MANY NEW EXPERIENCES.
Day 16 – We were up at 7:30 a.m., 44 degrees & sunny. Rob took a couple of morning pics of the River. We like it at this campground & so do the cats who posed nicely for pictures.
199 miles
Snake River RV Resort, Homedale, ID
Snake River RV Resort, 4030 River Resort Rd., Homedale, ID 83628, (208) 337-3744, www.snakeriverRV.com. Check-in 11 a.m.; check-out 11 a.m. Small campground, very quiet, extremely well-kept sites in a beautiful location overlooking the Snake River. Approx. 35 campsites + approx. 5 small, extremely well-cared-for manufactured homes. We had site #34 in the row closest to the River; the two rows behind us also had some views. Between the camp sites and the River was a small grassy park and a few benches at the River. Full hook-ups, only $30 with the Good Sam card & paying with cash. Maybe 45 min. from Boise in the middle of farm lands. We would come back again. Very nice.
Before we left thie morning, we checked out the campgrounds in several areas about 4-5 hours from us using the AllStays App, Campendium.com, the DeLorme map campground guide, & just about everything else we could get our hands on. Wanting to be well-prepared this time, we found several campgrounds to look into for both the Crater Lake area & the nights before arriving at the Oregon coast. We decided to try dry camping (no electric, no water, no sewer) at a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground. It just happened to be located almost exactly halfway between Snake River RV Resort & Crater Lake. Rob called to check their availability for 1 night. They said their campgrounds were first come, first served – no reservations – but they were almost certain they wouldn’t be full this afternoon, a weekday. BLM campgrounds are usually free or very cheap (and camping there is called Boondocking); most of the time they have no hook-ups of any kind. Some of them do offer public restrooms or outhouses. Some people travel the entire country & Boondock. It can be done for almost no money, except for the gasoline it takes to get from one place to the next. You can usually stay up to 14 nights, too. We’ve wanted to try a BLM campground in advance of going to Arizona & New Mexico where we hoped to stay at BLM’s for days to weeks at a time in February. Usually these campgrounds are located in desolate areas. The route we’re taking from Western Idaho thru Eastern Oregon has few towns. This was a great option for us.
We departed at 10:05 a.m.; it was 53 degrees and sunny, another gorgeous day. Almost immediately we had to take a detour due to road/bridge work; that took us more than ½ hour out of our way. Here we go again. I made up my mind to just say “whatever” and not worry about it. Go with the flow, right? Eventually we were back on track, crossing the Snake River one last time, and heading into Oregon. Neither of us knew what to expect of eastern OR. We’d been to Ashland and the Portland area but they’re nowhere near this. Once again, the scenery was varied and beautiful. I was taking pictures at almost every curve. Farmlands, too, at first – onions, onions, onions – corn, string beans, & alfalfa. Cows & horses, of course. Sheep, goats, & llamas, too.
Along I-20 in OR
To see a whole lot more pictures of our trip along US20 in OR,
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We arrived at the campground, Chickahominy Reservoir BLM Campground, at 2:45 p.m., 69 degrees & partly cloudy. They certainly did have sites available; only 3 campsites were in use when we arrived. Awesome place in the middle of nowhere (on the Chickahominy Reservoir west of the tiny town of Riley off of US-20). The cost for the night was $4! Talk about quiet and privacy! We picked site #19. After putting our meager fee in the payment slot we passed by an older couple going for a walk. They were from northern Oregon, formerly from San Diego, CA. Since retiring they’ve travelled every winter, about 6 months a year, using primarily BLM’s.
This was a very different experience for us. We felt like we were the only people around as far as you could see. We were on a beautiful reservoir. There were ducks on the water & various small birds flitting about. It was high plains terrain, a desert surrounded by large hills. No noise whatsoever (at least not until later). In addition, we’d changed time zones again which gave us an extra hour to relax. The girls settled in nicely, loving the peace & quiet.
As it got dark, pitch-black dark, we started hearing this cooing sound, initially sounding like a mourning dove, then lots of mourning doves. We’re thinking, what IS that….some sort of frog or desert bug? Meanwhile, Rob had been experimenting with taking night-time pictures of stars in the sky, so he headed outside to practice some more. The noise got louder. He was looking towards the sky, he heard them calling overhead and heard the wind in their wings, and he was able to just make out their silhouettes against the sky. They seemed to be large goose of some sort, flying in many V-patterns overhead, filling the sky. This went on for hours. Hundreds of them. We’re familiar with geese & ducks, but this was an unfamiliar calling.VERY interesting. We did some research to figure out what we heard. After listening to many different bird calls on the computer, we finally heard exactly the same “noise”. Sandhill Cranes were migrating overhead! Awesome.
The Milky Way, Chickahominy Reservoir BLM Campground, OR
Wow the stars! Chickahominy Reservoir BLM Campground, OR