so the hot tubs felt excellent and were really a VERY good idea. Clearly, we needed to give ourselves a little TLC-- the entire ordeal with the transmission was very upsetting, although we both kept our cool.

Idaho is a huge producer of Alfalfa hay. We love the color.

At about 6:00, we were soaked, dried, reclothed, and back in the RV. We had decided to shorten tomorrow’s drive to Dinosaur National Monument in Utah (5ish hours) by driving at least a LITTLE way tonight. In the hot springs, I picked up some flyers about Bear Lake, which I knew we would be passing. One of them gave me a very useful map showing all the campgrounds around the lakeshore. It being Friday night, I was afraid it was a long shot,  to find an empty site there, but it was worth a try. So we made Bear Lake, about 90 miles away, our destination for the night. On the way out of Lava, we saw an ice cream store, and Joe pulled up to a curb and I ran in. They had no-sugar-added Moose Tracks, so we further nurtured ourselves with ice cream before leaving town altogether.

Scenic but unimproved. Then it got worse.

We drove along, enjoying the southeastern corner of Idaho’s scenery, and we took the “road less traveled”, because the state park campgrounds on my map were on the less developed, eastern side of the lake. We went through the tiny hamlet of Dingle (really!), and then our road suddenly turned to gravel, and then to packed dirt. But the scenery was great! When we got to the northeast corner of Bear Lake, the pavement came back, and we drove down the lakeshore. The first campground had a “Full” sign, as I’d feared, so we kept going.  Then we got to a point where road barriers said “Road Closed, Local Traffic Only.” Seeing as how this was the ONLY road on the eastern shore of the lake, we HAD to keep going (the road work began at the Utah state line-- Bear Lake is half in Idaho and half in Utah.) We got to the next campground, with a dug-up road entrance, and it looked fairly full, but there was no sign on the road.

We made a careful K-turn so we could get into the driveway to the campground (it was slanted back toward us, so we couldn’t just turn right) when we saw a truck coming up from the campground. Sure enough, it was a park ranger, who told us the campground was full. But then he added that the next campground down, Rainbow, had three open sites. We said, “We’ll TAKE ONE!!” So we turned ourselves around yet again, and he led us on down the same dirt road, which was in TERRIBLE condition, rutted, and they are doing construction to widen it, and it was just a mess. When we got to the campground, he stopped and got out of his truck and said there were now only TWO empty slots (someone must have taken one while we were driving behind him.)

View of Bear Lake from our campsite

And then he says, “Site 1 is empty, and it is the most isolated, that’s the one I’d recommend.” So he told us how to find it (it is far away from the rest of the campsites) and when we pulled in, we could not believe it. The spot is GORGEOUS!!!  We are near absolutely NOBODY, right on the lake. For some reason (wind?), the lake is making incredible wave sounds, more like an ocean than like a lake. The color of the lake water, by the way, is famous for being the same turquoise as the Caribbean, and it IS beautiful. So it is like being on the shore of the ocean, the sound is just a wonderful ceaseless ocean-sound, and we are near absolutely no one, so it is quiet and secluded. Cassie was so excited when we got here, she actually was barking before we got out of the RV!

So it HAS been a day! Started out with us in such a good mood, followed by a lot of stress and worry and (on Joe’s side) upset. Then was the “we need to take care of ourselves now” part, and going into the hot pools was just wonderful and what we needed. And then cutting the drive down for tomorrow, and getting such a stellar spot (a mere $12/night, too!) was so unexpected, that we feel utterly amazed and blessed and incredibly fortunate. And it even has good cell reception!!

Tomorrow we will finish the drive to Dinosaur, hopefully, and get to see the new visitor center with the glass wall that was unfinished when we came here 7 years ago. And then we’ll look for a place for the night, and Sunday we will find Ben and Miriam someplace in central Colorado. Barring unfortunate situations, the next few days SHOULD be good ones.

My Plans Don't Always Work Perfectly

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018

I had high expectations for today. I knew where we were going, and I expected those places to be really interesting and varied. But none of it seemed to work out quite smoothly this time. It was a very bizarre day. [And, I might add, the title works for today's blog, as well. My phone refuses to send me any photos for today, and Joe's photos were mostly not great either, so until I can transfer a few of mine in here, there are no photos!]

Our first stop was the Minidoka National Historic Site. This site was one of the interment camps for Japanese citizens during World War II. Not a lot of physical remnants are there-- there are some walls from the police building at the site of the gate, and a couple of other buildings. But there is a recording we listened to of a man describing his journey from home to Minidoka, and what it was like for him. There is a fence which is a replica of the fence which surrounded the encampment, which enclosed thousands of Japanese. And there are some plaques, including a Wall of Honor which names the Japanese soldiers who fought in the US Army.

All of this information was in a very small area next to a very small parking lot. There is apparently a visitor center, but it’s about a half-mile away on a path. The signs explaining the path(s) (there are several) were very unclear. We set out, with water (which they suggested) and sun protection, and Joe’s walking stick, and instead of turning toward the visitor’s center, the path turned the opposite way. I realized we had taken the wrong direction, and that there was something more direct. Yes, it WAS my fault for not realizing that the brochure had a map in it! But it was VERY hot and I realized Joe was just not going to make it back to the parking area, and set out again on the more direct path (the one we were on was undoubtedly about a mile long.) So we went back to the RV, and I discovered that my phone had not even managed to take the photos I thought I had taken on our brief walk.

The fence around Minidoka. The internees fished in the canal.

Joe encouraged me to use my good camera, and at least get a few shots that way from the parking area. While I did that, he realized that there were three trash cans by the display signs, and lo and behold, they were for RECYCLING!! These were literally the first recycling containers we have seen on our entire trip thus far!! So we got all our plastic bottles and cans out of the RV, and filled up the plastic and can bin (the others were for trash, and for glass containers.) So at least THAT was a “win”! But I was disappointed not to see more information about Minidoka. From a physical point of view, I actually think the landscape is beautiful. But I think it must have looked like hell on earth to the Japanese who were forcibly moved there from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, where everything is so green and lush and cool. The brochure tells of all the amazing ways they improved the camp during the years they were there--they were truly quite heroic. But the entire situation was certainly a shame on the history of our country.

Hagerman Horse skeleton 

So we left and drove to the town of Hagerman, about 45 minutes further west. This is the site of the Hagerman Fossil Beds, a National Monument. The fossil beds contain a great variety, quantity, and quality of fossils, most notably of the Hagerman Horse, the earliest true equine (meaning he had a single hoof.) Smithsonian scientists uncovered 120 horse skulls and 20 complete skeletons here, one of which is in the very small visitor’s center in downtown Hagerman. There were a number of other fossils displayed, of other animals (giant sloth, giant otter, mastodon, mammoth) and plants. But again, it was quite a tiny place! We had lunch by the town park, and then we drove out to the National Monument itself, which is along the banks of the Snake River (the Snake River is EVERYWHERE in Idaho!!) The site is quite near the town, but we did manage to take one turn (on the map it looked like the correct road) and end up at a bridge which was closed (this is what will happen when you ignore a sign that says “road closed”, when it appears to still be open!) No big deal, we found the correct way, passing fields full of “melon gravel” as we traveled. These are large rocks which were dropped (like pebbles or gravel) by retreating glaciers.

There were two overlooks in the area administered by the Nation Park Service. One was the Snake River overlook, which had some more info about the Pliocene Epoch, and a view across the river of the cliffs which are the actual fossil beds. In other words, we were nowhere near any fossils except in the visitors center-- and man, it was SO HOT up there that we didn’t even take Cassie out of the RV, the pathway to the overlook was too hot for her paws.

The second overlook was the Oregon Trail overlook. The other notable thing about this area is that the road goes right along the old Oregon Trail. So there were information panels on that as well. But as with the Minidoka site, in order to actually get to the overlook, it was necessary to hike a quarter of a mile or more (depending on which overlook you wanted) to get to the view. I got out of the RV briefly, but Joe was just too tired by that point. So we did our best to snap photos from the highway as we drove back down-- the road was so empty that it was not TOO unsafe .

At this point, it was about 3:30. There are two fish hatcheries right there in Hagerman-- one which is federally run, and one run by the state of Idaho. We had a magazine telling us all about the attractions in this part of the state, and while saying that both were open to visitors, with tours and other fun things to see, they said the State hatchery closed at 4:30, but the federal one was open until 6pm. So we decided to go see the federal fish hatchery.

Well, yet again, we followed the gps, and it led us to the gate of the Federal Fish Hatchery-- which was closed. There was no information. There was no sign about “hours.” There was a push-button phone set up at the gate, but no one answered it when I tried using it. We checked out a few other, unpaved, roads in the immediate vicinity, but none of them got us anywhere. Finally we took the road to the State hatchery, and we THINK it led us to the federal one, but we are not sure. And in any case, the fish breeding ponds were all locked up, and the rest seemed to be a series of ponds with, you guessed it, paths to walk between them. This being physically impaired business really cuts down on a lot of activities! And still, it was HOT (did I mention that?) So.... we were ready to give up for the day.

Which led us to the question, where were we going to stay? There are three places in Hagerman with RV parks attached to public hot spring fed pools. I had done a LOT of research trying to decide which to go to. I’m too tired to relate all of the details; suffice to say that our first choice did not have any RV sites free when we got there. So we are at their sister park across the road. And.... YAY! Finally, something worked out just right!

After not seeing all of Minidoka, after being a little disappointed in the Fossil Beds, after not finding the fish hatchery, after being turned away from our first choice of RV park, we FINALLY got something good! I was quite concerned because the RV sites themselves are quite unattractive, and ours seems to have mud (which none of the others do.) The electric hookup didn’t work, so we are using the one in the site next to us. The flies were driving me nuts, and it was so EFFING hot (did I mention that already?) that do what I could, I could not cool down. And the AC in the RV was fighting in vain against the heat. And adding insult to injury, there is not a single bar of telephone service. But tonight, after Joe made us a wonderful dinner (which we ate outside because despite the flies and yellow jackets, it was cooler out there), we went over to the pools.

And all I can say is, I wish the owners took as much care with the RV park as they did with the pools. The place is very clean, up-to-date, the showers inside are tiled and the water is hot. Better yet, the 4 hot spring-fed pools are delicious! The hottest one was as hot as ours at home, probably about 104-105 degrees, and Joe was so happy soaking in it. I went in all of them-- the biggest was “only” about 95 degrees or so, and the other two were about 100. But they all felt great, I was able to finally get physically comfortable, and it was just what we (I) needed to stop feeling aggravated and relax.

10,000 Springs

So we came back, Joe is reading, I did the dishes, the dog is half asleep, and the AC cooled the place down enough in our absence that I think we’ll be able to sleep comfortably. Joe says he had a wonderful day today and thought it was perfect (he considers all our detours and changes of plans to be “adventures” and is quite happy no matter what we do), but I always get a little bothered when my careful plans and research don’t entirely pan out. But hopefully, tomorrow will be a more successful day--I don’t have anything specific planned other than our final destination-- Lava Hot Springs, yet another hot spring experience! It was great in 2011, and I have hopes that it will not disappoint us this time.

10,000 Springs burst out of the cliffs

PS: One thing I forgot to mention was when we were driving to the RV parks, we suddenly looked across the river, and saw dozens of springs spilling down the sides of the cliffs opposite us. Despite hearing that the area was called 10,000 Springs, we were quite taken by surprise-- they were SO PRETTY!  We spent a little time trying to find a vantage point to see them better, but the best we could do was with my good camera's zoom lens. But just seeing them was a treat.

The Sublime and the Silly

View from Henry Lake State Park campsite this morning

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018

We woke up in our beautiful campground at Henry Lake State Park this morning, noticing how pretty it really was. I walked Cassie along the path which goes at the shore of the lake, and read the information panels, finding out that the lake is a nesting area for Trumpeter Swans. Joe and I had noticed two large birds some distance away last night, but I didn't realize that's what they were! Unfortunately this morning all we saw was ducks.

We headed south from the campground, and took the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. It led through the Targhee National Forest, so at one point, Joe turned off the road into the forest on a VERY unpaved road leading to... we didn't know. We followed it about 3 tenths of a mile, just to see if it was reasonable to think about boondocking by following one of these roads. As best we can tell, it is, although this one seemed to lead to a point right under the electrical wires, and a road which followed those in each direction. We looked online and figured out that the area is managed by the Rural Electrification Administration, so that's undoubtedly what the road is there for. But if we wanted to spend a night back there, I doubt there'd be any reason why we couldn't.

Mesa Falls and Rainbow

We returned to the main road, and continued to Mesa Falls. Being in a national forest meant that it was subject to user fees, but our trusty America the Beautiful pass got us in free as usual. (That was certainly $10 well spent, back in 2014 when we turned 62-- just this past week, it saved us $15 on campground fees and $35 entrance fee to Yellowstone. And it saved us $10 the week before at the Corps of Engineers campground in Illinois. And $5 today.)

Anyway, we had a snack, then took Cassie with us and followed the pathway leading to the waterfall. There was a handicap-accessible viewing area, but Joe started down the steps to get closer to the falls. So Cassie and I followed him. There were a LOT of steps. But it was worth it-- the falls were BEAUTIFUL. There were several observation decks, and every angle was lovely. We were also there at the right time of day to see a rainbow--or as Joe called it, a "falls-bow." We spend some time down there, then headed back up the lots-of-steps. I was proud of both Joe and Cassie (this is the dog who is afraid of stairs at home, but seems to have no problem with long flights of wooden steps.)

Joe (and Cassie behind bush) at Mesa Falls overlook

Back at the top, I went into the visitor's center, which was in a small cabin. The information inside told me that the site was originally planned to be a power station, and that the building was probably built to house the offices of the power company. But for some reason, although they got the necessary permits, they never went through with it-- leaving the Snake River at that point "untamed", and a gorgeous treasure for those traveling in that corner of Idaho.

We left the falls, and drove due south on Route 20, debating all the way about where we should stop next. The "problem" was that I had assumed in my planning that the falls would be a 30 minute stop-- pull over, go look at a waterfall, and then get back in the RV and leave. We ended up staying there for 90 minutes, what with our snack and our trek on the staircase, etc. I had thought we'd stop at the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls, which is a fairly large museum, I think. It had several displays I was really interested in (and one I didn't even know about until later this evening, when I saw a promotion for it in a rack of tourist cards.) But I felt that since it was already about 2:30 or 3:00 (I forget), I didn't think we had enough time for that and our preferred last stop.

So these are the museums we had to pass up: the Museum of Idaho (exhibits on Lewis and Clark, the area's nuclear energy history, and a special exhibit on Steampunk); the Farnsworth TV Pioneer Museum (the television was invented here! Although in fairness, we'd have stopped, but it was closed until tomorrow); the Teton Flood Museum (the dam broke in 1976 and flooded the entire town of Rexburg); the Museum of Clean ("Spanning 2,000 Years of Cleaning History"); and the EBR-1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor) Museum (a National Historic Landmark where usable electricity was first generated from nuclear energy in 1951.) Any one of these museums, most of them fairly small and dedicated to a single subject, would have been fascinating. And all of them were right on our route, with the possible exception of the EBR-1 museum.

So what museum WAS our first choice priority today? The Idaho Potato Museum!! We arrived there at about 4:00 and were greeted by the sight of a huge baked potato, and a sign-board for the Potato Depot Cafe (the museum is housed in an old railroad depot) with "Baked Potato, $1.99" on it. Well, I was just about ready for a nosh, and a baked potato sounded excellent! So we started at the Cafe, where the only thing they DO serve is baked potatoes. You can get it for $1.99 with butter, or with the topping of the day (today was Stroganoff, heavier than I really wanted), or the potato bar toppings. They had a few other snacks, including potato cupcakes, but Joe and I both stuck to baked potatoes with butter. Yum! The perfect late afternoon pick-me-up!

Next, we took a selfie of ourselves, as you can see here, next to the giant potato
. HOW did we do it? This was just so cute-- a local Boy Scout's Eagle Scout project was to set up a metal stand in front of the giant potato. There was a simple gadget to hold your cell phone, and instructions to set it on delay for 10 seconds, and go get into the photo! I thought that was a brilliant Eagle Scout project--the town of Blackfoot is pretty quiet and there would have been no one to take our photo together otherwise. 

After that, we went into the museum, although we had to stop for a few select items in the potato-themed gift shop area. The museum had displays about the history of the potato (the Incas raised potatoes, and from there the Spanish took them to Europe, and then they eventually made their way back across the Atlantic to North America.) Also there were lots of cute displays-- potato-themed kitchen items such as peelers, bakers, and those skewers to put into the potato to help it bake faster; a display of stamps from around the world relating to the potato; toys and miscellaneous items related to potatoes. There were also displays about how the potato came to Idaho (including a video) and the development of different varieties of potatoes, and a "cinema" where we watched some short films: one on McDonald's French Fries (how are they ALL the same ALL the time, and always taste perfect?) one on old agricultural equipment, and two relating to advertisement campaigns for the potato industry.

Display on how to sort and grade potatoes

In another room was a lot of old farm equipment related to raising and harvesting potatoes, with videos showing the machines being used back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. There was a room for young science geeks, with instructions on experiments with potatoes (how to make a potato clock, for example) and the goofiest thing of all, a view down into the cellar of the building, where we could see 3 large goofy-looking potato-people sitting on a couch (couch potatoes? There was a TV screen near them!) and they sang a little song and then explained how it was important to keep them cool down in a cellar or they wouldn't make it through the winter. They were utterly ridiculous!

All in all, the museum was a lot of fun, and shows that you can probably make an entertaining and educational museum about ANY subject-- which makes the idea of the Museum of Clean mentioned before not such a bizarre concept!

World's Largest Potato Crisp

Joe was pooped by this time (5:30), so we spent some time discussing what our particular ne eds were for tonight's accommodations, and where would be the best place to spend the night. In the end, I decided I'd rather drive for a while longer so we'd have less driving tomorrow (I have a couple of things planned), and we really didn't need anything fancy. I was disappointed at how expensive the state park was last night, so although there were a number of those to choose from, we decided to simply park at Walmart again-- the price is right!

So I drove for about 2 hours west to Burley, Idaho, which seems to be quite a large town right on the Snake River. That river, btw, became HUGE by the time we were 30 miles or so away from Burley, and the town is a center for water-related activities. So we started and ended the day near the Snake River. I did a little shopping in Walmart (we needed a couple of things) and now, somehow, it's 10:30 and time for sleep! The evening has cooled down (it was a very nice, not super-hot day) and we should be very comfortable with the windows open for the air to circulate. Tomorrow, we'll go just a little farther west, and then turn around and start heading east again. Somehow, that's never as fun--but I'm sure we've got a lot of things to entertain us!

Cranky Monday

Bison on the road to Fishing Bridge

Monday, Aug. 13, 2018

We had another quiet night at Three Mile Campground, with the sound of the river behind us during the night. And we even got going by 9:30, which counts as early for us these days. But after driving for an hour to the Fishing Bridge intersection, and another hour or more around the lower loop of Yellowstone’s Grand Loop, we realized we might not be able to accomplish our goal for the day, which was simple-- to visit the Midway Geyser Basin. On our previous visit, driving through the Firehole Canyon Drive was one of the highlights of our trip-- and we’d already seen yesterday that the route is now marked “No RVs.”  We had, however, managed to get into a crowded parking lot for the Midway Basin.

This morning, as with yesterday afternoon, the cars were in a line out to the main road, and parked on the shoulder of the road on both sides for about a quarter-mile in either direction. It was obvious that we would never get into the parking lot, and even if we did, we would not find a space to fit our RV. Unfortunately, our strength these days is not yet up to walking a half-mile or more just to the parking lot, plus a long loop through the basin. So we sadly drove past it.

We’d already passed Biscuit Basin (although in fairness, we MIGHT have had a chance to wedge ourselves in) and even Old Faithful and the lower geyser basin, in hopes of getting into Midway. Now we had to decide what to do-- backtrack and hope to get into those places, or move on elsewhere. We’d already driven more than 3 hours by that time, only to be turned back by the mobs. At that point, I was feeling decidedly “unwelcome” in the park-- between the lack of significant parking for RVs in the first place, and the numerous “No RV” signs on many of the sweetest one-way alternative routes, I kind of lost my patience and my fondness for Yellowstone. I expected crowds, but this was something almost upsetting, as well as inconvenient.

Firehole River

Given that it was lunch time, we found a pullout along the Firehole River and had something to eat. I felt a bit soothed by being right next to the river, and Cassie loved it. She sniffed not just the ground, but the air, pounced on bugs, and rolled in the grass. The river was very soothing also, and fish were jumping out of the water. It was delightful. The only downside was the traffic noise-- it was as if we were sitting beside a highway. The vehicles simply did not STOP, it was constant all during lunch. We decided that we’d just had enough, and, giving up the idea of any more sightseeing in the park, headed toward Madison Junction so we could leave via the West Gate. We’d never driven down that road, and at least it would be something new.

I have to say that it’s been 7 years since we last visited Yellowstone, and I’ve been hearing about the increasing crowds in the National Parks for a number of years. I anticipate that there will have to be more changes in crowd management in the future, and not all of them will be encouraging to visitors. We passed a bit of road work next to Fishing Bridge, and the access on the North Rim road was difficult because of road work (it looked like they were expanding the parking lot at Uncle Tom’s View, or whatever it’s called.) They also seem to be building new lakeside access to Yellowstone Lake on the road to the East Gate. But I will not be at all surprised if someday, instead of seeing “campground full” signs at the gates, the park will post “Park Full” signs, and stop admitting more cars after a certain point.

Cassie enjoying the river

Another difficulty is the fact that the park is really not even open for much of the year. The campgrounds, for example, with the exception of Mammoth, don’t open until May and June (at a staggered schedule). So even though we are more than willing to come at a different time of year,         our choices are limited. We came last time in early September... we will have to push it later next time. In addition, we’d already been talking about towing our Jeep behind us, and it’s obvious that this is now a necessity in YNP, if we expect to see all the attractions. Some of the best ones are no longer accessible to anyone in an RV (or, for that matter, in a tour bus--those too are prohibited from the same roads.) It’s already impossible to get a reserved campsite unless you plan pretty much a year in advance, so all in all, I predict it will be harder and harder to enjoy the park, and certainly harder to stay in it, in the coming years.

So that was my morose state of mind as we drove out of the park at around 2:00 pm. The road to the West Gate is really pretty, running right along the Madison River. We stopped once along the way when we saw a group of people standing and looking at something across the river. It turned out to be a very large bird-- someone said they thought it was a golden eagle. I left my good camera in the car when we got out, though, and missed getting its photo. Other than that, it was an uneventful trip out the gate and arrived at the little town of West Yellowstone, Montana.

Painted Fish

The main excuse for this town seems to be a location for RV parks, motels, and accompanying souvenir shops and the like for tourists heading for the park. In fact, if someone is staying outside the park, they’d be better off in this town than in Cody on the east side, or even in the NFS campground we were in, right outside the East Gate. The trip into the park is notably shorter from West Yellowstone. However, there were only a few attractions, and they did not attract us!

So we continued for about 15 more minutes, passing the Welcome to Idaho sign in the process, until we came to Henry Lake State Park, and that is where we are spending the night. The park is expensive by our current standards ($33.62 for the night, where our average nightly cost has been $17.58 for the 12 nights of our vacation thus far.) But we wanted access to the showers, the dumpsite, and the electric hookup. AND we are thrilled that we once again have good cell service and can reach the internet. Otherwise-- we would have boondocked again in the national forest which is right near by. Maybe tomorrow night we’ll do that again... I like paying nothing for a campsite in the forest!

Selfie of Debbie and Cassie, before I got cranky

Hot Springs

Day 20: Sept 15, 2011 (Part I)

Last night was completely delightful! As planned, we ate a yummy dinner (curried beef with peas and peanuts on rice) and then, after I uploaded the blog about Craters of the Moon, we gathered up our swimsuits and towels and walked to the Lava Hot Springs Pools. (Photos from this morning--so they are in daylight.)

The facility is very well done, as you can see from the photos. The dressing rooms are very accommodating, with large changing alcoves (including benches and hooks) and a shower room. There are six hot pools, and they are very large. The one on the end (closest in the photo) is the hottest--the water is 112 degrees, which is how it comes out of the ground. I couldn’t go in, and Joe decided not to try it either, but I did see some folks who could apparently tolerate it. I should add that the waters were completely clear and had absolutely no sulphuric smell (or any smell that we could discern.) Just crystal clear spring water, heated up by Mother Earth for our enjoyment.
The next pool is a sort of S shape; the end closest to the spring felt about 108 degrees, which is where we started. The pools are cement and tile, but what I loved in this pool was the bottom--it was covered with the same kind of tiny pebbles which we’d had underfoot all morning at Craters of the Moon. I just loved how they felt on and under my feet! We soaked at that end for a while, then slowly made our way to the other side of the S, where the water felt noticeably less warm (I don’t want to say “cool”--it was probably still around 106 degrees.)
There’s another large pool which is cooler--maybe 102-104 degrees; and two small pools which have whirlpool jets. We didn’t go into those because they were cooler too. We spent about an hour soaking in the S pool, before deciding we’d had enough. (Well, Joe decided; I could have spent all night there, I think!) Then we took our time showering and dressing, and walked slowly home to Mo. It was a beautiful night, and the walk was just the right length. In fact the evening was perfect.

This morning when I walked Roxy, I took some photos of the campground. It was not a fabulous campground but it’s surroundings were so nice. I discovered another creek ran into the river right at the campground. It's just the kind of thing that makes a so-so campground into something a little bit special.
I took a photo of the moon coming up over the volcanic hill across the road.
When we were ready to leave, we departed via the main street of the town. I took some photos of the Sunken Garden adjacent to the Hot Pools. They were really well done--lots of little display gardens cut into the volcanic rock.
The place also had little rocky walkways between the flower beds, and several overlooks of the gardens and the hot pools, where I took the photos. There were even some small caves in the walls. The entire place had a wonderful ambience--I thought it was wonderful.
And then after I took these photos, we set sail for our next adventure.