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.