Caldwell to Blue Valley RV Park, Walla Walla WA

The drive from Caldwell to Walla Walla is all interstate 84, except for the last 20 miles or so.  Then one exits for the two lane hinterlands.  They're not bad roads.  Coming in from that direction causes one to drive all the way across Walla Walla with its narrow streets.  GPS likes to do the neighborhood tours, there's probably a better route we could have taken.

It's a hilly drive.  There are quite a few ups and downs and sharp corners.  ODOT has done a good job of signing and warning of what's ahead.

This was taken in Caldwell.  I like it when the low sun illuminates a yellow tree.

Here we are leaving the higher country and heading down the hill toward the Snake River.

Another climb brought us up to where there are trees.

Trees give way to a more austere landscape and signs like this.

It's not that bad of a descent except for they took a lane away.

Looking to the left, you can see the climb out of the valley.  That is a 12 mile climb, it's relentless and best done in the morning.

Then it's back to this.  There is a lot of agriculture, mainly wheat and grapes.

Our friends very kindly fed us a wonderful dinner last night.  This is what we saw on the way home.

We are back the Blue Valley RV Park, which I have previously written about.

Brigham City to Ambassador RV Resort, Caldwell ID

Today was long.  It was all on I15 and I84, whose road surfaces were not terrible.  It just seemed like we were out there forever, but we weren't.  Once you get into northern Utah, southern Idaho, there's not a lot to look at.

This was interesting.  Someone installed a ladder up the back of the yellow car.  It's from Missouri.  Putt putt has been written on the side of the car.  They were traveling with the school bus ahead of it.

We are staying at the Ambassador RV Resort.  It's very nice.  We used to go to High Valley in Boise, which is an ok park, but getting there was so painful because of all of the surface streets that had to be traversed.  This is in Caldwell and is just off the freeway.

Interior roads are paved.  Sites are gravel, with grass between them.  They're wider and longer than many RV parks.  Staff is friendly.  Power is good, water pressure is good.  The southern sky is accessible for satellites.  Park supplied wi-fi is decent.  Verizon is extended 4G, but it's good.  Oddly enough, there is virtually no 4G on the freeway through Boise and Caldwell which made the GPS quit talking to us.  No open and/or wood fires are allowed.

There is a pool and playground for the short people.

The bad would be the rocks.  They didn't use the small gravel that packs, they used the rocks that hurt my feet.  Also bad is there is a train in the area, as well as a general aviation airport.  When we got here someone was doing touch and goes and not doing a good job of power management; resulting in an annoying pitch to the engine.  He appears to have gone home, so that's good.

Attention RV owners!  If you have a 3.5 inch sewer adapter in your sewer lash-up, know that they are getting hard to find.  Ours broke and we were unable to find one at Camping World.  We wanted a Valterra, but they don't seem to make them anymore.  Camping World has the 5 inch Valterra, but not the 3.5 inch.  I ordered two Camcos from Amazon so that we have spares.  Please make a note of this.

Nephi to Golden Spike RV Park in Brigham City, UT

Today was just hellacious.  When we drove through Salt Lake City in 2015, the construction was everywhere.  It was a very painful drive.  Despite all of the work they did then, the road surface through Salt Lake City is like driving through Bagdad.  The noise level is just unreal.  The construction has now moved to Provo.  It was bad enough that we won't be driving through Provo in the next few years.

Examine the width of the lanes.  They have re-striped and they're very narrow.  The other thing they've done is lane shifts, causing tight little wiggles in the freeway.  We were going through what felt like a chicane when the tractor trailer towing two trailers departed his lane and started moving in to ours, while we were in it.  Jim said he missed our left mirror by about a foot.  They're driving too fast and aren't controlling their rigs.  It scared the living snot out of both of us.

See the sound barrier on the south bound lanes?  Some unfortunate trucker put the cab of his truck through that wall, knocking it down.  The front of the cab looked like it had been smushed into a ball.  The backup went on for miles.

Eventually, we made our way to Brigham City.  This is the current Brigham City Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Its cornerstone was stamped 2012.  I cut off his spire trying to get all of him in the frame.
 

This was the Box Elder Tabernacle from 1867 to 1890.  I think it's a more attractive structure.

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We wandered down into Brigham City.

A county administration building.

We're staying at the Golden Spike RV Park.   It's an ok place to overnight. 

Torrey to Jones High Country RV Camp in Nephi, UT

Today we drove from Torrey to Nephi.  It wasn't a long distance, but it was slow.  Most of it is on two lane roads, some of it was on mediocre road surfaces.  Even I15 is not a great surface.

By and large it's a pretty drive.  There are nice rocks.

There is agriculture.  There were a lot of cows.

We're at the Jones High Country RV Camp in Nephi.  I would have to characterize this RV park as rustic.  Interior roads and sites are gravel.  Actually it's not gravel, it's one inch rock that's difficult to walk on.  The pull throughs are wide enough to park beside the RV.  Power is good, water pressure is good.  The mifi is in extended 4G, but it's tolerable.  No data on the restrooms or showers.  There is some grass, but there are more weeds.  There are a fair number of permanent residents on the periphery.  It's a good place for an overnight.  It's close to I15 and a Flying J.

If we were through this area again, we would come back.

Capitol Reef - Pioneer Register

For our last day here we had planned to hike the Cohab trail, rendezvous with the Frying Pan trail, and see what we would see.  The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.  Instead we went for a scenic drive instead.  We went out towards the scenic drive (Hwy 12) down through the Capitol Gorge and went to see the Pioneer Register.

On the way there we saw much scenic beauty.

I usually take this picture through the windshield of the vehicle at the top of the hill.  Today we parked and got out of the car.  It's just a stupendous thing to see.

The road down the Capitol Gorge is dirt and rough.  It's also narrow.  There are two cars up there, they were not sure they would clear each other and took forever going by one another.

More of the scenic.

When the Mormons passed through the Capitol Gorge on their way to new lands, they would carve their names and dates into the rock wall.  Look how nice M. Larson's cursive was.

What they saw on their way through.

There are some faint petroglyphs on the walls close to the entrance.  The rock is not actually that color, I had to use my sunset setting to get the camera to see the petroglyph.  They're pretty faint.

This is the Golden Throne.  We hiked up to see it in 2014, which I have written about here.

So, that's it.  Tomorrow we are up and out headed north.  We have enjoyed our time here.

Sleep, Laundry, Loa and Bison

As predicted, there was sleeping in and doing laundry.  We had to wait later in the morning for the laundry room because the camping cabins had been full.  So all of the sheets and blankets were being washed.  The lady that works in the RV park is a fast mover.  She could fold a fitted sheet in the twinkling of an eye.  After laundry there was going to Loa for water, paper towels and food.  Vegans and vegetarians, skip the next paragraph.

We bought a "Bistro Filet" which is a cut of meat I've not seen before.  It's a small muscle that comes off the shoulder.  The Loa grocery store has an actual live meat cutter who told us we should buy one.  They're tender, but have more flavor than a regular filet.  Apparently they're sold a lot in restaurants and are slowly making their way into grocery stores.  So we'll see if it's a good thing.  Update to post:  We are giving this a solid thumbs down.  It's tough and not that full of flavor.

Here is more scenic loveliness.

We stopped and looked at the bison.  They were far away from the road when we stopped.  The first time we drove by them they were by the road.  Uncooperative animals!

That's a bison shedding the winter coat, and two calves in the grass.

I like this rock formation, it reminds me of the back of a Stegosaurus.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  We will miss the rocks.