Friday, May 27, 2022; Pendleton OR to Oak Harbor- a final dash home.

Friday, May 27, 2022; Pendleton OR to Oak Harbor- a final dash home.

Janet had wanted to make it home for Ciara’s 28th birthday, which is on May 28.  This apparently makes it a “Golden” birthday.  Ciara has a party planned with her friends today in Seattle, and her boyfriend Tom is visiting.  

From Pendleton, Oregon, we decided to make a bee-line for home, heading diagonally across Oregon and Washington, rather than making stops in Portland and Onalaska as our original itinerary outlined.  Staying extra days in Tennessee, Missouri and Minnesota meant we had some serious catching up to make it home in time for Ciara’s birthday.  

Fortunately, the weather cooperated.  We did have some thundershowers last night, but the temperatures had dropped to the upper 60’s overnight, so we were comfortable without needing either air conditioning or the furnace.  We got up relatively early and stopped at the Arrowhead travel center to use the bathrooms and pick up breakfast at McDonalds.  We then began our sprint home.

We took turns behind the wheel driving through the agricultural fields of Northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington, refueling in Thorp, WA taking on 15.735 gal @$5.389gal with 27171 miles on the odometer (12.3mpg). 

After crossing the summit of Snoqualmie Pass, where the pavement was bare and dry, and where we noticed that Lake Kachess was filled to the brim, we allowed ourselves a sightseeing stop at Snoqualmie Falls. 

The falls are quite impressive with the recent rains.  It is interesting to see how the first power generation station was drilled out of the bedrock at the base of the falls.  They don’t have tours of that underground power generation station, but the pictures are fascinating.  

Our next stop was lunch at Chiang’s Gourmet on Lake City Way, north of the University of Washington.  We have been there so many times in our RV that we have a special parking spot between their sign and Lake City Way where it is easy to get into and out of.  

We then stopped at nephew Alex’s newly acquired house in Everett.  He works at Boeing.  We had never been in this cute residential neighborhood with older homes before. 

It is very conveniently located for getting on and off I-5.  The house is on a narrow but long lot with street frontage and an alley at the rear.  The house has ample off street parking off the alley, which is a big plus.  The house itself is a mish-mash.  Much of what is in the back of the house appears to be an enclosed former garage and storage spaces of very generous size.  The main house up front is dated with authentic mid century appliances and countertops.  It will make a great project house for Alex with endless opportunities for remodeling and upgrades.  The front yard is beautifully landscaped with flowers and shrubs, as well as a pair of mature rhubarb plants ready for the picking. 

We dropped off a BB-8 star wars pillow that we picked up from his mom Eileen in Los Altos.  That droid traveled nearly 10,000 miles to get from his Mom’s house to him via our RV.  

We made our customary stop at the Smoky Point Rest Area to use their trailer dump facility, but were aghast to find that the rest top’s truck and trailer parking had been taken over by a large homeless encampment that had obviously been there for some time. 

There was hardly any parking for travelers or for truckers who depend on these rest areas for safe operation of their essential rigs.  The state patrol should really enforce limits on stays to less than 12 hours so that travelers and truckers can use these areas to get needed rest to be able to drive safely.  We were able to use the trailer dump facilities, but we’re afraid the state will end up shutting the rest stop down entirely rather than deal with the homeless encampment.  

We refueled at the Angel of the Winds Casino taking on 10.505gal @$5.499/gal with 27329 miles on the odometer (15.0mpg).  We also stopped at our local John Deere dealership in Mt. Vernon to pick up a replacement mower deck for our riding mower.  It had suffered a fractured deck just before we left on our RV trip.  Fortunately, they had one in stock, and it could fit on the rear cargo carrier of the RV.  

We stopped at the Burlington Costco to shop for groceries and met with Price in the parking lot. 

He had just gotten off work, and was on his way down to Seattle to give Ciara some home baked cookies with real gold leaf decorations.  

We got home and found that the house was still standing and the lawn was mowed, but every square inch of the kitchen countertops and kitchen island were covered with pots, pans, cooking ingredients and miscellaneous objects. 

But it was good to be back in our real home after 7-1/2 weeks on the road in the RV.  

We ended the trip with 27282 miles on the odometer. We started with 14938 miles so we logged 12,344 miles on our coast to coast RV trip.  We managed to endure the consequences of a Haboob, broken valve stem, and rodent attack on our propane system during this grand road trip, and have one good scar on the right side of the RV as a souvenir of our tight quarters in Delaware.  We also lost the cap to our kitchen vent fan somewhere between Minnesota and South Dakota.  But through it all, we did have a great adventure and got to visit lots of relatives and friends all around the country.  We are grateful for having missed the tornados and hailstorms in the midwest, and to have avoided any large animal encounters on the roads as well.  

It will take some time to get the RV unpacked and get back into the rhythms of our Oak Harbor summer time routines, but we can certainly see ourselves packing off in the RV for the 2024 solar eclipse, and perhaps even a winter RV trip to get out of the rain and wind for a while.

Thursday, May 26, 2022; Craters of the Moon, Hagerman Fossil Beds and Pendleton

Thursday, May 26, 2022; Craters of the Moon, Hagerman Fossil Beds and Pendleton

We weren’t the first to break camp, but we certainly weren’t the last either.  You can hear a lot more activity in a proper camp ground around you than when you are boondocking alone in a remote location.  

We took one more drive around the Craters of the Moon loop drive and then pointed the RV in the direction of the Oregon Trail- westward ho!

We found a free municipal trailer dump in the town of Richfield ID where we could dump our holding tanks and also refill our fresh water tank which was down to 1/3 after taking our showers last night. 

We were hoping to see the Minidoka National Historic Site which was a WWII Japanese internment camp.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t open until Memorial Day weekend, which starts tomorrow.  So we contented ourselves with checking out the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.  The visitor center was open, but had a rather small exhibit area.  The Hagerman Fossil Beds were renowned for yielding over 200 early horse fossils- the oldest recorded horse fossils in the world.  It’s ironic that horses started off evolving in the Americas, crossed the Bering Sea land bridge to spread out across Asia, Europe and Africa, then become extinct in the Americas, only to be reintroduced by the Europeans in the 1600’s.  Those horses took the long way around the world to end up where they started.  In retrospect, the Blue Earth Public Library Dinosaur display was much more impressive, extensive and all real.  Much of what was displayed at the Hagerman visitor center were casts or reproductions.  

There was a small monument to shepherds in Hagerman that included an impressive life sized bronze sculpture and a restored sheep wagon- the original travel trailer.

We had lunch at a diner in Hagerman called the Riverboat Restaurant.  We had a burger and steak sandwich featuring Idaho potato fries.  

We drove out to where you can view the bluffs where the Hagerman Fossil beds were discovered, but the actual dig sites are off limits.  They are very close to parts of the Oregon Trail, which you can walk on.  It was getting too warm for that as the temperatures had climbed into the mid 80’s.  

We continued westward, stopping in Bliss ID for diesel.  We filled up with 21.313gal @$5.399/gal with 26637 miles on the odometer (13.4mpg).  We filled up again in Ontario OR taking on 12.426gal @$5.469/gal.  We drove through a passing thunderstorm and filled up again in Pendleton with 11.425gal @ $5.399/gal with 26978 miles on the odometer (14.2mpg). We then found our Boondockers Welcome site on a ranch on the outskirts of Pendleton OR.  This is a lovely spot in front of a currently empty mother-in-law apartment attached to a horse barn.  

The thunderstorms have brought cooler air with them so the temperature dropped into the lower 70’s while we had dinner featuring Birds-Eye Garlic Chicken Pasta and leftovers.  

Wednesday, May 25, 2022; Grand Teton and Craters of the Moon National Parks

Wednesday, May 25, 2022; Grand Teton and Craters of the Moon National Parks

It was nice to get a head start on Grand Teton from our boondocking site just inside the park entrance.  It appeared that a couple of other parties had boondocked in the parking lots.  

The Grand Tetons National park is focused on the Teton range, which makes for a striking backdrop.  

Jackson Lake is partially natural, and partially man made through construction of a dam at the lake’s natural outlet. This raises the natural lake’s level flooding some of the prior natural valley.  The lake level appeared to be close to the natural level because at the marina, many of the mooring floats were sitting on dry ground, and the float docks were several hundred feet down the bank from the high water marks.  This is probably in anticipation of collecting spring run-off from the surrounding mountains and glaciers.  

The city of Jackson was named after a fur trader who was instrumental in settling of the area.  We learned that Jackson Hole simply means Jackson Valley, with the Hole being the valley left by subduction of part of the continental crust under the western part which was pushed up into the sky as the Tetons.  So when people say Jackson Hole, they are referring to the valley where the city Jackson is situated.

There are several wildlife viewing areas where bison, elk and antelope are pretty easily see at a distance.  

There is also a historical Mormon settlement in the valley.  

The Snake River runs to the east of the Tetons. Ansel Adams famously photographed Grand Teton overlooking a bend in the Snake river.  There is now literally a sign that says Ansel Adams stood here at the location where that famous photo was taken.  

The historical Chapel of the Transfiguration and Snake River ferry crossing are situated at the south end of the park.  Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton both attended services in the Chapel.  It is popular for weddings now even though it is quite small.  There is a separate side building that is the Bride’s prep building.  

The town of Jackson is quite touristy and busy with tourists walking the streets and checking out the numerous shops, restaurants, bars and galleries.  We filled up the tank with 11.452gal @$5.599/gal with 26351 miles on the odometer (16.2mpg since last fill up in Cody).  

We then made our way through the very agricultural southeastern part of Idaho, which has rolling hills and vast spreads of rangeland. As we headed down into the central plateau of Idaho, it became more desert like and there were lots of areas with chain link and barb wire fencing and signs warning unauthorized personnel to stay clear.  The city of Arco is famous for its participation in the dawn of the nuclear era.  Their claim to fame is “The First City Illuminated by Nuclear Power”.  Well the story is actually a little darker.  Arco was the sight of Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 or EBR-1.  This was a small nuclear reactor that was used to produce a net gain in fissionable material, converting uranium to plutonium, and was also the first nuclear reactor to produce enough energy to produce electricity.  It was able to power a total of 4 light bulbs, each rated 200 watts.  So this first electricity producing nuclear reactor could crank out 800 watts.  

While they were using EBR-1, they noticed that it was a bit unstable, and they couldn’t figure out what exactly the problem was. They eventually decided to shut the reactor down because they had just about gotten all the data they could from that experimental reactor.  Their last experiment was therefore to see what would happen if they gradually increased the reactor output while reducing cooling water flow.  Well, surprise, surprise- the reaction ran out of control, so they had to scram the reactor and seal up the containment facility.  It was so radioactive inside that nobody was allowed to even peek for several months.  There was also concern that the Soviets might think the US had violated a nuclear bomb testing treaty if there was any release of radiation from the containment facility.  

When the were eventually able to see what had happened, they found the reactor core partially melted down- half of the fuel rods were fused into a molten mass.  Thank goodness it was just an experimental reactor with an 800 watt output, or this meltdown could have been America’s first Chernobyl.  They eventually figured out that the reactor design allowed some bending of the fuel rods which caused a positive feedback situation with regards to nuclear chain reactions.  Subsequent American nuclear reactors had better designed fuel rod assemblies which are more fail safe.  So real good came from the lessons learned in EBR-1.  

It is likely Chernobyl was caused by the same defect in fuel rod design which lead to the EBR-1 meltdown.  

There is no place to tour regarding this nuclear history- just a commemorative roadside sign and a city park.  

We arrived at the Craters of the Moon National Park just as the Visitor Center was closing its doors at 4:30pm.  We sprinted through the doors at 4:28pm.  We were able to get a park map and instructions on how to register in the campground.  We had learned that the campground has usually not been full so there was an excellent chance of us finding a site.  The visitor center displays were small enough for us to glance through in just a minute or two.  

Snow Cone

Atop the Inferno Cone

We were able to find a nice campsite for our RV and put up out “This Site Is Occupied” signs on the picnic table and signpost, and then registered at the campground entrance.  It is all electronic.  We were able to camp for quite a discount with Janet’s Senior pass.  Normally, admission to the park is $20 and it’s another $20 to camp, but with her pass, it was just $4. The campground had no running water or toilets today because of the potential for sub freezing weather, but they did have some pit toilets available.  I imagine “later in the season”= Friday, Memorial Day Weekend, they will simply unlock the real bathroom doors and uncover the water hydrants.  

We were able to see most of the park that was open.  There were a few areas that were close because they were unstable, and the caves were all closed because of bat breeding season. 

Tree cast in lava

Tree branch fossil in lava

We did all the short loop trails, climbed to the top of Inferno Cone, and hiked the mile and back to see Tree Molds in a lava flow.  The weather was breezy with a temperature in the 70’s, so it was comfortable.  Overcast sky also helped.  By the time we finished the park’s loop drive and got back to our campsite, the campground appeared to be nearly full, with just a handful of openings left. 

Limber Pine

Devil’s Garden

We had showers because hiking around in the volcanic cinders left us very dusty.  We made dinner with ziti pasta, canned chicken breast meat, the remainder of our previously opened Bertolli marinara sauce, broccoli and some added cheese.  

Craters of the Moon is a designated “dark sky” viewing area, so we were hoping to be treated to a view of the Milky Way, but the Milky Way wasn’t really visible.  I did happen to capture the ISS streak across the sky in an 8 second timed exposure of the night sky.

ISS streaks overhead