Congratulations Katie and Duel

Sweet, ID  - High  82  Low 58

We are in Sweet for my great niece’s (my sister’s granddaughter) wedding. We stayed at the Roystone Hot Springs RV Park. This is a small park with only 10 sites but in a gorgeous setting. I used this picture from their website. Our group took up four of the RV sites.

In order to get to the park you drive up through Black Canyon along the Payette River. Just down the road is the Black Canyon Diversion Dam which is a concrete gravity type.

The reservoir is beautiful.

A beautiful sunset from our campground.

We were so busy visiting with family that I really didn’t take very many pictures. In fact, I didn’t even get a picture of the bride and groom because they requested that no pictures be taken. So I borrowed this picture from Katie. She and Duel make a beautiful couple.

We had a really great time just being with family.

We left Sweet and took three days to get to Canyon Ferry where we are for the next two months. Jim and Rocky will be fishing and Skittlez and I will be relaxing.

These are the roads we like to travel.

Murals and Ribs

Glenns Ferry, ID   High 87  Low 62

Glenns Ferry has several very interesting buildings and murals throughout the town.

Just look at that beautiful sky.

I love this picture of their water tower.

Skittlez really enjoyed driving around this pretty little town. (If you look closely, you can see Rocky in the background.)

We went to the Fudge Factory Grill for lunch. I had a hamburger which was okay but Jim had their ribs which were so good. He did give me a small bite to try and I realized I didn’t make the right choice.

If you’re ever through this area, there is also a winery with a campground and there is campground at Three Island Crossing State Park.

We are currently in Sweet, ID, enjoying some family time.

Equine Gnathology

Glenns Ferry, ID    High  84  Low 51

As we were driving down the main road in town, this sign caught my eye.

There is no way we could just keep on driving past. It’s a very small museum and not really anybody there to talk to us about it. The museum is in the World Wide Equine Instrument & Product Center. They have one of the largest assortments of dental instruments in the world (over 300 different items). They ship these items world wide.

I did not grow up around horses so most of the items we saw were totally foreign to me. Jim was able to figure some of them out.

Those of you who are familiar with horses will probably recognize some of these tools. The dental tools that are used today on horses are essentially the same as they were a hundred years ago. A few improvements have been made, as you can see from this bunch of grinders and buffers.

So do any of you know what Gnathology is? I sure didn’t. But there is an Equine Gnathological School here in Glenns Ferry.

Gnathology is the study of masticatory systems and treatment techniques. “The heart of equine gnathology revolves around efficient comfortable mastication and optimum performance.”

To me that means that they teach how to treat a horse’s mouth and teeth so that they can eat without any pain.

It’s amazing the places you can find if you just take the time to slow down and look.

Made it to Glenns Ferry, ID

We headed west on Highway 50/6 and turned north on Highway 93.

This is what is known as a wide load. The highway patrol came zigzagging down the road toward us and wanted us to pull over so all our wheels were on the outside of the white line and stop. Took about 7 minutes for the reason why to appear.

Not sure what it is or where it is headed, but it is wide.

That was the extent of any excitement which is a good thing.

We stayed in Jackpot, NV for three nights. Jim won enough to pay for dinner one night. We also experienced something that we haven’t seen for months, it rained. Not a lot but enough to make the grass wet.

We made it into Idaho and pulled into the Trail Break RV Park in Glenns Ferry.

We had a level pull thru site with full hookups for $20 a night. They offer a special of three nights for the price of two. That worked perfectly for us because our reservations in Sweet, ID are not until Wednesday. Lots of room between sites so the barking dog didn’t bother the neighbors.

Glenns Ferry is a small town of 1,235 mostly friendly people. It is the site of Three Island Crossing, one of the most famous and treacherous river crossings on the Oregon Trail. We didn’t realize the Heritage Center closed at 4, so we missed out on that.

I did get a picture of the Snake River just west of where the pioneers crossed the river.

But we did find a couple of other places to check out for the next blog.

We Went Down–Now We go Up–Way Up

Great Basin National Park – High  79  Low 58

The Great Basin has been home to American Indians for thousands of years. More recently, farmers, ranchers, Mormons, and sheepherders all called the Great Basin home. It is also home to Great Basin National Park.

No lines of traffic going into the park.

Great Basin National Park is one of the least visited national parks which is not surprising considering how far away it is from anything. Which is what appealed to me.

The Lehman Caves are a part of the park but we did not go into the caves. They were made a National Monument by President Harding in 1922. In 1986 Great Basin National Park was established and the caves became part of the park.

How about a Whoa sign instead of a stop sign.

Great Basin Park has been described as a sea of Sagebrush between craggy mountain ranges. The highlight of our visit was taking the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive.

If you do not like heights or winding mountain roads with no guard rails, this would not be the drive for you. The road is 12 miles long (paved) and over 4,000 feet in elevation from the town of Baker.

There are many hiking trails located in the park. Some of them are 9 miles and others 1/4 mile. We aren’t hikers but there were lots of people putting on their sunblock and getting their water ready for hikes.

I was concerned about Jim’s ability to breathe at 10,000 feet but he did very good. We didn’t stay at the top very long but the views are incredible.

     

It seems like you are driving right up to the clouds.

I wish this picture had turned out clearer. It shows the valley waaaay down there.

The road to the top usually isn’t open until after the first of June due to snow.

One last view of this beautiful mountain peak.

This park is definitely out of the way but well worth a visit.

Permanent Wave Society

Baker, NV   High  86  Low 58

After leaving the noise and hustle of Las Vegas, we headed north on Highway 93. We spent one night in Pioche, NV at the Pioche RV Park. You need to know that you have to back into the park from the street. Nobody told us that so Jim had to back out and then back in.

We followed Highway 93 to the juncture with Highway 6/50. We made a right turn and headed towards the Nevada/Utah border.

We pulled into the Border Inn Casino/Motel/RV Park. This motel is unique because the motel rooms are in Utah and on Mountain Time but the office, restaurant, and casino are in Nevada and are on Pacific Time.

The Border Inn is near the very small town of Baker, NV. Population of about 400. There is no convenience store or grocery store. It does have a small general store and a small motel and restaurant. There is a gas station at the Border Inn which carries diesel and cost us $3.63 a gallon.  

On the road to the park is some folk art that was started in 1997 when “Doc” Sherman began decorating fence posts along the highway. His first creation was a glove filled with cement placed on the post and was given the name of Permanent Wave.

Other artists with a pun loving sense of humor added their creations to the fence.

At one time there were many of these pieces of art but in 2016 NDOT cleaned out 15 of the largest stating they were a safety hazard because they were too close to the highway. There is no where along the road to pull over so pictures are taken as Jim slowed down.

Baker is the headquarters for the Great Basin National Park. We will be exploring the park in our next post.