Thursday, Sept. 4
After 14 miles of gravel road (wet - no dust - yes!) and a few miles of asphalt, arrived in Centennial. Composed, printed and mailed some letters to the Forest Service thanking them for allowing us to use the National Forest for the Challenge. Jeez, I love roughing it....
The weather is GREAT! 40 degrees and sunny. The damn diesel is still blowing black. Some guy came by in a convertible (bet he was cold) and it was a riot to watch him stop, look and then try to avoid the smoke on his side. He didn't succeed.
Went up over the Snowies and came down the other side to see what I could see and all I saw was the other side of the mountain. Down through Saratoga, which has really improved, and up to I-80 (yuck!) Filled up my 19 gallon Jeep tank with 18 gallons since the lone gas pump at Albany, 12 miles from where we were camped, was inoperable. Crossed the Continental Divide and descended into the Red Desert, drove a ways and climbed out and over the Divide again. The Desert is a bowl and the Divide forms a ring around the bowl :)
Got off I-80 onto US 30 at the Little America Truck Stop. Saw a small forest fire on the way. Went through Soda Springs, ID, which has a large, naturally carbonated spring. They advertise, "Bring a glass, fill it up, add a little sugar and you have a soft drink." Welcome to Idaho.
Yes, finally, for the first time in almost 9 days got cell service in Pocatello! Sprint PCS service sucks out west. Last service was at Sioux Falls, SD.
Names in Pocatello aren't a whole lot original: Cowboy RV Park, Cowboy Gasoline, Cowboy Welding - get the idea?
Friday, Sept. 5
Did some periodic maintenance on both vehicles. Must be OK, they haven't evicted me from the campground (yet.) About noon a friend of mine from high school daze came to see me and we went for a drive while he was on his lunch break. Drove up a canyon to the Selznick house (grandson of David O., of GWTW fame.) Impressive. Photo doesn't do it justice but you get the idea. On the way back, drove past the Pocatello FBI which has these massive concrete blocks that move around to let vehicles in (or keep vehicles out as the case may be.) I guess Idaho is just a hotbed of FBI activity....didn't get a digital photo cuz I didn't want them to seize the digital camera and confiscate my bits.
Later that day went to the shooting range. Had a great time with a variety of ammunition and rifles. Details on request. Some Army guys were there practicing, and practicing and practicing. It's nice to see people who REALLY enjoy their work! Details on request.
Some of the targets were quart water bottles (great effect when they are hit) and sagebrush about 1000 yards away. Needed binoculars to see where the dust would be when the bullet hit and then correct - "You're about 5 feet to the left and 3 feet down." Great fun.
After that, drove to Idaho Falls, about 60 miles, for a meal at the OutBack and called it a (busy) day! Driving 60 miles, one way, for a good meal out here is not uncommon.
Saturday, Sept. 6
Kerm was busy and it was a cloudy day. Used the morning to get the web stuff done for the Challenge. When we got together, I used Kerm's 19.6K connection to quickly upload the first wave of web pages.
Later we hopped in the Dam Jeep and drove to Scout Mountain. After that we headed to an area East of I-15 and started up a two track that Kerm had walked part of the way at one time.
The higher we got, the more spectacular the trail became. We drove through a thicket of trees that were turning already. With the afternoon sun hitting them it was spectacular to say the least. Again, photos just cannot do it justice.
Finally we got to a fork in the road. We then headed up a "little hill" that turned into a 45 degree incline. 4WD would have been useful but as I said, "Naw, we don' need no steenkin' four wheel drive for this....." That hill became interesting. Made it up thanks to rear lockers and my incredible driving skills (aka, throttle.) The front end was so light I'm not convinced 4WD would have helped much. Yee-Haw!
From the top of that "little hill", we saw this other road that went to the top of Chink Hill (don't look at me, I didn't name it). That's where most of the Pocatello radio/TV towers are located. This time I DID engage the front hubs and we made it up and saw some spectacular scenery.
I could swear I head thunder on the way down. Kerm said it was just railroad cars we were hearing.
We got down and 15 minutes later is got really cloudy and over Chink Hill it looked like the Second Coming! I was amazed how quickly the storm formed. Wind, lightning, thunder and muddy rain. Afterwards just some spectacular clouds and a great rainbow. Too bad we were at a Mexican restaurant and I didn't have the camera.
Such was Pocatello. Had a great time and will be back again. Thanks, Kerm, for your hospitality and especially the great meal at the OutBack! Now on to Helengone, Montana.
