Beginning to Cross the U.S.

Me and Rob about to enter Grand Tetons National Park, Friday, September 9, 2022.

We left Eagle Point Campground on Tuesday, September 6, headed for another round trip to Maine - the first one was two years ago right after I retired. On that trip we stopped in 34 states, and this time, in addition to visiting our son Scott and daughter-in-law Kristy who are building their retirement home in Maine and our grandson Kyle in Key West, Florida, we also plan to stop in the 14 states we missed on the first go round. Alaska by RV is not in our future plans - we haven't caught that bug yet - and of course Hawaii is a bit problematic via RV.

Before I go into our current road trip, first a bit of Tahoe news. The day before we left Tahoe friends Eric and Lisa stopped by our campsite for a short visit on their way to camp at Fallen Leaf Lake and took a couple of pictures to share with me, so I am sharing them here as well. They wanted to see the Overlook I post so many pictures from.

Lisa and me on the trail to the Overlook.

Eric and me at the bench at the Overlook.

Notice the beautiful sky and the blue lake?

Sadly, the next day it would all be obscured by smoke from the Mosquito fire burning out of control near Foresthill, less than 20 miles as the crow flies from our Colfax property. The smoke has meant poor air quality at Tahoe, but severely poor air quality in Colfax, but of course worse than the smoke is the threat to people, homes and wild life. Selfishly we are glad to be out of the smoke, though we did have some in Idaho from fires burning there.

Me standing next to a rock in the campground at Eagle Point.

What does this rock look like to you?

I think it's the head of a camel with me patting the back of the head.

The first stop after leaving Lake Tahoe was Fernley, Nevada to visit a friend who has recently moved there after 20 years in Virginia, which was after 11 years living in Colfax where we met her. Then we headed east in the very hot weather to Rye Patch State Park not too far from Lovelock. It was really beautiful there, but the overnight heat made sleeping difficult since there was no electric hookup, so no air conditioning.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

The moon rising over mountains in Nevada as we arrived at Rye Patch State Park.

The campground at sunrise on September 7.

I found a trail!

View of the sun coming over Rye Patch Reservoir from a bench along the little trail.

A short, but sweet trail. See the stairs in the distance...

LesThora nestled in the riverside campground at Rye Patch State Park.

This is what much of I 80 looks like driving through Nevada.

For much of my early life I thought Nevada was all a waste land, but almost 30 years ago my opinion changed after camping near Austin, Nevada at a United Methodist campground. I was having a hard time adjusting to the high desert scenery where our friends had told us it was beautiful, but in a different way than the green trees and water of the California Sierras. I couldn't see the beauty, but when I asked the native Nevadans in our midst if they could see it, they said it was everywhere. They suggested we visit the Ruby Mountains near Elko and Great Basin National Park to try to get a better perspective, and attitude, about Nevada. So, the next summer we took Erin, age 15, and Ruth, age 12, to backpack in the Rubies and camp at Great Basin National Park. I think it was somewhere along the section of highway pictured above, not far from Winnemucca, that one of the girls said, "It better get better than this!." It definitely did in the Ruby Mountains, but since that long ago trip across Nevada I have come to love it all, even the long miles where it looks like there isn't much out there. The native Nevadans said that in California, "The trees get in the way," and sometimes I do agree.

After leaving Rye Patch State Park on Wednesday morning, September 7, we got back on I 80 headed east to Elko and the Ruby Mountains where we planned to camp at Thomas Creek Campground in Lamoille Canyon, close to where we started that backpack trip so many years ago.

Interpretive signs and marker for the California Immigrant Trail -

At a little park in Winnemucca where we stopped to finish and send my previous blog post.

Sign on the bridge at the park.

Rob on the bridge.

The Humboldt River???

We stopped at a park near this sign in Battle Mountain to eat our lunch.

Our next stop was at the California Trail Interpretive Center just before reaching Elko.

This Museum, opened in 2012, does a very thorough and interesting job of telling the story of settlers heading east through the Nevada desert. My only disappointment with it was that there was almost no mention of the Stevens-Townsend-Murphy party that my sister Theresa and I studied about in an adult school class many years ago. That party that traveled to California some two years before the ill-fated Donner Party was extremely successful - they started with 50 travelers in wagons and arrived in California with 52! (Two babies were born along the trail). The telling of history is complicated, sometimes convoluted, and very dependent on the one who is telling it. Too often the Donner Party is criticized for the mistakes they made, but a lot of what happened to them was determined by bad luck - like the heaviest snowfall ever recorded at Donner Lake in October and lasting through the winter. The Stevens-Townsend-Murphy Party actually crossed the Sierra later in October than the Donner Party's attempt, but the snow wasn't so bad that it stopped them.

A beautiful display outside the window of the California Trail Interpretation Center.

I resonated with the message of this sign talking about making decisions about what to take and what to leave since we are mostly living in a 26 foot motor home. Big difference though is that I have a bedroom, and some other space, in Colfax to keep the things I don't want to part with. The pioneers had to leave lots of stuff behind in the east, and then often had to discard more along the trail.

Heading to the spectacular Ruby Mountains.

LesThora nestled in Thomas Canyon Campground in Lamoille Canyon with the Rubies towering above.

Pretty water fall up Thomas Creek just behind our campsite.

Rob and I walked up there before dinner after arriving late in the afternoon of Wednesday, September 7.

Looking up Thomas Canyon on Wednesday evening.

Thursday morning, September 8, 2022, hiking up Thomas Canyon.

Another waterfall further up the creek.

The sun hasn't come over the mountains yet.

But you can see it shining on these mountain peaks.

Another waterfall and inviting pool below.

A panoramic shot from where I sat for my morning quiet hour.

A view from the road as we left Lamoille Canyon - not sure when we'll be back.

Our destination on Thursday, September 8, was Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, north and east of Twin Falls Idaho. The temperature in the Rubies was very comfortable, especially compared to Rye Patch State Park, and we were hoping we wouldn't experience extreme heat again. The temperature in the campground was pleasant at Craters of the Moon, but unfortunately smoke was a problem by the next morning so instead of spending the day exploring the Lava fields we left Friday morning, September 9, after a visit to the visitor center and headed further east.

Crossing the Snake River at Twin Falls, Idaho.

This dramatic cut in the Lava rock really caught our attention!

Lava Lake just before Craters of the Moon.

The sign telling us we had arrived.

LesThora nestled amongst the lava rocks.

My camera did a poor job of capturing the dramatic, black lava rock.

This rock formation looks like a bear to me.

A lovely rock garden.

Sun setting in the smoking sky - it would be much smokier in the morning.

More smoky, sunset sky.

The morning sun on Friday, September 9.

To our eyes the sun was solid red, but the camera shutter speed is so fast it only shows a red ring.

This sign was just past the town of Arco which is very close to Craters of the Moon.

If you had asked me what state is noted for Nuclear Reactors I would have said Utah, not Idaho.

Arco has a sign that says, "First town lit by atomic power."

Our lunch stop along the way to Grand Tetons National Park.

The picnic tables and ICE CREAM sign caught our attention!

Arriving at Grand Teton National Park on Friday, September 9, 2022.

There was some haze in the sky, but the mountains and Jackson Lake were still beautiful.

Teton Mountain with sun behind it, evening of Friday, September 9.

Jackson Lake with an exposed island due to low lake levels and the Tetons behind.

Colter Bay, but there is no water in it this summer.

Jackson Lake has a dam that can raise the lake level 44 feet above its natural rim, but due to drought the reservoir part of the lake is not there this year. The rest of Jackson Lake is behind those trees.

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Cliffs we saw driving east along Highway 26 after leaving Grand Tetons National Park.

The Wind River

Tie Hack Memorial

A sign for this memorial caught our eye as we drove east. What is a "Tie Hack?" we wondered.

Tie Hacks made railroad ties from the forests above the Wind River and then floated them down the river to where they were used to build railroad tracks.

Shoshoni, Wyoming City Park.

The app I use to help us find campsites listed free camping at the Shoshoni City Park, so we stopped there for the night on Saturday, September 10. There was a State Park nearby with multiple campgrounds listed, but the reviews made them sound less than favorable due to poor roads. The park we stayed at was in a very quiet neighborhood in a strange town that has seen better days. The only business that was open was a gas station with convenience store on the corner of the junction of Highways 26 and 20.

Today, Sunday, September 11, we headed further east through Casper and are spending the night in a KOA campground so we can do laundry and use their wifi. We also took advantage of the swimming pool that hasn't closed yet for the season.

While traveling we try to follow what we call the 1, 2, 3 rule. 1: Stop every hour or so for a break of some kind, 2: Drive no more than around 200 miles a day, and 3: Try to arrive at our destination by 3:00 PM. We do pretty well following the first two rules, but today was the first day we arrived at our destination for the night around 3. We like to be flexible and stop at places that catch our attention, so we're now saying that rule 3 means that by 3:00 PM we will know where we are stopping for the night, and we will definitely arrive by dark. Today's attraction was the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming. It is managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, just as the California Trail Interpretive Center in Elko, Nevada is. The centers are free and excellently presented. Until today neither of us realized just how many trails came through Casper, Wyoming - it was where the pioneers and Pony Express had to cross the Platte River, and before them the Native Americans had many trails that converged here.