Idaho

Friday (Jul 8)

Leaving day.  I’ve gotten pretty good at remembering all my s–t leaving other people’s homes, knock on metal. Collect all the random clothes, shoes, toiletries, maps, electronic gizmos (and more?) that I’ve brought upstairs over four days, and bag ’em up to carry downstairs. Do my “last day in civilization” shower and shave, and … Elton can’t leave work yet. So I go to breakfast, meet him there, we come back, I do the very last leaving thing, namely get all stuff out of his refrigerator and crank up the van fridge, and I’m OFF!!  … to the Fred Meyer to get some food to get me at least as far as Idaho Falls tomorrow afternoon.

Speed limit 80 mph on I-84 in Idaho. It was 65 on the Oregon side of the border. Democrats have more sense than make it legal for people to go 80! :)

As I am concentrating at 75 mph on keeping a safe space between myself and the big rigs all around me I start hating my decision to take this route. I could be meandering through the piney woods on my way to Stanley and a hot spring right now. But this is the path I chose. As it turns out I have a great night, and an even better morning, so it’s all better than good!

This evening may change my mind on mosquito repellant. I walked the little nature trail along the creek and strolled the man-made fishing lagoon til sunset. Everybody else is wearing shorts and sandals, I am wearing long pants and a hoodie to keep the nasty little critters at bay – they sprayed, I didn’t.

I had to watch the spectacular waxing crescent moon sunset from the front seat of the van with the windows closed, because I just couldn’t take the damn mosquitoes.

Real nice place, though. So happy I found it. Thank you Allstays camping app!

And actually I’ve made a good party of it! I have a great view of the sunset, and I’m playing my weak little bluetooth speaker and rocking out (to a great sunset/moonrise().

Saturday

This time I was actually successful in parking the van so as to be shaded in the morning! I sleep an hour or so extra in the coolness. Across the field, some old farmer/fisherdudes are setting up folding chars and shade structures and speakers for some kind of event – woo!

Yep we’re having an event! And they are old-timey music dudes, not (necessarily) farmer dudes. This is the annual Southern Idaho Fiddlers Festival, happening 40 yards in front of my van door! I am just sitting in my chair in my van shade watching and listening and enjoying when this kindly old fellow (again, that means about my age) walks over with a paper cup of iced lemonade and invites me over to their picnic!  I do this, listen to the music, eat a nice big plate of food. I do the stand-up thing and walk back over to the van to get my wallet to buy $5 worth of raffle tickets! (6 for the price of 5). More listening and enjoying, then I pull out around 1pm.

Stop in the Craters of the Moon Visitors Center, a real nice, friendly place.

Checked out the free camping site listed in Arco. It’s a not at all pleasant looking spot the the gravel lot behind a truck stop, but it’s nice that’s it’s there. Then, an 80 mile stretch of green, flat nothing to get to my civilization for the day, Idaho Falls.

I’ve always really enjoyed my time in Idaho Falls when I pass through. They have very nice little parks on both sides of the river at the falls. There’s a nice all day breakfast restaurant with wifi two blocks away, and a Walmart that allows overnighters another block further. My needs are simpler today, so I go a half mile past my happy zone to Villa Coffee, which answers all my needs = late afternoon coffee, a goodie, wifi, and a chicken salad sando to go.

Head on down US 20, get off at Ririe exit, to try out my new hot springs plan, which is to not stay at the crappy Heise Hot Springs RV park, rather to stay somewhere cheaper and probably nicer and just visit the springs for a couple of hours.

There is a lot of traffic and the resorts I pass seem very busy on a Saturday night, so I am worried. But on need! Three miles past the Hot Springs is a very well laid out and nicely maintained BLM campground right on the river – woo!

There’s not a lot of daylight left, so I do a truncated version of my usual evening rituals and drive off to the hot spring. It’s great. I would have loved to linger another half hour til closing, but my BLM campground locks it’s gate at 10.

What I thought was “dry lightning” in the distance, turned out to be regular “here comes a thunderstorm” lightning. Which is to say a pretty thorough downpour happened in the middle of the night. Very happy I brought all my stuff inside.

Sunday

Still cloudy with occasional sprinkles and oh so pleasant this morning. That wonderful smell of grass and trees and sage after the first rain in a while.

On the way out of the valley I check out a nature trail BLM is pimping pretty hard. It was nice! I got maybe halfway up, but it was too long to finish. Even as high up as I got the views of the Snake Valley were spectacular, and I imagine they were even better farther up. Next time.

Back on the highway I follow the Snake River up through Swan Valley, which is just beautiful. Thick green alfalfa fields, majestic river vistas. There are other likely campgrounds along the reservoir for someday. Next comes the big junction, where the road up the Star Valley meets my road following the Snake. I continue following the Snake upstream, through the Hoback Junction rotary, towards Jackson.

It’s been raining off and on, but about the time I get to Jackson, it starts coming down in sheets. I pull off, partly to be safe, and partly because my stupid phone is showing “No Service” even though I am in the middle of a busy urban area. I shut it down and restart and suddenly I have full bars, and can Yelp my way to getting my needs met.

All the coffee places are closed at 6:15 on Sunday, but the Brewery isn’t! I slog up to the edge of downtown and the Snake River Brewery, where I had two of their tasty IPAs, watched a bit of a Giants game (national telecasts are a pain at home but very welcome out here!), and put away an order of waffle fries. A nice old rich fellow (that’s all they got in Jackson) sat next to me while I was reading the Huffpost Politics page on my laptop and wanted to talk politics. I put him down pretty hard I’m afraid, but I just ain’t got time for that “Clinton should be in prison” nonsense. I felt a little bad, but it was better than the alternative of listening to him go on.

Left about 7:30, still tons of daylight up here. It’s only a half hour drive to my campground for the night. I even had time to stop and enjoy the majestic Elk Preserve for a few minutes.

It gets dark SO late around here that even with my beer and political discussion at the brewery and the check-in process I STILL have time for a bit of a sunset hike. Waxing gibbous moon, we know what that means!

I walked towards sunset over the Grand Tetons, who wouldn’t?!  This takes me through the Group Area at the far end of the campground. It does quite a business, what with the foreign tours and church groups and business team-building groups all planning summer trips to the Tetons. Tonight, most of the sites had identical white Ford Transits pulling identical trailers, setting up identical white tents, with the multi-colored and multi-cultured denizens of a Benneton ad setting up camps and being cheerful wholesome young people.