and the 38th day with the end of the trail in sight

Originally we had planned to stay in Sumpter another day but that wasn't eched in
stone, so we are on the back roads heading towards Pendlenton . It seems whenever
I let my trusty Co-Pilot plot our coarse we end up at a casino.We passed several more
ghost towns and ATV riding area's on way out. Hopefully we can go back to that area
next year around this time of year before it gets to dry.
We have had a good time on this trip and seen some interesting sights, along with meeting
some interesting people.
                                             THE  END

and the 37th day and no car museums

Before we left Boise I had 2 car museum to check out this morning, and struck out
on both [ closed ] We are off to Sumpter Oregon today, this little town has been around
since 1862, by 1901 Sumpter had grown to 3000 people and 81 businesses. In 1913
they started dredging the valley, by 1916 the 2nd dredge was working. In 1917  3/4 of
the town burnt down. the #2 dredge worked until 1923, # 1 dredge until 1924. Things
died down including the town until 1935 they built a new dredge #3 from  1&2s parts
#3 worked until 1954 and it alone recovered 4.5 million.and is on display today.. I can
only think what the first settlers thought when they saw this valley, now its piles of rock
from one end to the other. How can it be left like this ??
After visiting the Dredge and Steam train we headed into the hills looking for Bourne
a ghost town that was finished off in 1937 when a flash flood finished off the town.
a few building remain with a couple of mines above the town

and the 36th day and its a ---------- day

Today  we headed for Boise Idaho Elks our Elks book said one address and our friendly
computer said another, no phone answer for either one, as much as I dislike computers
we went with the computer address and it worked out, the lodge had down sized to new
lodge,but still had parking .
This motor homing sure beats tent camping, drive in flip a couple switches and we were off
to the Idaho State Penitentiary, ok built in 1870 and closed in 1973, 19000 bad guys went
thru the doors, with only 9 of them hung at the gallows.Now I wouldn't want to be locked up
in this place but its like a Motel 6 compared to the Old Pennsylvania state pen.
With it being such a nice day for a change, we drove up to Bogus Basin to see if it changed
from 28 years ago. Still a curvy, twisty road but they put in a few short passing lanes.
Arriving at the lower ski lodge a super high speed quad lift, big parking lot but the upper lodge
hadn't changed much ,a few more condo's enclosed the hot tubs but you still ski in & out of
your room . Im sure from the looks of this place now ,it gets crowded, when we were here
the slopes were yours, one of the best places I ever skied

and the 35thday and people standing in line to hit their balls

Today we are off to Craters of the moon and the Shoshone Indian ice caves. The caves
were the first stop. The caves are in a 41/2 mile lava tube, 90 ft under the ground but
only a 1000ft has ice due to cave ins and air circulation this area remains 28-34 degrees
inside no matter how hot it is outside. The cave room itself is about 30ft wide and 40ft
high and the ice varies in depth from 8ft to 30ft. A young Indian boy discovered the
caves about 1860 and was a ice source for the area untill the 1930's. So really its a
living glacier in the desert.
From there the Craters of the moon, three young lava fields created by a 52-mile long
tear in the earths crust., and mother nature cleaned house way down below in the core
of this place we call earth [home] They claim this has happened about every 2000 years
where we are on the clock I couldn't hear because of crying kids, and their parents didn't
seem to want to take the kids outside so other people could hear what the ranger had to
say.So with that said, it was interesting and a change of scenery.
I was looking forward to getting back to the bus and a nice cold one maybe set outside
and go watch those guys hit there balls [golf balls] that is,but farmer Joe must have been
busy while we gone, because it smells like real farm living outside. Can't blame this on
my Co-Pilot this time anyway.

and the 34th day and heading West

We rolled out of  Ogden today and left that nasty weather there. Also leaving that
flat land driving and getting a few little hills so the vacation is over for the kitty cat.
The original plan was to stay in Rupert but we ended at the Jerome Elks first Elks
on our trip that had parking. Nice quiet spot ,book said 15 Amp but they must
have updated to 30-50 Amp power. Even next door to the golf coarse for those
people who like to try and hit some ball ,then find it, only to do the same damn thing
again, then hop on their golf cart for a little exercise.
We headed down town across the Potato bridge which crosses the snake river,
found the road that takes you down to the river park, with more golf coarses,
however they did have a nice Sprint Car on display. From there to Shoshone falls,
that they claim are 50ft taller than Nigeria falls.[ IF THEY ARE] Nigeria falls are much
more impressive and for a few dollars you can go behind Nigeria falls. From the view
point  we were able to see where Evil Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon
and failed.
After that I thought we were going to a winery but my trusty Co-Pilot plotted a coarse
for Jack Pot Nev, I guess the casino does have wine but I think she had casino on her
mind.

and day 33 and the wind is gone but the rain is here

I should have known better, but I washed the car last night,when we turned off our lights
last night there was blue skies,when we got up this morning rain and fresh snow on the
hills
We are going out to Promontory Summit today with the rain. It worked out just right today
was a reenactment of May 10.1869 when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads
joined rails to complete the transcontinental railroad and drove the  Golden Spike. This
connected the East & West with 1,776 miles of train track. The Central Pacific had the
harder of the two routes with 15 tunnels thru solid granite working around the clock they
made 8" a day, some of the tunnels were 2,000 ft in length. The Union Pacific with the
easier route across the plains had to deal with Indian raids.They generally don't have both
locomotives out but because of the reenactment they were nose to nose with full head of steam.
The reenactment seamed real with all the people and correct dress and the 2 locomotives
setting there in the rain steamed up nose to nose this was a GREAT stop
From here we headed to Hill Air Force base museum, the air show was cancelled because of
the weather, so there was way to many people inside. They did have a nice collection of planes
inside and out. They did have a very nice P 38 that crashed in Alaska during world war II in the
late 70's they recovered the plane and it got a full restoration.
I believe our NO 3 daughter has been following the blog so I will post  a couple pictures for her