Friday was an intentionally quiet day as I knew I had a long drive Saturday back to Boise. Other than a foray in to West Yellowstone for lunch we basically vegged out and caught up on blogs Facebook etc. In the evening there was a nice farewell to a couple who had worked and lived at the campground through the summer and were headed back to Texas. I me several people who were full time RV rs. One had been doing it for 10 years and the other 8 years. They both had 5th wheel units that are described as "triple slides" that basically expand sideways from the roading width. Typically pulled behind a diesel powered F250 or F350 truck. They have a permanent address somewhere, either a family member or a company that specializes in that (typically in a state with not state taxes!!).
I am a traveler but am not sure that is the life for me, but have respect for and interest inhow they live their lives.
Saturday was time for thanks and farewell and I left around 9 for Boise.
I am on the way to see my long time friend Bill Gray who was in a past life a Cat dealer salesman in California specializing in sales to local governments. He is from the Boise area and moved back about 4 years ago. I have seen him once since then.
Bill worked on Saturday and I timed my arrival for after he got back from his current job with Direct TV.
I did not have a specific route in mind other than trying to stay off Interstate Highways. I headed down through Ashton ID and down to Rexburg all of which is fairly flat farmland and fertile farmland. I then headed west on Rt 33 towards Arco and off into some open rangeland and close to desert like ground conditions for 25 miles or so and then arrived at the teaming metropolis of Mud Lake ID!!. It is basically an intersection and some farms but is remote and must be a depressing place to live and work. Who the hell would name a place this?
The road pushes on through Howe and eventually to Arco. On the south side of the road is the "Idaho National Laboratory" which is owned by the US Dept of Energy. It is remote to say the least and apparently the workers are bussed out from Idaho Falls 60 or so miles away to work.
They do some sort of nasty nuclear stuff and I was not about to ask too many questions. Suffice it it to say that there is enough open ground around the site that you would not get close undetected, which I suppose is one of the criteria.
I decided to push on west to Carey ID and then turned north to go see Sun Valley Idaho and Ketchum. The whole area is a ski resort but appeared to be busy even in late August. There is a sizeable airport in Sun Valley with maybe a dozen Gulfstream Business jets (G4 and G5s) parked, so some money somewhere.
Sun Valley is about 5300 ft and you then climb towards the Galena Summit at 8700 ft in the next 20 miles or so. Twisty but low traffic roads allow you to keep up a reasonable speed and the views are impressive with remote ranch sites and almost nothing else. I reached Stanley ID where I had in effect completed a circle as I came up through there on the way to Challis and Salmon about 10 days earlier. Stanley seemed very busy (although I did not stop) and there was a big campsite out on the west side of town (fire fighters and smoke jumpers I now think)
I wended my way down towards Boise, 130 miles away. The road seemed different than when I was there a couple of weeks ago with more twists and turns, but beautiful none the less.
I finally got back to "civilization" on the NE side of Boise around 5.30 and headed over to Bill's place. I was going to do one post but have decided to split it. Please pardon my indulgence. Many more pictures in the next post.
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| I think this says it all |
The road pushes on through Howe and eventually to Arco. On the south side of the road is the "Idaho National Laboratory" which is owned by the US Dept of Energy. It is remote to say the least and apparently the workers are bussed out from Idaho Falls 60 or so miles away to work.
They do some sort of nasty nuclear stuff and I was not about to ask too many questions. Suffice it it to say that there is enough open ground around the site that you would not get close undetected, which I suppose is one of the criteria.
I decided to push on west to Carey ID and then turned north to go see Sun Valley Idaho and Ketchum. The whole area is a ski resort but appeared to be busy even in late August. There is a sizeable airport in Sun Valley with maybe a dozen Gulfstream Business jets (G4 and G5s) parked, so some money somewhere.
Sun Valley is about 5300 ft and you then climb towards the Galena Summit at 8700 ft in the next 20 miles or so. Twisty but low traffic roads allow you to keep up a reasonable speed and the views are impressive with remote ranch sites and almost nothing else. I reached Stanley ID where I had in effect completed a circle as I came up through there on the way to Challis and Salmon about 10 days earlier. Stanley seemed very busy (although I did not stop) and there was a big campsite out on the west side of town (fire fighters and smoke jumpers I now think)
I wended my way down towards Boise, 130 miles away. The road seemed different than when I was there a couple of weeks ago with more twists and turns, but beautiful none the less.
I finally got back to "civilization" on the NE side of Boise around 5.30 and headed over to Bill's place. I was going to do one post but have decided to split it. Please pardon my indulgence. Many more pictures in the next post.
