SURPRISE!!

"Beautiful Idaho" did it's job!!  It convinced brother John that we were not in Colorado!!  He really was surprised that we came to his 75th Birthday Party!!  "But they are in Idaho or Vernal UT!!"  All of Tom's siblings were in attendance with spouses,  plus friends and three generations!!   Great day; great party!!

So after high winds on the Yampa, two unnamed passes on Highway 131, one between Steamboat Springs and Oak Creek and one between there and I-70.  It was lovely country and not a bad road,  only a couple of box trucks passed us.  The little town of Yampa even had dirt streets,  except at the entrance to the Sinclair Station where one of the box trucks was parked for lunch!!   The Yampa River runs into the Colorado River prior to the town of State Bridge where the rafters begin the downriver trek on the Colorado.  We remember State Bridge from our several train trips via AMTRAC. We attempted to ascertain the route of the train up the Colorado River from where it turns north at Gypsum to where the tunnels are at Winter Park - the Moffit Tunnel being the longest railroad tunnel in the United States at 6.2 miles!!  We were not allowed to go between cars on the train in order to keep the diesel exhaust from asphixiating us al.l

The rivers were all high and fast with Spring runoff.  The mountains were covered with green velvet in both eastern Utah and western Colorado;  spring flowers were plentiful,  the wild critters we were constantly warned about not so much.  We saw more dead deer and rabbits; the one LONELY antelope ran in front of us and I was able to brake quickly to avoid hitting it!!  This happened just five minutes after our remarks about the lack of wildlife at the many marked crossings crossings!!

So after two nights camping on my sister's sidewalk - hey, we had water and power thanks to our long hoses and extension cords - we are in the much cooler mountains at Chief Hosa campgrounds for three days, or more if we can catch a cancellation!!  Colorado being the RV capital of the nation they have a dirth of campsites and unfortunately, the only ranchers we know here are out in Yuma, and we just saw all those folks YESTERDAY at the Party!!

We were so blessed to park at our old friends' outside of Alturas CA for the three day Memorial Day Weekend since we knew that there would be no spaces available for a Holiday Weekend on such short notice.  I have a photo of Clarence and Dee if I can get my IT helpers to post them to my timeline, I will do so!!  I did help with the gardening and Tom fixed the rear stabilizers on the COUGAR.  We had the crank for backup but better to fix the problem if possible before going further.

The night before we spent at the OLD FIRE STATION in Sun Valley NV, north of Reno.  Our cousins had said we could squeeze in at their house between and in front of the TWO RVs already there, but Tom opted out of that situation.  The cousin just happened to be talking to the Fire Chief and got permission for us to park there at the old station  on the concrete pad.  GOD IS GOOD,  all the time!  ALL THE TIME, God is good!!

So are we worried about having no reservations in Colorful Colorado, no - not really!!

Currently raindrops are falling on the roof and the grass and the gravel pad next to us!!  The smell of rain is such an amazing smell.

 

BEAUTIFUL IDAHO

 

‘Twas a LONG Day, but a promise is a promise.   I had told my friend that we would catch up with her on our NEXT LOOP, and Kathleen has to work until late on Friday so staying here in Cascade THREE days and decided to just drive to Clarkston WA, across from Lewiston ID for lunch.  Of course Debra offered us her extra bedroom but then we wouldn’t have TODAY to recuperate before packing up and driving down to Boise!!  We were SUPER thankful that we were not pulling the COUGAR when we drove over a couple of passes and back through an amazing thunderstorm!!

Four beautiful canyons, four full Spring run-off rivers, four hundred miles round trip.  We are parked on the Payette River on Hiway 55.  It goes into a mammoth lake complete with a mammoth DIG!!  We saw the signs leading 10 miles out on a dirt road - maybe today, or maybe NOT.  That is the great thing about living in a trailer, the daily choice to stay put and relax or run off and SEE THINGS.  I understand that there is a thermally heated pool and hot tub here at the Cascade Rec Center just across the highway and very inexpensive. 

The lovely little village of McCall reminded us of Estes Park, Lake Tahoe, or the mile-hi city of Prescott AZ.  Lovely homes on THEIR lake.  We had flown over this area on our several trips to Moose Creek fly-in camp ground in 6199 Juliet, but this was an opportunity to get an up-close view. 

McCall is a college town, and vacation destination.  The main street and surrounding hills are complete with vacation homes, boutiques, antiques, and a VERY UNIQUE street crossing system.  They have flag holders on the sign posts, and you grab a flag to cross and deposit it on the other side when you complete your crossing.  Remember the crossing guards when you were in grade school with their red flags. I am sure that is a lot cheaper than installing lights on every corner.  Human nature being what it is we DID NOT see anyone using the flags and crossing at the prescribed corner, but jay-walking wherever they felt like it!!

Dropping down into a valley of ranches and the town of New Meadow we joined Hiway 95 for this portion of the trip and the river on this canyon was the Little Salmon.  We also joined the procession of big rigs as this is the main North-South Highway from the Mexican border to the Canadian one.

GOD BLESS the truckers who bring the goods to where they are needed.  What would we have done without them during the lock downs last year.  It takes a disaster to realize our need to be thankful for the sacrifices truckers and their families make on a daily/weekly basis.

The creeks feeding into the Little Salmon and then the SALMON RIVER included Lawyer Creek and White Bird.  The Lawyer for which the creek was named was an English-speaking Nez-Pierce chief who negotiated treaties for his tribe.  I had read recently that several tribes kept children, orphans after their parents were killed in a raid, to replenish the losses they suffered in inter-tribal conflicts as well as those raids. Perhaps that is how this chief had learned to speak English before any missionaries even arrived.   This was also the section of the highway where we stopped to trade driving stints at an Historical Marker telling of the hydraulic mining in Idaho and the short lived BOOM in Florence, 12 miles east by air or a circuitous dirt road, where millions of dollars worth of gold was collected in just one year.  But then it was GONE, and so were the residents and the buildings have disappeared in the last nearly 200 years.  So we did NOT drive to it OR through it!

There were several railroad tressels visible from the highway – some very long and very high above the creeks/rivers feeding into the Little Salmon and the Salmon. We noted large piles of used railroad ties so assumed that those sections were historical and no longer active rail lines.

The White Bird confluence led to a long and high and easily driven wedge from the side of the mountain with three lanes so the slower moving trucks would have a lane, but passing was allowed in the opposite direction except on the curves. Coming back we were able to see a totally different view of the hills and mountains to the east on this section of the highway.

The town of Riggins was the RAFTING CAPITAL of Idaho and all of the businesses were associated with that lucrative? Activity.  Growing up in Colorado we were not familiar with this recreational option, of course we were part of the Builder Generation, before Recreation became the industry that it is now.  Hiking and Fishing were our summer pursuits, but only on three-day weekends or week long vacations, often with my aunt and uncle and grandmother. 

The fishing on the SALMON River must have been exceptional because even on a Thursday the parking was bumper to bumper along the highway, and every turnout was completely filled.  The State Highway Department, or perhaps Game and Fish, had thoughtfully supplied porta-potties in several popular places along that section.  There was also a fish hatchery just upstream.  Do you think they actually added fish to the river near there?

All of these rivers included canyons of rocks and trees, blooming spring flowers and some dying pine trees.  We were attempting to pinpoint the ROCK FALL from last summer that closed Highway 95 for a week below Grangeville and caused us to have to detour into WA and OR   There were several places that showed recent rock falls, but I guess the Box Truck sized boulders last summer had to be blown up to be moved according to Kathleen.  Big news as it is a busy road, just not at 8 PM in a rain storm.

Grangeville is the edge of the huge farming valley and the canolla fields were bright yellow.  Silos and barns dotted the landscape, and the towns appeared to be bustling.  There were not as many closed shops as in other places after the COVID-19 shutdowns last year.

Another canyon down to the Stillwater River which we followed into Lewiston past the ubiquitous Indian Casino!  We crossed the SNAKE River into Clarkston via a different bridge and enjoyed lunch with our friend before the trek home which was punctuated by FOUR rain storms, the last with lightning and thunder.  We changed drivers under a gas station awning after removing all metallic items and leaving them on the console in the pickup, just as a precaution as the storm was right over head!

A LONG DAYs journey to be followed by a REST DAY!!

 

PS.  Kathleen agreed that a drive to the mountains for her was a great idea but she could not spend the night as she had Nursery at her church at 8:30 service.  BUT even so we stayed two more days in Cascade enjoying the breezes off the river and the vision of SNOW on the mountains above us!!  On our Sunday trek to Boise for church and lunch with Kathleen we even checked the OIL CHANGE off on our preventive maintenance check list.  We had managed a tire check in Clarkston WA at the CostCo there,  so we are “lookin’ good” in the PM department as our Idaho adventure continues.  We have several points of interest for the next weeks / months here in Idaho.