Christmas in August

A cold front was pushing down from the north on Friday. After exploring a few options, we decided the best bet was to stay put and hunker down for the day. The wind picked up in the afternoon, but most of the thunderstorm activity was to the south of us – we could see lightning and hear the thunder but we only had one squall here at Sierra Trading Post.

It was good day to kick back and read a book, so that’s what I did. Satelite TV reception was spotty in the afternoon due to the heavy storm clouds blocking the southern sky. The temperature dropped dramatically.

Screenshot of weather conditions on my smartphone at 7:46pm

I couldn’t think of anything better to do, so I opened a bottle of Flanders Black Ale that I picked up when I visited the Deschutes Brewery. This is a limited release – you won’t find it in stores. It’s a bourbon barrel-aged black ale with brett bacteria.

Flanders Black Ale

It was strong at 10.5% ABV with very complex flavors and a sour finish. I thought it was delicious. I poured a taster for Donna and she agreed. It was also expensive at about a dollar an ounce! When the storm clouds thinned out, we watched some coverage of the Rio Olympics.

We rose to sunny skies Saturday morning. It was still cool out but the forecast called for temperatures in the 70s by the afternoon. We wanted to get out so we rode the Spyder downtown to the depot at the south end of Capitol Avenue. They have a farmers’ market there on Saturdays from 7am to 1pm beginning on the first weekend of August and running through the first weekend in October.

Farmers’ market

It was a fairly large market with local produce sourced from Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.

Depot plaza

The entrance to the depot plaza which is the site for the market has sculptures of cowboy boots flanking either side.

Boot on the right

Another boot on the left

We walked through the marketplace and Donna bought fennel and squash while I bought coarse grain habanero mustard – we sampled it and it was very tasty while not overly hot.

There was an art exhibit in the train depot that houses a gift shop and museum. The fee to enter the museum was $8 – we passed on it. We also checked out the Accomplice brew pub but it was too early to sample brews.

As we headed back to the Spyder, we saw a western wear shop called The Wrangler which is also a Boot Barn store. Donna’s been wanting me to buy cowboy boots to wear with jeans when we go out. When I’m not wearing flip-flops, I usually wear running shoes or cross-trainers.

I humored her and we went inside for a look. I haven’t worn cowboy boots since I was a kid. I posted about those cowboy boots here. For some reason, I imagined cowboy boots would be uncomfortable to wear. After browsing around for a while, I found a pair I liked and tried them on. They were a little tight around my forefoot and a little loose at the heel. I looked for a different size. I tried a larger boot, but it was loose. That’s when a store clerk came over to offer assistance.

I told him how the first boot fit. He told me that it sounded like a perfect fit – they should always feel a little tight behind the ball of your foot and have a little space at the heel. He said the leather would stretch and conform to my forefoot after walking in them and breaking them in. They were actually quite comfortable. The brand name was Ariat.

Donna made it Christmas in August and bought the boots for me. I also picked up some leather conditioner.

On the way back to the Spyder, we stopped at a used book store and found a couple of books for a dollar each. Donna asked the guy there for a recommendation for lunch. He told us we should go back toward the depot and try The Albany restaurant. It’s been family-owned since 1942. We dropped our stuff in the Spyder trunk and I donned my new cowboy boots to start the break-in process.

My new Ariat boots

We had a nice lunch and the service was good. After we came home, Donna went for a walk. She ended up walking a few miles east, then came back and stopped at the coach before walking west to pick up a few things at Walmart, logging a total of 6.6 miles for the day. I watched the qualifying for this weekend’s Moto GP race in the Czech Republic.

Today’s weather looks good – clear skies with the temperature expected to reach the low 80s and not as windy as the previous few days. We’ll hang out here at Sierra Trading Post one more night before we move on to Colorado tomorrow.

Sierra Trading Post

We had a late start leaving Laramie – we pulled out of the Cavalryman’s parking lot around 11am. Our route took us east on I-80 for about nine miles up a steep grade. We were at an elevation of about 7,200 feet above sea level in Laramie. By the time we pulled off I-80 at Happy Jack Road (WY210), we were over 8,600 feet above sea level.

The terrain changed drastically as we climbed into the Laramie range of the Rocky Mountains. We were surrounded by coniferous forest now instead of the high plains grassland and sage brush as we drove through the Happy Jack Recreation Area.

WY210 took us through a section of Medicine Bow National Forest before we came through the Curt Gowdy State Park area at Granite Lake. This is beautiful country with stunning views of forest, open meadows and huge rock formations. WY210 – also known as Happy Jack Road and the Sand Creek Massacre Trail – is a relatively narrow, two-lane road through this area. I was wishing for a turnout so I could stop and take a few photos, but it never materialized.

East of Curt Gowdy State Park, we dropped down to an elevation of about 6,400 feet above sea level and we were in high plains grassland again. We saw a few antelope which favor this terrain over forest.

By the way, the Curt Gowdy State Park is named after a Wyoming native. Curt Gowdy was born in Green River and grew up in Cheyenne. He was the announcer for the Boston Red Sox in the 1950s and moved on to national television sports announcing first for ABC in 1960, then NBC in 1965. He covered many different sporting events and was called “the broadcaster of everything.” His career continued into the mid-1980s.

The detour from I-80 onto WY210 added about 10 miles to our trip but was well worth it. The scenery was spectacular. We eventually rejoined I-80 a few miles west of Cheyenne near the junction of I-25. Our destination was the Sierra Trading Post outlet and fulfillment center in Cheyenne. They have a large parking lot with RV and truck parking in marked stalls 100 feet long.

We checked in with the woman at the counter in the fulfillment center. She took down our information – name, coach description and plate number and an emergency phone contact. She said the information would be passed on to security and the lot is patrolled 24/7. We were welcome to stay through the weekend if we wanted, no charge.

Donna and I then walked over to the outlet store and saw a few things we would want to purchase before we leave. We could see heavy clouds to the southwest and we had a few raindrops on the windshield earlier. We came back to the coach for lunch. Donna wanted to go back to the outlet and shop. I needed to get the Spyder out and ride over to Petco – about four miles away – to get cat food. We were nearly out of cat food and Ozark likes the brand I find at Petco.

I knew I was taking a chance of getting caught out in a thunderstorm, but I quickly unloaded the Spyder and headed out around 1:30pm. Donna went back to the Sierra Trading Post outlet. I didn’t waste any time at Petco and returned just as a few raindrops were falling. I loaded the Spyder back in the trailer and came inside before the skies opened up.

We had a massive thunderstorm approaching. I had to pull the living room slide back in as the wind really kicked up. By 3pm, it was raining hard and there were lightning strikes all around us. Donna was still in the outlet. I sent her a text telling her to stay in the store until the storm passed. She was happy to do that as she was in her element trying on clothes and shoes.

The storm finally moved on to the east around 5pm – but Donna didn’t finish shopping until 6pm! I had the living room slide back out by then. Donna reheated some jambalaya she made in the crockpot two days ago and we watched TV until bedtime.

This morning, it’s cloudy and the high temperature is only supposed to reach 66 degrees. Another thunderstorm is predicted for the afternoon. We’re undecided at this point on whether we should stay put or move on. We have to hit an RV park soon – I’ll need to refill the fresh water and dump our tanks. Either way, I’ll hit the outlet and pick up a couple of shirts and shorts I saw yesterday that were real bargains.

The Virginian

Although we enjoyed the relative solitude of dispersed camping on public land, we decided to pull out from Rim Lake Wednesday morning. The weather forecast called for rain and that could leave us in a position of having to drive a large, heavy rig down muddy dirt roads.

We thought it would be best to move on to Laramie. Instead of droning along I-80 for 100 miles, we opted to take US30 through Medicine Bow. This route added about 25 miles to the trip but it was more interesting and easy driving. Traffic was so light on US30, we only saw a handful of cars during the first 60 miles before we stopped in Medicine Bow.

I know I’m dating myself, but I asked Donna if she remembered the old western serial from the ’60s called The Virginian. The setting for the show was Medicine Bow in the late 1800s. We pulled into a large parking lot by a small general store and Donna made lunch for us. Medicine Bow has a population of about 300 people. It has the Virginian Hotel and RV park, a store, two bars, an ice cream shop and a museum.

Medicine Bow Museum

We walked across the street to the museum after lunch. There’s an old log cabin in front – the actual museum is in a house toward the rear of the property. Donna spied what appeared to be an early RV – it was actually sheepherders quarters.

Sheepherders mobile quarters

Sheep ranching came to Wyoming in the mid-1800s. Beef prices were at an all-time high then, so investing in a sheep ranch was risky. However, sheep produced wool, mutton and lamb meat. The high demand for wool during the civil war made sheep ranching profitable. For the next 100 years, Basque immigrants were brought in to tend to the sheep. This was a lonely and hard job. The sheepherders would move with the flock, keeping them on fresh grazing land. They lived in tiny portable housing with no running water or electricity. In the early years, there was friction between cattle ranchers and sheep ranchers – mostly over grazing rights on public land.

In the 1980s, ranchers were having a hard time finding Basque immigrants willing to do the job. They turned to South America where sheepherders from Chile or Peru were willing to emigrate and take the job. A New York Times article from 2009 stated that sheepherders still lived in very primitive conditions and worked 24/7 for a monthly pay of $750. They didn’t have much in the way of expenses though – food was provided and they had shelter, although most were still without running water or electricity. The current situation is mostly unchanged save for the decline in numbers of sheep on the range.

The museum itself is a self-guided step back in time. The house has every room filled with artifacts and trinkets from the late 1800s to the 1960s. Donna found high-quality dress leather shoes from a century ago and remarked on how small the women must have been. The shoes and boots were tiny as was a dress on a mannequin that must have had an 18-inch waist.

We continued on US30/287 and saw dark clouds and rainfall to the southwest. I think we made the right choice to move on. We hit a few stray rain drops, but not much – the road remained dry.

We drove through Laramie south of I-80 past the fairgrounds to the Cavalryman Steakhouse. They have a large parking lot in back and Donna heard that they would allow overnight parking. We pulled in and parked around 2:30pm. The steakhouse doesn’t open until 4pm. We saw people going in and out of the building though, so we walked over toward it. A guy came out and got in his car. He drove up to us and told us they would open for dinner at 4pm. We asked about overnight parking in our rig and he said we were fine right where we parked. He was one of the managers.

Awhile later, Donna received an e-mail from Kathy Crabtree – we met Kathy and her husband Ray in San Diego last year and hooked up with them again this year in Portland. They were on their way from Portland to Ohio in their car and were eastbound on I-80 about an hour out of Laramie. Donna replied and told them where we were. The stopped by the steakhouse about an hour later and we chatted for about twenty minutes before they had to continue their road trip. They had reservations at a motel in North Platte, Nebraska another 270 miles east on I-80. Cars on this part of I-80 travel at 80mph – so they had another three and half hours of driving time.

We went to the Cavalryman Steakhouse for dinner around 5pm. They were well staffed and the service was great. Donna had a prime rib dinner while I had an open-face steak sandwich with garlic mashed potatoes. The food was excellent.

Today we’ll move another 50 miles east to Cheyenne as we inch our way to Colorado. We may spend a couple of days in Cheyenne so we can get some shopping done, then we plan to go to Greeley, Colorado from there.

Across the Divide

On Monday morning, Donna saw that UPS tracking indicated the delivery of her new laptop would arrive by 8pm. I was hoping it would be well before before 8pm because the Sweetwater Fairgrounds office closes at 5pm and they would take the delivery.

I went to the office and told them we expected a delivery and asked when UPS usually delivers – I was told between noon and 3pm. I paid for another night here to be sure we could get her laptop. I then made a run to town on the Spyder to pay for the diagnostic fee and retrieve her bad hard drive and also pick up a few necessities.

Around 4pm, I asked Donna to check the status of her laptop delivery – the woman in the office said she would call me when UPS delivered, but I hadn’t heard from her. The UPS tracking showed “Delivered and handed to local resident Adams.” What?

I went to the fairground office and the office manager Erika said that UPS dropped everything back in their shop since they delivered some large boxes. She led me back to the workshop area and there it was – Donna’s new laptop. I have to say, the office staff at Sweetwater Fairgrounds and Events Complex are some of the nicest people you’ll ever encounter.

Fairgrounds building

They do a great job of keeping the area around the events center clean and well-landscaped.

Nice flowers by the office

More flowers honoring the sheriff’s department

However, the RV area is nothing more than a large gravel lot with 1200 hook-ups. The caretaker doesn’t seem to do much. Donna and I slept poorly most nights as we had issues with barking dogs early in the morning and long-term residents heading out to their workaday lives. The barking dogs were especially bothersome. A couple in a site near us had three dogs and it seems that they thought it was okay to just let the dogs out in the morning around 6am to do their business. The dogs would bark constantly as they ran around loose for what seemed like an eternity. Then the caretaker’s dogs would join in the barkfest.

Donna spent most of Monday evening getting her laptop configured. Of course this meant using a lot of data on our Verizon plan, but what can you do? I have to mention that Verizon’s coverage is incredible – it’s rare for us not to have a usable Internet connection.

Donna defrosted some grass-fed lamb rib chops we bought from the rancher in Portland and made lamb chops with a red wine, rosemary and garlic pan sauce. As usual, I’m dining first-class.

Lamb chops with red wine, rosemary and garlic pan sauce

We were watching the Rio Olympics on TV when dogs started barking non-stop near our coach after 9pm. I looked out the window and sure enough, our neighbor with the three dogs had let them out. I walked over to his site and knocked on the door. He and his wife were totally oblivious to the barking dogs running loose. It wasn’t a pleasant exchange.

We got a late start Tuesday morning. It was 11am by the time we pulled out. I had to circle back before we left the grounds when I realized I left our jack pads behind. Our first stop was the Pilot/Flying J at I-80. We took on 45 gallons of fuel at $2.42/gallon. I wanted to have a full tank as we weren’t sure of where we’ll stop for the night and how much generator run-time we might have in the next couple of days.

We stopped at the Love’s travel center in Wamsutter for lunch. It was a crowded truck stop with back-in spaces. I had to jockey back-and-forth a few times to get us into a parking lane, but no harm done. Over lunch, Donna and I discussed our options for the night. We decided to hit a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) site south of Rawlins at Teton Reservoir.

Heading eastward on I-80 we crossed the continental divide twice. The continental divide is a hydrological divide where watersheds drain either westward to the Pacific Ocean or eastward to the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic. In southern Wyoming we encountered the Great Divide Basin. This is a region where none of the water falling to the ground drains into any ocean. We were at 7,000 feet above sea level at that point.

We pulled off I-80 at Rawlins and headed for the BLM site. On the way, we passed a sign for Rim Lake which also turned out to be BLM public land. The road we were on turned to gravel five miles before Teton Lake and I stopped in a turn-out. I was leery of continuing to Teton Reservoir. The road surface looked okay at that point, but there was no guarantee of its condition further on and being able to turn around. We made a several-point turn-around and came back to the Rim Lake turn-off.

It was a gravel/dirt road that took us a couple of miles to the small lake. On the way, we spied a few pronghorn antelope. That’s Wyoming – you’re likely to see more pronghorns than people in many areas. This is not a bad thing.

We found a level spot that I can easily exit from and we set up for the night.

Our quiet space

Rim Lake view

A few cars and pickup trucks came through the area in the afternoon but didn’t stay long. Three bicyclists rode in around 7pm and set up tents for an overnight stop. They were far enough away from us that we couldn’t hear them. We heard a pack of coyotes howling after dark and the gusty winds woke me a few times in the night. But it’s nice to be away from it all and only waking to the sounds of nature instead barking dogs and vehicles early in the morning.

The weather forecast for today looks good – sunny and mid 80s. We’re debating about moving to Teton Reservoir and staying overnight there. I’d like to check it out, but there’s a 50% chance of rain by tomorrow and we’ll be five miles down a dirt road that could become muddy. Also, it’s not likely that we would have internet at Teton Reservoir. Our other option is to head to Laramie where we won’t have any worries about mud. We’re in no hurry, so we’ll decide later this morning.

Blues ‘n Brews

Our highlight for the weekend was the Sweetwater Blues ‘n Brews Festival held in Bunning Park here in Rock Springs, Wyoming. This was the 10th anniversary of the event. We rode down to Bunning Park on the Spyder around 2:30pm. The festival started at noon and was scheduled to run until 10pm. There were six blues bands in the line-up with each band performing for about an hour and a half.

Blues ‘n Brews line-up

We parked in the free parking lot next to the park off Elk Street, only a few miles from the Sweetwater Events Complex where we’re staying (map). Nothing in Rock Springs is more than a few miles away!

The first thing we did was sign Donna up for the Designated Driver program. This entitled her to free admission and a goody bag with a T-shirt and a few other items. I paid the $5 entry fee and bought five beer tickets for $20.

There were 11 kiosks under portable canopies – each had three or four different beers from brewers in Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Goose Island Brewing in Chicago. I don’t know why I see so many Goose Island beers in the northwest – they obviously have a good distribution network here. The beer isn’t anything special in my opinion. I had one bartender tell me Goose Island beer is made with Northwest-sourced ingredients. Well, most craft brews will have some Cascade, Centennial or Magnum hops – all sourced from Washington, Oregon or Idaho.

When we arrived, the David Gerald Band was on stage. David Gerald hails from Detroit, Michigan. He’s a real blues-rocker and his band sounded great.

David Gerald Band

Next up was the Andy T and Nick Nixon Band. Andy T is a guitarist originally from southern California. He teamed up with vocalist/guitarist Nick Nixon to front the band in Nashville, Tennessee. However, Nick Nixon was under the weather and couldn’t come with the band. A vocalist/guitarist from Mississippi filled in for Nick Nixon – I don’t recall his full name – he was Zach something or other..

I was blown away at how tight they were able to perform with a replacement singer/guitarist. The stand-in was the front man singing and directing the band and he happened to be a first-class guitar player as well. A couple of songs were improvisations – they made it up as they went along and it was great.

Andy T in the center and a stand-in at the mic

All six bands tour the country and come from different areas. It’s impressive how a town with a population of 24,000 people well off the beaten path can put together an event such as this. By the way, the nearest “big city” is Salt Lake City, 180 miles away.

It was warm and sunny out. After a few hours of music and beer, it was time to go home. I rode on the passenger seat of the Spyder for the first time. Designated Driver Donna chauffeured me home and did a fine job of it.

Back at home, I watched the first weekend of pre-season NFL football. I had to stay up until 10pm to catch the kick-off of the Chargers game.

Sunday was a low-key day. I watched the Moto GP race from Austria and it was a good one. Donna rode the Spyder to town for groceries. It was a little windy, but otherwise a fine day. We grilled hot Italian sausages and Donna made sandwiches on hoagie rolls smothered in peppers and onions. Yum!

I should give you an update on our damage claim from the encounter with the suicidal buck in Idaho. A claims adjuster from Allied Insurance (a Nationwide Insurance company) phoned me on Friday. We discussed the accident and the damage. Our current travel makes it difficult to get an inspection and estimate done. The adjuster was very accommodating – we plan to have the coach inspected when we reach Colorado Springs at the end of the month. He’ll call me on Monday, August 29th to make the arrangements.

I’m doing some research to see where we should have the work done. It won’t be a simple patch job. I’ve read so many horror stories about this type of repair that I’m preparing for a drawn-out, painful ordeal. Hopefully we won’t be sharing a horror story, but I think it’ll take weeks to get the work done. We’ll see.

Today we expect Donna’s new laptop to arrive. I have to go to Sweetwater Technology Services to pick up her dead hard drive and pay for the diagnostic work. I’ll extend our stay here at the fairgrounds for one more night, then we’ll head east.

Be Careful – Shift Happens

We pulled out of our roadside boondocking spot at Georgetown Summit around 10:30am Thursday morning. Our route took us down US30 to the Wyoming border. As we continued on US30, we crossed a few summits over 6,000 feet above sea level and one summit near Diamondville over 7,000 feet above sea level. It wasn’t too bad though, we weren’t much below 6,000 feet at any time.

We made our way to I-80 east and about 25 miles later, stopped for lunch at Little America. I remember stopping here twice traveling cross-country with my parents in the ’60s. The food wasn’t anything to rave about but the break was needed and they have ample parking.

Around 30 miles later, I-80 took us past the town of Green River. I could hear John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival singing in my head;

Well, take me back down where cool water flows, yeah.
Let me remember the things I don’t know,
Stopping at the log where catfish bite,
Walking along the river road at night,
Barefoot girls dancing in the moonlight.
I can hear the bullfrog calling me.
Wonder if my rope’s still hanging to the tree.
Love to kick my feet ‘way down the shallow water.
Shoefly, dragonfly, get back t’your mother.
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River.
Welllllll!

Our destination was Rock Springs, Wyoming – more accurately the Sweetwater Events Complex, home of the Sweetwater County Fair and many other events. They have more than 1,200 RV sites with full hook-ups. As Escapees members, we could get a site for $21/night. We want to spend a few days in the area and attend the Blues and Brews festival today.

We found the complex without any trouble, but the check-in was a little different. We followed signs to the caretaker’s house. I knocked on the door and a woman invited me in. I told her we would like to stay for four nights. She asked if I was paying with a credit card. I said yes – she told me I would have to go to the office building then and gave me directions. I’m glad we didn’t arrive on a weekend – the office is only open Mon-Fri 8am to 5pm.

At the office, I paid for four nights and asked if there were any pull-through sites. The woman said no. Then she looked out the window at the size of our rig. She got a map of the RV sites out and told me what I should do. She said to park adjacent to two sites on the end of the row, with our rig on the side of the interior road. She said that we should be able to reach the hook-ups and have plenty of room for our length.

I could hardly believe they would allow this, but the place is fairly empty and it looked like a good plan. The regular sites are all back-in and laid out strangely. The sites are fenced off with wooden rail fencing on three sides. The hook-ups are in the rear, behind the fence and are shared with the site behind.

Fenced back-in site

Confusing looking rows of sites – they look like pens

I studied her map carefully to be sure I understood what she was telling me to do. I pulled into the area she indicated and stayed close to the fence to keep us from blocking the road.

We’re on the side of an interior road adjacent to two sites

It was a fairly long run to the water and sewer hook-ups, but I managed. The living room slide came within an inch of the fence. Shortly after I got us hooked up, a thunder shower hit us accompanied by gusty winds. I had to pull the living room slide in to keep the slide topper from flapping itself to death.

Long run for water and sewer

One of the things we always have to be careful of after a day on the road is opening cabinets. Like the airlines always say, cargo may have shifted in the overhead bin. Donna had her laptop on the floor in front of her seat as she was using it as we traveled down the road. When she opened the overhead cabinet in front of her seat a remote for the satellite receiver fell out. It landed with a bang on her laptop about six feet below the cabinet.

The impact was too much apparently. No visible damage, but her laptop wouldn’t boot up. It went to a blue screen with an Aptio set up utility. The utility wouldn’t work – it just went in circles back to itself. She texted our friend and computer guru, Joel Myaer. He said he thought the hard drive was toast. I called my friend, another computer guru and former colleague, Bob Clogg. He had me try a few things, then suggested I buy a special cable and remove Donna’s hard drive. I could use the special cable to connect it as an external hard drive on my laptop and maybe retrieve her data.

On Friday morning, we went to a computer shop called Sweetwater Technology Services – there’s no Best Buy in Rock Springs – in fact the nearest Best Buy is in Salt Lake City! I found a device to hook up her hard drive. We also shopped for a new laptop at a few stores but didn’t find anything she wanted.

After removing her hard drive and connecting it to my laptop, I couldn’t retrieve anything. The hard drive was recognized by my OS, but it couldn’t read any files. I took her hard drive back to Sweetwater Technology Services and asked them if they could retrieve the files. The minimum charge to hook up and diagnose was $41. I left the hard drive with them.

Later they called Donna. No dice. The hard drive is toast. If she really wanted the data, they could send it out to a specialist, but she would be looking at $1,200+ to get it. Donna used to use Carbonite for back up, but we don’t do that anymore since our data usage is limited and backing up to a remote site means double dipping on data. She’s sorry now that she didn’t do more frequent backups to her external hard drive. From now on, we’ll do that.

Donna ordered a new laptop on Amazon and we should have it Monday. That means we’ll extend our stay for another night here.

The weather on Friday was much nicer. Not much wind, clear skies and a high temperature of 79 degrees. Donna went for a short run and did a workout in a grassy area nearby. She said she could feel the effects of the elevation – we’re nearly 6,800 feet above sea level.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Don’t Do It!

We decided not to go to the Basque museum on our last full day in Boise, Idaho. Donna went grocery shopping, then she had some cooking to do. She baked a French style cherry pie and added apricots to it. She also made prosciutto-wrapped asparagus spears with garlic and herb boursin cheese. She wanted to bring the appetizer and dessert to our friends, Mike and Dina Martin’s place where we were invited for dinner.

Mike and I chatted outside their coach at Riverside RV park in Garden City – a Boise suburb north of town along the Boise River. Meanwhile the girls had girl-talk inside while Dina prepared an awesome chicken piccata.

Chicken piccata plate ala Dina Martin

As usual, the time got away from us and it was after 9pm before we got home.

On Wednesday morning we prepped for travel and pulled out of Mountain View RV Park. Our first stop would be in Jerome at the Pilot/Flying J travel center about 120 miles away. I planned to fuel up there and also have the coach and trailer washed at the Blue Beacon truck wash that shares the lot with the travel center.

We got there around 12:30pm. While I pumped 67 gallons of fuel @ $2.48/gallon, Donna walked across the street to Subway to get meatball marinara subs for lunch. I told her I would be at Blue Beacon by the time she came back. I pulled over toward the Blue Beacon and found a queue of trucks. I stopped short so I could allow room to maneuver and got out to see if this was a line for the truck wash. I asked the trucker ahead of me and he said it was. I asked how long he thought it would take, he said, “Figure 20 minutes per truck so we’re looking at about two hours.” I was glad I stopped and allowed room to move – I moved out of line and parked on the street. I phoned Donna as she was leaving Subway and told her where to find me.

Boise sits at an elevation of around 2,700 feet above sea level. As we drove east on I-86, it’s a gradual but constant climb. Pocatello sits at an elevation of 4,460 feet above sea level. Along the way, we were involved in an incident.

You’ve probably heard the old saw about the difference between being involved and being committed where a plate of ham and eggs is the example. The chicken was involved while the pig was committed.

We were cruising along on what had been an uneventful few hours of driving. We passed a few signs warning of game crossing the road, but at 2:30pm, I wasn’t too concerned about game crossing. I could see the Snake River on our left and thought maybe deer or antelope might come out of the hills and cross the interstate to reach the river for water in the morning or evening.

Around mile post 49 I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a deer – a large bodied buck crossing the westbound lanes toward us at full speed. I said out loud, “Don’t do it, don’t do it!” Donna heard this and saw the buck come flying into the center median where he made a quick cut to his left. I could see our paths would coincide and for a split second, I thought this cut to the left would avoid us meeting. But then he bounded to the right onto the eastbound interstate and took a flying leap into the side of our coach.

The force of the impact made a loud bang but otherwise didn’t disturb our 35,000-pound rig moving along at 60mph. The buck didn’t fare so well. The moving coach spun him around and hurled him to the pavement. It wasn’t a survivable impact. He was committed to getting across the interstate and unfortunately we became involved. I don’t think there was anything I could have done to avoid it – it happened way too fast.

I pulled off the road at the next off-ramp and checked the damage. We have a dent and crack in the fiberglass laminate sidewall on the driver’s side on the living room slide. A basement compartment door also has some damage and there are a few paint scrapes.

Crack in fiberglass laminate side wall

Looks like I’ll be dealing with insurance again.

Our plan was to boondock for the night at a spot Donna found on the Escapee’s directory outside of Soda Springs. The last update was about two years ago, so we figured it would be a safe bet. Not so much. It’s currently an active gravel pit with loaders and construction trucks. We kept moving.

Eventually I found a pull-out on US30 at Georgetown Summit where we’re parked at an elevation of 6,280 feet above sea level. It turned out to be more than a 300-mile day – longer than we’ve been driving lately.

The temperature dropped to the 40s overnight and although there was some road noise, I slept soundly. Today we’ll press on to Rock Springs, Wyoming. We plan to check in at the fairground RV park and hit the Blues and Brews festival this weekend.

Rolling on the River

After lunch, we loaded up the Spyder with our floaties, pump and other gear to float the Boise River Monday. We rode the Spyder to the take-out point at Ann Morrison Park. I pumped up our floaties and we waited for the bus to take us a little over five miles east to the launch point at Barber Park.

Map of the floaters’ route

The bus pulled up right on time for the 1pm run. The bus picks up river floaters at the top of the hour from 1pm to 5pm. It was an old Bluebird bus with a rear door and storage area in the back where seats had been removed.

Ancient Bluebird bus

The bus ride costs three dollars per person. It was about a 20-minute ride to Barber Park. We debated whether we should lash our floaties together so we wouldn’t get separated, but decided we could hang together with our paddles.

Our gear ready to go

Donna entered first around 1:30pm. I was immediately hung up as I got on my floatie in shallow water. The current started taking Donna downriver while I sorted myself out. I was able to catch her after a few minutes and thought it would be best if I held her floatie so we wouldn’t become separated. The current moved at a pretty good clip – I estimated our speed at about 3mph.

Donna ready to launch

After a few minutes, we could hear the sound of rapids ahead. We watched as a raft with four people suddenly plunged a couple feet down and bounced on the water. We were in for a ride and our first splash. We were glad we brought paddles as the current would often push us toward the bank where we might get hung up on roots or low branches. Paddling with my right arm and holding us together with my left was giving my arms and shoulders a workout. We only hit the bank one time and I was able to push off with my feet.

We could float with the current effortlessly at times, but most of the time we were paddling to stay in the channel. We hit one section of low water and I dragged over a few river rocks, but no harm done. It was challenging at times when we approached small islands and had to decide which side was the best passage. The current would speed up over shallow areas with several areas of sudden drops over gravel bars where would splash and bob in the choppy current. The deeper water moved more slowly.

The water temperature was reported to be 58 degrees, but it didn’t feel that cold. The air temperature was over 80 degrees. We pulled out at Ann Morrison Park at 3:30pm. After I got out of the water and started deflating our floaties, I was chilled. Two hours of floating with my backside in cold water caught up with me.

We came home to a hot shower and got ready for visitors. A long-time subscriber to Donna’s organizing newsletter contacted Donna. She lives in Boise and wanted to meet up for dinner. Her name is Allie – she and her husband Rod came over just before 6pm. Donna gave them a short tour of our place, then we piled into their BMW X5 SUV and went downtown for dinner.

We went to 10 Barrel Brewing near Freak Alley. We loved 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend, Oregon. I knew they had another place in Portland, but I didn’t know they were in Boise as well. Rod and Allie don’t drink beer, but picked this place mostly because they knew I did and the food is good.

Rod, Allie and Donna

Once again, good food and great conversation made the time fly. Before we knew it, it was 9pm. Allie generously picked up the tab. Thanks, Allie! We were tired from our day on the water and Rod and Allie dropped us off back at Mountain View RV Park. It’s always nice to meet people on the road and for Donna it was the opportunity to meet face to face with one of her readers.

Today we’re thinking about a trip to the Basque Museum and Basque food for lunch. Later we’ll get together with Dina and Mike again for dinner at their place. Tomorrow will be a travel day as we’re planning to head for Wyoming.

Freak Alley – Boise, Idaho

We pulled into the Mountain View RV Park in Boise around 2pm on Saturday. The registration lane is relatively short and we took up the whole lane. The manager on duty, Justin, came over to my window before I shut off the engine. He told me to follow him in his golf cart and he would get us into our site so the lane wouldn’t be blocked. He already knew who we were and what site he was going to put us in.

He knew we had a long rig with our trailer and selected a site with a smaller rig next door which he had them position well forward in their site to give us more room to turn in. I think he expected us to have a difficult time maneuvering, but it went smoothly. I pulled through our site, then reversed to straighten out the trailer and we were all set. He told me to take my time setting up and come to the office any time before 6pm to sign in and pay. Nice check-in process.

The park is fairly tight and a little noisy as it’s next to I-84. It’s on the east end of the Boise airport, but since the prevailing wind is out of the west, airplanes take off in that direction and we don’t even hear them. The park is nicely landscaped and well-kept. All of the sites and interior roads are paved so there’s no issue with dust.

After we set up, I made a run to the Fred Meyer store on the Spyder and reconnoitered the area. Later, Donna went out and walked nearly five miles.

On Sunday afternoon, we rode the Spyder to the Boise Depot a few miles from here. The Boise Depot is a Mission-style structure built in 1925 to house the train station. It was proclaimed “the most beautiful structure of its kind in the west.” Today the Boise Depot is a museum with artifacts from the golden age of railroading prior to World War II. After perusing the displays, a docent took us up the bell tower in an elevator. The original spiral staircase had been removed and replaced with a elevator.

Boise Depot bell tower

There are four bells in the tower, each one a different size and weight to create different tones. Today only one is used and it chimes at 8am, noon and 5pm. The view from the bell tower was outstanding. We could see the old downtown district and state capitol to the north.

Downtown and capitol building

To the east, we had a view of a city park and mountains in the distance.

View to the east

From there we rode to the old downtown area. The roads are a little tricky to figure out around the depot. Capitol Boulevard is divided and you can only go south from the intersection at the depot. We wanted to go north. I found a way by following Crescent Rim Drive to South Americana Boulevard which took us downtown.

We planned to meet up with Mike and DIna Martin at 5pm at the Bittercreek Alehouse for cold brew and dinner. We found a place to park on the street in front, but we were early. So, we took a walk across the street to Freak Alley. This is an outdoor art gallery established in 2002 where local artists create spray-paint art. Artists submit their proposals and once a year – between the first and second Saturday in August – new murals are painted. I’ve seen something similar to this in Barcelona, Spain. It was an interesting walk down what is otherwise a regular working alley with dumpsters and loading areas behind businesses.

Freak Alley

We walked back toward Bittercreek Alehouse just in time to find Dina and Mike coming up the sidewalk – they were early too. We found a table inside next to an open air window to the patio and sidewalk. I’ve never met them before but Donna’s known Dina for about 10 years through the National Association of Professional Organizers.

This was the reason we left the McCall area to come to Boise – Mike and DIna have been on the road for nearly four years in their Monaco Signature coach and this was the first time we found ourselves in the same area at the same time and we wanted to get together.

Donna, Dina and Mike

Our server seemed a little spacey at first. She brought us water right away and we said we needed a minute to peruse the beer selections. They have about 40 beers on tap plus bottled beer. Then she disappeared and seemed to forget about us. Eventually she came back and took our drink orders.

We sat and talked and enjoyed a couple of cold ones before we ordered food. Donna ordered a smoked trout salad and I went for the beef au jus sandwich. The food was outstanding – one of the best sandwiches I’ve had and Donna really liked her salad.

Donna’s smoked trout salad

Beef au jus sandwich with potato-corn chowder

We stayed at the alehouse talking until about 8pm. The time flies when we’re with good company.

Today the forecast calls for a high of 86 degrees with only a few clouds. Donna and I are planning to float down the Boise River this afternoon.

Smoke on the Water

Our overnight in Grangeville, Idaho at the Bear Den RV Park was surprisingly nice. Who would have thought that such an out-of-the-way spot would have a clean, friendly park with all pull-through sites and lightning-fast, free wifi! This was probably the best park wifi we’ve ever experienced.

We pulled out a little before 10am Friday morning and headed down US95. It started out flat and I was cruising at 60mph with a tractor-trailer rig behind me. After a few miles, we hit a steep upgrade with a passing lane. I didn’t have to worry about the tractor-trailer – we dropped him like a rock on the incline. A few cars cleared out and we were traffic-free as we crossed the White Bird Summit at 4,245 feet above sea level.

At the summit, there was a sign that said we were in for seven miles of seven percent downgrade! Trucks were advised to maintain 35mph. Like the drop into Lewiston, this is a long drop with several runaway truck ramps. If a trucker allows too much speed or overheats his brakes through poor technique, all braking power can be lost with a heavy load and gravity hurling his cargo down the grade.

Runaway truck ramp with deep gravel

As usual, I silently thanked Jacobs Engineering for the development and release of an engine compression brake for diesel engines in 1961. Using our “Jake” brake, I controlled our downhill speed and only used the brake pedal a few times for some of the curves. There were a few signs warning “Grade Steepens” – really!?!

The view to the south toward the Hell’s Canyon Recreation Area is spectacular and you can see for miles as you descend from White Bird Summit.

The photo from Donna’s seat cannot capture the grandeur of the view

We leveled out and followed the Salmon River. It was so pretty, Donna took a few passenger seat photos along the way. You really have to see it to appreciate it though.

US95 along the Salmon River

Another passenger seat view with what appears to be sandy beach

We saw several areas with what appeared to be sandy beaches. I think it’s more likely to be clay silt deposits, but without wriggling our toes in it, we’ll never know for sure.

At New Meadows, we hit the junction with ID55. We took a left and followed ID55 through Meadows toward McCall. It was twisty and steep at times – also narrow. After a while, we ran into a construction zone with a few tight, tricky, turns then finally an area with only one lane of traffic. The sign warned of delays up to 30 minutes, but we were only stopped for about five minutes. We lost an hour though as we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone.

I had programmed GPS coordinates into our Rand-McNally RVND 7720 GPS to find Mark and Emily Fagan’s boondocking site – Emily had sent the coordinates to Donna earlier. For those who may not know, GPS coordinates are latitude and longitude markers using a geographic coordinate system. This system sets up a grid for world geography. Latitude sets a number of parallel lines around the earth starting at the equator. The equator is zero, the north pole is 90 degrees north and the south pole is 90 degrees south. One degree of latitude is 69 nautical miles and one minute of latitude is one nautical mile. It’s then further broken down into seconds which can then be further defined with decimal points.

Longitude is a little more difficult due to its point of origin. Instead of something easy like the equator, we have a seemingly arbitrary starting point. Zero degrees of longitude coincides with a north-south line through Greenwich, England and aligning with the north and south poles due to England’s mastery of the seas when this system was devised. These lines are called meridians. Once again we have defined degrees west of Greenwich and degrees east of Greenwich. On the opposite side of the earth we reach a longitude of 180 degrees where east and west meet. Anyway, using a coordinate system can pinpoint a spot without an address.

As we rolled along toward our turnoff point, Donna spotted Mark on the left shoulder among some Ponderosa pines waving at us to get our attention. We pulled off the road into a Forest Service area set aside for snowmobilers in the winter months. As usual, Mark and Emily found a nice, free boondocking spot. We first met Mark and Emily in San Diego in 2013 – read here.

Boondocking with Mark and Emily (Mark Fagan photo)

It was a roomy lot and we got turned around and lined up with them easily. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been more than two years since we last saw Mark and Emily. It was great to hook up again. Once we set up, we sat together at their rig and talked for a bit. Mark and I drove into town in their new Dodge Ram 3500 dually to refill one of their propane tanks and hit the grocery store while the girls caught up.

After we returned we decided to go back to town – McCall is only a few miles from this spot – and check out the Salmon River Brewery pub. This area of Idaho has been hit with smoke from fires to the north and fires in eastern Oregon. Depending on the wind direction, the smoke can be a distant haze or it can be be a fog with a campfire smell. When Mark and I went for propane, Payette Lake was clear and the view was beautiful.

When we returned to hit the pub on the lake, the wind had shifted and the lake had so much smoke that you could barely make out the scenic hillsides and forests on the far side.

Smoke on the water

Smoke and clouds

Emily, Donna and Mark at Salmon River Brewring

Emily, Donna and Mark at Salmon River Brewing

We ordered food and few beers, then took a walk by the lake. The sun broke through the clouds and smoke briefly and left a beautiful reflection on the lake. Mark was pining for his camera.

Should I say – a fire in the sky

On the way home we parked at Rotary Park and walked across the bridge to Shore Lodge. This is where visitors to McCall and Payette Lake get first-class accommodations and services. We took a stroll through and looked around. They had a nice seafood display on ice in a canoe in front of the restaurant that looked very appealing.

Seaweed, oysters, king crab legs and prawns

We made our way back to camp and sat outside and talked for a while. I had unloaded the Spyder when we arrived, but it turned out to be unnecessary since we never used it. I left it outside overnight and regretted it as unexpected raindrops fell overnight. I’m blaming the raindrops on the smoke – particulates in the air can collect moisture. If they collect enough, it gets heavy and falls to the ground as rain – that’s the theory behind “seeding” clouds. It’s my theory here and I’m sticking to it. I slept poorly overnight with the intermittent rain showers and sudden humidity.

We said our goodbyes Saturday morning as Mark headed out for a bike ride. Emily had a stomach bug and wasn’t feeling well – it’s funny as she was the one who only had one beer the night before. Earlier, Donna needed to get in a quick hike. She walked up a trail – everything is up from here – for about 20 minutes, then ran back down and covered it in 10 minutes.

Donna’s hiking path

She saw a few mountain bikers on the trail.

Coming through

We headed out toward town on ID55. Nally, our GPS had us turn before town. She had a clever route that bypassed the town and its tourist traffic and took us past the airport where we rejoined ID55.

Although we only had to cover about 120 miles, Nally predicted a two-and-a-half hour drive. I expected more like three with weekend traffic. Our route turned out to be very scenic although challenging at times with steep grades and tight turns. Some of the tight turns had us right up against sheer rock walls and I had to be mindful of how the trailer was tracking so I wouldn’t scrape them.

We drove into more smoky areas. This route on ID55 through McCall, Cascade and Smith’s Ferry to Boise is also known as the Payette River Scenic Byway. It’s aptly named as we followed the river almost the whole way. It’s a great recreational area and we saw several rafters and kayakers on the river. From Smith’s Ferry on down, we saw more and more and Donna kept trying to capture photos, but it’s hard when you’re rolling down the road. I tried to keep my attention on the road and concentrate on driving, not sightseeing.

Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes upon the road

Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel

Rafters on the river

Heading for whitewater and more smoke

This post is getting too long, so I’ll post about our current location later.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Christmas in August

Sierra Trading Post

The Virginian

Across the Divide

Blues ‘n Brews

Be Careful – Shift Happens

Don’t Do It!

Rolling on the River

Freak Alley – Boise, Idaho

Smoke on the Water

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