On Our Last Leg

It seemed like a big push. I tried to minimize the number of nights we had to find somewhere open to stay, so each day turned into a long day of driving. We left Idaho Falls and Continued North to Missoula, Montana, where we stayed at Jim & Mary's RV Park. We've stayed there before, but this time they closed all their support facilities of office, bathrooms, and laundry, so we had to be self-contained. Luckily, we are! They seemed incredulous that we were (via phone) when they saw our small trailer.

From Missoula we went west on US 12 through the Nez Pierce-Clearwater National Forests on one of my new favorite scenic highways. It rained hard on us for most of the day, so most of the photos I took look dark and gloomy, but it was very beautiful nonetheless. We stopped for the night in Clarkston, Washington, at the Hell's Canyon Resort. Oddly, it wasn't on the canyon part of the river, but was in a nice protected marina right in town.

Leaving the main road for US 12.

We stopped here for lunch. A Settler vs. Native American battlefield where everyone lost.

This is how I ride as the passenger. With my shooter ready.

Rainy but spectacular.

This is the Middle Fork Clearwater River.

Russ takes a photo at a rest area.

Happy hour with Gin & Tonics plus a cheese plate. Note the rain.

The marina dock at Hell's Canyon RV Park.

Looking west from the RV park. Town is behind us.

These Lewis and Clark journal entries were in the sidewalk.

Our final day saw us drive through the heart of the Palouse. We were on a smaller highway, passing through small farming towns. I loved seeing the towns. Most of them were built long enough ago that their down town areas were brick storefronts  with a midwestern vibe. I managed to get one photo out of the front window as we hit a t-junction in Waitsburg. My favorite town was Pomeroy.

Old fashioned town in wheat country.

Our final stop was at a favorite... Wine Country RV Park in Prosser, Washington. We often come here (a couple of times per year) for short visits to a sunny place during the long, dark western Washington winter. We chose to stay for two nights, because our city is replacing our sewer main and we didn't want to come home to a large ditch where our street used to be.

Wine and cheese plate for dinner... when in Wine Country.

A nice relaxing evening with no travel the next day.

Take out from Davy's. That is deep fried asparagus.

Aplomado Falcon. The falconer was living in his RV next door.

The back road to Union Gap, WA.

Lunch from Los Hernandez. Asparagus tamales!

I managed this shot from our moving car.

From home. The new sewer main is in, but not connected to us.

We made it home, but had to unload the trailer from it's storage area in multiple trips, since we have no room on our street to park, even temporarily. I'm exhausted, and ready to turn in, but will not be able to sleep until I get somewhat unpacked and shower. It hasn't been the trip we planned, but it was a good trip regardless. Our next adventure will be from home as we self-quarantine for two weeks and the city finishes working on our side-sewer.

I'll Take a Pass

We are on our third day of travel since leaving Aztec, and this is my first opportunity to sit down with a good signal and write a blog post. We did leave on Friday, and made our way to Fruita, Colorado along US 550, the million dollar highway, through Silverton, CO. It has been a few years since we drove the full length of this road, and it is a bit stunning to see it again. Silverton was blocked off with a row of traffic cones; the city did not want any corona virus visitors!

Russ' middle brother wins Mother's Day.

This arrived the morning we left.

The R-Pod on Molas Pass.

The view from Molas Pass facing North.

Silverton, CO from above.

From our lunch spot near Red Mountain Pass

The bag of chips is so puffed up at the altitude,

we were nervous about opening it.

We drove over so many mountain passes, I've not kept track of them all. We stayed our first night on the return trip in an RV park we've visited before, Monument RV Resort in Fruita, CO. Last time we were here, we were able to spend a day at the Colorado National Monument, but alas it is now closed for COVID-19. We did manage to cross the street to the Colorado River State Park. We skipped it last time, so this was a treat. We walked the Little Salt Wash Trail.

The sign says it all.

You can see the edge of the Colorado National Monument

in the red rocks on the far left across the river.

Russ on the riverbank.

This was a paradise for geese. We saw several pairs with goslings.

As we left the next morning, we continued north towards Dinosaur, which entails climbing over more mountain passes. I didn't even document the first one, but I did fully record Douglas Pass. The last time we made this trip, we were towing the R-Pod with our old Subaru Outback, and we almost stalled out on Douglas Pass. I'm pleased to report we had no such trouble with the Toyota.

You can see the road up the pass as the top of the lighter color.

From the top of Douglas Pass looking back to the south.

We ate lunch here at Canyon Pintado after descending from the pass.

We stayed the night at the BLM White Mountain Road Dispersed Camping Area. It will be my favorite all time camping spot. The views over Green River, Wyoming and the Green River canyon were so amazing, the photos will never show the scale of the place. The area is known for having herds of wild horses roaming everywhere, but we did not see them. We did get one neighbor RV couple, they travel full time and are also retired. They were really quite nice and considerate too. They didn't run their generator, since we were there. They planned to stay for more than one night.

Russ takes in the view with his camera.

This was our view from our door. The city of Green River

is out of view to the right of the frame.

Happy hour with a stellar view.

Our camping spot. We left the truck hitched up.

Today our road took us toward Jackson, Wyoming, but we turned off on US 26 before we got to the Tetons. We went over the Salt River Pass on our way to Idaho Falls, Idaho. We ate lunch at a nature reserve viewpoint in Star Valley, but the whole of the trip was through mostly agricultural areas that were nestled between peaks and looked inviting. We also saw the Palisades Dam and reservoir on the Snake River.

Sorry the sign has a great map that doesn't show well.

Salt River Pass view,

The lake behind these aspens is the Palisades Reservoir.

The Snake River near Idaho Falls, ID.

The sign at our RV Park

We are now ready to eat dinner and rest up for our adventure tomorrow. It's too bad we can't explore locally, since we've never spent time in Idaho Falls, only driven through on the interstate.

Leaving Home and Going Home

We are preparing the R-Pod for the return journey. It's amazing that when we sit in place for more than a few days, the shipshape travel arrangement disappears completely. After I strapped everything down, Russ drove into town to dump our tanks at the dump station maintained by the city. He also sterilized all the tanks with bleach solution. I was glad that we didn't have to empty our tanks the entire time we were here... seven weeks! While he did that, I washed all our laundry and restocked the pantry and fridge.

Last look at the kittens. They are now eating solid food.

Iris at the pond.

Russ' mom sewed some addtional masks for us

to take home to my parents. NM themed fabric!

Last week on our shopping day we drove out to Bloomfield to see the Salmon Ruins; unfortunately they were completely closed down, no trails at all. So we returned to the property by way of Navajo Dam, which was also closed to hiking. At least we got some great photos from the road.

The visitor center and the best overlook for the ruins.

You can't see anything of the ruins.

Angel peak is in the distance.

You can't see it in this picture either.

The sign looks promising.

Navajo lake from the top of the dam.

Notice the huge pile of tumbleweed in front of Russ.

Our final trip to Durango for the sin shopping was Monday. We walked the final section of the Animas River trail from Rotary Park to the Northern terminus.  Following our walk, we got take out lunch from the Animas Brewery, including take out beer in plastic cups for immediate consumption. We sat on the grassy hill in Rotary park and ate pasties with our beer. I drank the Lost Souls Lager, and Russ had the Hogsback Black.

Russ shows off the front of the Animas Brewery. 

Lunch.

I feel both sad and excited to make our way home. I made reservations where I could, but we are planning long driving days with no sightseeing on the return journey. Some states may close up again if we linger. We are returning earlier than we planned, because the city (Tacoma) is relocating our sewer main and we want to be home when they connect our side sewer to the new main. I guess this return trip starts with sewage (black tank flush) and will end with it.