Sunday, June 3, 2012

Idaho, You Were More Than A Potato....

State number eight on this journey- Idaho. While the plan was to initially log 1,000 miles per month, with less than 2 months in, we have already eclipsed 3,000 total-- woopsy. We will begin slowing down the pace significantly. We have 600 miles to go before we reach Denver and about 10 days to get there, a pace we and our wallet can live by. This puts us staying at places for at least a week, which reduces your campground fees by about 20%. Also, we will be in states where diesel fuel prices will be about 10% less than the northwest.Relief.


"Clueless, party of 2, your table is ready". That would be us. How many times have we loaded up our grocery cart with some Ore-Ida frozen spuds of some sort and never thought twice of their name's origination. What's that tater tot smell? Oh could it be we are passing their manufacturing plant at the OREgon- IDAho border? Ding-dong, the bell rang.


A nice surprise falling from the sky above the Caldwell, ID airport. Although aviation has been a passion for a few decades, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane 15,000 feet above the ground did not make Dave's Bucket List.


Where's Waldo Gordo? I am on the bridge over the Boise River. One of the strategies we deploy when coming into a "new to us" area is checking Tripadvisor.com and clicking on their Things To Do tab. The #1 item for Boise, ID. was cycling the Boise River Greenbelt in the downtown area of the Idaho capital city. It's a 10 mile stretch that parallels the river and a very level trail, inviting to my aging knees.


For those of you who have never seen doggie heaven, I snapped a picture for ya. What a sweet retriever, and smart. The owner was tossing a ball from the shore of the Boise River and this pup figured out the current and paddled at an angle to meet up with her floating trophy. I know many of you travel with your animals, but I haven't quite gotten there yet, mostly because I like king-sized dogs and we only have a queen-sized bed. But if the wife keeps misbehaving.


Boise State--"The Other Broncos!". (Yes, we lived in Denver for 22 years). Although many of you may not follow sports, you will probably recognize the Boise State Bronco's home turf-- it is the one when you walk by your HDTV at night and ask your husband, "What's wrong with the color on our TV?"...yup, their grass is BLUE!


 A picture of our neighbor 50 feet away-- AT 10PM in Idaho. Ah yes, Summer Solstice is approaching the Northwest. It has definitely been different laying down to go to bed for the night with dusk still on the horizon. On the bright side (pun intended), it beats trying to sleep in Alaska.


Spanning the Snake River in Twin Falls, ID., the Perrine Bridge is the ONLY location in America where base jumpers are allowed to take flight every day. They arrive from all over the world. We parked in their Visitor's Center free for one night and watched about 15 jumpers refill their adrenaline. Yup, 486 feet straight down, about 483 feet too many for me--heck, I get nervous stepping onto my 3rd step of my RV.


Our little Canon camera did a fairly good job of capturing several jumps. We originally thought this was a female jumper that was with a group, but it was a male showing his feminine side all decked out in his hot pink parachute. A pair of pink leotards would have really brought it together--you know, that "matchy-matchy' thing. But who am I to question when you can strike the target like he does.

Update: Well, the Google+Blogger marriage has failed me. So you won't get to see Pink Male Chutist-Tutu defy death. Our video would not load, probably due to our campground Wi-Fi. Let me just put it this way, if there was a 3-way race between a dinosaur, a tortoise and RV park wi-fi, the wi-fi would win bronze. So,  here is a link to a YouTube video. Let me guess, now you are going to think we were actually never there. You pay for the polygraph.

And this is what it looks like when you miss the target. Wait, what is this, the first dude in a pink chute and this one flying a rainbow--maybe we were at the Golden Gate bridge. I digress.

Update: While I digress, uploading the video regressed. Trust me, the rainbow feller survived, missed the target by 100 feet and skimmed some brush. I am sure a more brilliant mind than mine (not a big leap) will appear and guide me thru my video loading obstacles.

When you get good, you can do a full gainer before releasing your cord. You can go here for a short 30 second video. Funny enough, most of these rush junkies were wearing helmets. Guess in the event of any parachute failure, they just want to make sure their brain remains intact.  And because I am here to quench your blood thirst keep you highly informed, I did some research on that Gurgle search engine thingy on the Intraweb. In its history, looks like 14 suicides and 3 accidental deaths. I chose not to become a statistic. Fun to watch, but like skydiving, did not make the Bucket List. Besides, Teri's not checked out to drive the big rig.


 
Obligatory signage for the despondent at the outset of the bridge. Oh wait, maybe that's the phone number to the White House. You know--hope, change, failed, bridge, jump--I really do need some meds as my digression really has been flaring up.


Our final night was spent in Declo, ID., population I think was "Don't Blink". It had a very nice campground--in the trees. Folks, trees and RV parks aren't as common as you would think, almost like there are City ordinances that ban shade. This was a full stop, all amenities RV park--fuel, rest, pool, homemade pizza from the grill delivered to your door step, ice cream from the store and cappuccinos. I didn't even unhitch for the 2 days we stayed here. And we confirmed another "small world" story--one of only about 10 bloggers we follow who hail from NJ was camped 100 feet from us--their great blog is here. Great meeting Debbie and Scott!

As the sun says goodbye to the Snake River Valley, we say adios, as well, to the state of Idaho. The state nickname is the Gem State, and that it was.

After traveling east for the past 600 miles, today we point our rig to the south, so I can work on my left arm's farmer's tan. Heading to Ogden, UT, for a couple of days, rumors of some sort of large body of water nearby abound.

Thanks for following us on this journey, now at day number 58.



6 comments:

  1. I love your blog! And your sense of humor and the pics! OMG! That suicide prevention sign is just SO wrong on SO many levels. I am fighting the urge to insert, LOL, here.

    Thanks too for the link to Great Escape. More great reading and more time-killing for Debra. Awesome! Thanks a lot! Really appreciate it. LOL. <-- see, knew I'd get it in there somewhere.

    Happy travels!

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    1. Oops, meant to also say - I never got the "Ore-Ida" label before either. (My brother accuses me of dying my hair dark.) :-)

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  2. Will keep watching for your CO arrival. Moving daughter next week from Fort Collins to Westminster. FYI can not sign up to be a follower on blogspot with a "hotmail" account (my gmail is only for personal and thus I won't use for bloggin purposes). Which explains why I'm not an "offical" follower.... :-) Just one of your 'stalkers'. lol

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  3. WOW can't wait to see Snake river...so I've made it to June. Don't tell my boss but I've been obsessed with reading all of it but I must get back to business - darn it! Can't even count the times I teehee'd to myself. Just called my sweetness, Mr. Jer, and said "you have got to sit down and start reading"...(Hell, why not he's retired!!) I'm going to shut the tab down...come on Carla, you can do it!!! ~cozygirl

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  4. I stayed at the Village of Trees in April, on my way home from Florida when I bought my RV. It was absolutely the nicest place I stayed - apart from visiting my friends' in Meridian, that is. A real find.

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  5. It was a gem in the middle of nowhere. Totally enjoyed the scrumptious food from their cafe, as well!

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