Yankee Fork Historic Area

The next morning we headed out. Some folks were rafting the river but it looked cold to me.

You can't get away from road construction even on dirt roads leading to ghost towns. 

The Yankee Fork Gold Dredge

The dredge is 988 tons, 112 ft long x 54 ft wide x 64 ft high and has a draft of 8 ft. How they were able to haul the parts into this area back in the early 1940's is beyond me. This thing is huge. 

It really has a fascinating history which you can check out at this link.  Yankee Fork Dredge

Welcome to Custer, ID

Custer, was founded in early 1879 by three guys who discovered gold in them thar hills.  Custer had one street which stretched for about a half a mile from the mill to the hotel. At one time Custer had a school house, Miner's Union Hall, post office and baseball team. The population of Custer peaked at 600 men, women, and children in 1886.

The following picture is from the Western Mining website Custer ID. The Mill was completed in December of 1880. It was a steam powered dry crushing reduction plant. A 3200 foot aerial tram brought ore from the mine to the mill below.

General Custer Mill - likely between 1881 and 1888

The 1880 census lists 213 people in Custer, including 49 Chinese. The Chinatown section of Custer included laundry services, a harness and shoe shop, stores, and a joss house (Chinese place of worship).

Lots of rusty stuff for Diana

But by 1903 the mines were being played out and by 1910 Custer became a ghost town. The Forest Service took over the area in 1966 and through the years, the effort has been made to preserve this historical area (called the Land of the Yankee Fork Historic Area).

The museum which is the old school house.

 

These instructions for riding in a stage coach were very interesting.

The old saloon has been turned into a visitor's center with chairs on the front porch for visiting. The woman working in the saloon told me that on Saturday of Memorial Day Week-end they had over 400 people drive up. They also hold Custer Days during the summer and usually have over a thousand people a day show up. I'm glad we were there with only three other people.

Jim found a couple of bottles to bring home.

We had a lot of fun but didn't have any luck with ghosts. Maybe tomorrow.

 

Road to Challis, ID

 Challis, ID   High  83   Low 54

The drive from Arco to Challis was really pretty. You drive through the valley with mountains on both sides. It's also a short drive - 80 miles. A couple of windshield pictures for you to enjoy.

This is Grand View Canyon

 Main Street in Challis, ID

We stayed at the Round Valley RV Park. The sites are huge. Long and wide but not level because it is built on a small hill. 

This was our neighbor in the next site. Notice the distance between us.

 Lots of empty sites. The park was never anywhere near full the four nights we were there.

 We did have fun visitors wander through one morning.

Tomorrow we go looking for some ghosts.

 

Honey's RV Park and Memorial Day Remebrance

Honey's RV Park. This is not your typical RV Park. It belongs to a guy named Scar and his dog Ruby. Ruby rules the park. Several times a day she roams her park making sure the prairie dogs and other critters are behaving themselves.  

 

Scar has installed some electric sites and invites you to visit his home free of charge. But before you head to Honey's you really need to visit his website so you can know what his rules are.  

Honeys RV Park 

 

 After reading his website you really don't know what to expect when you get there. He does play reveille and says the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. He appreciates if you join in. You will find that Scar is a really generous and nice guy.

He allowed us to spend Memorial Day Weekend because we just wanted a place to be off the road during the very busy week-end. We found a level spot and plugged in. 

Scar has a campfire (if the wind isn't blowing) every night and everybody is welcome to join in. Jim went down several times. There weren't very many rigs taking advantage of this place to park over the week-end but we did have a few over nighters. 

Scar is also creating a pet memorial area where you can plant a tree or just put up a post with a picture to honor your pets. We bought a cardinal dogwood for Scooter, Rocky Joe, and Skittlez. Scar planted it for us along with our post. He also put a solar light on the pole. After we left, he put our name on the post. He waters all of the plants and trees every day. 

If you do go to Honey's please be sure to leave a donation to help him out with his electric bill. We will be visiting Honey's again on our way back to Arizona.

On Memorial Day we went to the museum which was open and free. There was a gentlemen at the park who had served in the Navy. He was very knowledgeable and had some interesting stories to share.

 

This submarine was named the USS Hawkbill but was often called the Devil Boat because of the number on her hull.

This was a wonderful way to remember all those who have given their lives for the freedoms we enjoy.

From Arco we ended up in Challis, ID for some ghost hunting. 

 

Travelling Days to Arco, ID

 (I'm way behind on my posts. We are currently in Helena, MT until July 1 when we will move to Canyon Ferry.)

After leaving Molossia it was time for us to head east and north. We had a few travel only days.

We spent the first night in Winnemucca at the Winnemucca RV Park. It was okay. The sites were close together but we didn't have to unhitch. I could have reached out my window and touched our neighbor.

The next night was just west of Wells, NV at Welcome Station RV Park. We stayed here last year when a storm blew through. No storm this year and we didn't have to unhitch.

Then it was on to Jackpot. NV where we spent one night at the Saguaro RV Park which is next to Pete's Casino. Jim went into the casino with his $20 and came home with $222. Not too bad.

From Jackpot we headed to Arco, ID for Memorial Day Weekend. Arco is close to Craters of the Moon National Park and we have been there several times. Arco is also the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power. A couple of other interesting places to explore near Arco, are Atomic City and the
Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBR-1) Atomic Museum.

We ate breakfast at Pickle's. The food was okay but they sure knew how to ruin toast. The restaurant is always busy. There's RV parking just across the street which makes it very convenient. 

My next post is about Honey's RV Park and Memorial Day in Arco.

A Visit to a Foreign Country - Molossia

Molossia   High 48   Low 34

 

I like to find strange and different places to visit when we are traveling. To me they are so much more interesting and fun then the usual tourist spots. So even though it was raining/snowing and cold we had a date for a tour with President Baugh of Molossia. 

How many of you are familiar with micro-nations?  I first heard about Molossia and micro-nations when I was reading through Atlas Obscura's website on Nevada. I figured this was right up my alley. 

The following is a definition of a micro nation by Peter Ravn Rasmussen

A micro nation is an entity created and maintained as if it were a nation and/or a state, and generally carrying with it some, most or all of the attributes of nationhood, and likewise generally carrying with it some of the attributes of statehood. Though a micro nation may well have begun as a mere drollery, it has the potential (given the evolution of a sufficiently vital national culture) to develop into a true nation, and possibly to achieve statehood.

Clear as mud as far as I was concerned. So I started reading President Baugh's website. It was kind of like going down the rabbit hole with Alice. I had no idea that a micro nation could exist inside the United States. An independent, sovereign nation not recognized officially by other world governments. Once I knew this place existed I had no choice but to sign us up for a tour.

We honestly thought we were going to be the only people who would be dumb enough to show up for the tour because of the rain and cold, but almost 30 other idiots joined us. 

There was a couple from Belarus as well as royalty from around the area - Miss Virginia City and a couple of other princesses. We also had a visiting micro-nation, the Kingdom of Kelley, that had just been created. 

There is so much I could say about Molossia but I'm only going to give you some highlights and let you go to their website for some fun reading.

We were welcomed across the border by President Baugh and had our passports stamped. 

 

Jim was also greeted by the First Lady and Chief Constable (Mrs. Baugh and daughter)

President Baugh then explained the history of his country as well as their beliefs and how their government is run by him.

Molossia's seat of government is located just outside of Dayton, NV even though they also claim 50,000 acres on Venus. 

They have their own form of government (a republic), a banking system and currency, a post office, a navy, a space program and citizens (34 but in August they will add one more).

Like most micro-nations, Molossians have a great sense of humor.  Their currency, the Valora, is valued in raw cookie dough. So if you want to buy one of their war bonds you need to bring the cookie dough with you. I forgot to do that. 

 

Molossia asserts that they have been at war with East Germany since 1983. East Germany no longer exists but there is a small island off the coast of Cuba that belonged to East Germany. When East Germany was dissolved in 1990, this island was not mentioned in any official documents and is technically the last remaining part of the former German Democratic Republic. So Molossia has been waging war with an uninhabited island and will continue the war until the island no longer exists.

 

From the website: April 30 is a national holiday, Heroes Day. This date was selected because of its relation to Camerone Day, the observance of the Battle of Camerone, wherein 65 French Foreign Legionnaires fought against 3000 Mexican soldiers in an heroic last stand. Long admired by His Excellency, The President, the anniversary of this iconic battle is a perfect date on which to recognize our own heroes. An observance will thus be held on 30 April every year, both to remember the wartime heroes of Molossia as well as the individual Heroes of Molossia.

Current Heroes of Molossia - His Excellency, President Kevin Baugh, First Lady Adrianne Baugh, Chief Constable Alexis Baugh, Walt Disney, and several others.

We had a state ceremony while we were there to welcome the newly established micro-nation of The Kingdom of Kelley.

No you cannot apply for citizenship. President Baugh suggests you establish your own micro-nation.

There is so much more but this post is already long enough. So take a trip over to their website www.molossia.org and enjoy yourself.

 This picture gives you some idea how cold it was. Jim is in long pants, has a hat on, a hoodie, and his hands in his pockets. 

 

Even with the miserable weather, this is a tour that we both are really glad we made the trip to Molossia.