BEST LAID PLANS.
Day 15 – Beginning of Week 3. Last week we put 1,245 miles on the RV and travelled from eastern Iowa, through the rest of IA, NE, WY, UT & some of ID, visiting 5 states & staying at 6 different campgrounds. We saw lots of farmlands, went to a National Wildlife Refuge & a Migratory Bird Sanctuary, camped at 8,500 breathless ft. in the Medicine Bow National Forest among the Vedauwoo rock formations, saw an exhibition on the artifacts found in the sunken Bertrand (a circa 1864 steam/paddlewheeler), got waylaid by high winds the day after nearly being blown over during a strange wind storm at Lake Ogallala, saw the Great Salt Lake & the Snake River, got kicked off the Interstate due to a wildfire, and drove through scenery that knocked our socks off. Snow-capped mountains, rolling hills, trees, lakes, flatlands, farms, antelope, cows, horses, & many birds. After the scenery we saw this past week, we can’t wait to see what is in our future. Can it live up to this?
130 miles
We got up at 7:30 & 8:00 a.m.; it was 34 degrees with frost on the ground. While I was still asleep, Rob took his coffee & walked to the River. Gorgeous out. He put the Idaho sticker on the travel map. We hung out for awhile at the quiet campground, in no hurry to leave this morning. Since we drove farther yesterday than planned, today should only be 1 ½ hrs to 2 hrs. on the road. We’re headed to a campground on the Snake River near a National Wildlife Refuge we want to visit when we get there.
Added Idaho
Three Island Crossing State Park, 1083 S. Three Island Park Dr., Glenn’s Ferry, ID 83623, (208) 366-2394, https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/three-island-crossing. Check-in 2 p.m.; check-out 1 p.m. Wonderful campground, spotlessly clean and perfectly landscaped, three camping areas: a small tents-only loop nestled in the trees by the River; Wagon Wheel, the upper campground with 43 sites & 1 cabin – some sites overlooking the Snake River – all with electric & water & most sites fairly open; and Trailside, the lower campground with 38 sites & 2 cabins – most with some shade & nicely spaced from each other – all with electric & water. We chose site #59, a large & private, shaded site at the lower campground near a trail which meanders thru the trees and bushes to the Snake River. Monday-Thursday they offer a senior discount of 50% off. There’s boating on the Snake River & bike riding through the park roads looks like it would be great. We would absolutely return to this campground and stay for much longer next time. We’ve decided that this is our favorite campground so far this trip.
We departed Three Island Crossing State Park at 11:15 a.m., 52 degrees, sunny & clear. We’d decided to take a smaller road, rather than an Interstate, since we had less driving to do today & could take a potentially more scenic route along the Snake River. We drove thru the small town (with an Old West feel) of Glenn’s Ferry, then hopped on I-84W for a short distance, getting off on ID-78. We drove south, west, then north on ID-78 to our campground in Nampa, ID below Boise. It was really nice taking a smaller road, with very little traffic compared to travelling the Interstate.
There were many fields of corn (again), grapes (there were several wineries), apples, and we saw lots of hay, baled up. Also, fields of a vegetable with longer green leaves (picture below); anyone know if that’s a lettuce, or what? And fields of a shorter green vegie, herb, or grain (we did not get a picture), but we think it might be alfalfa. Fields of sunflowers, brown and ready to be harvested for seeds after drying. Plenty of cows, horses, sheep, & some goats – no pigs. The farmlands were on the mostly flat land of the Snake River Valley, surrounded with mesa’s, large hills, & mountains in the distance. Very pretty. We passed a store in a teeny town with a sign that said, “Beer, Bait, & Bullets” (what about the Beef and Broads, we wondered); I didn’t get a picture, darnit. Another wildfire was spotted across the Snake River. It is SO dry here; it’s been that way since western WY. Humidity is extremely low, and your skin feels very dry. If you Google wildfires in any State in the west, you come up with a scary amount of fires, practically covering each State.
Along I-78, ID
To see a whole lot more pictures taken along I-78 in ID,
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We had tried to enter the campground we found in the Passport America book in the GPS, (50% off with P.A.) but it would not take either the name or the address. That should’ve given us a clue. But instead of calling in advance to check availability or calling for directions, we thought we could find it without all the modern electronic devices we depend on. We got lost & ended up on a dead end street for a new home development on the Snake River. Tried once again to find the campground in the GPS & our AllStays App – no luck. Couldn’t make a U-Turn, had to disconnect the car from the RV so we could back up & drive out separately. Just 500 feet later, there was a sign, “RV Park, next left” so we turned in. There was no sign saying which RV Park, but we pulled in anyway. Ummmm, it was not what was advertised in the literature. There was no office to check in to. A man said to talk to the owners who live near by. Could not find anyone who looked the least bit like “an owner”, whatever that may be. The Park was crowded with vehicles very close to each other, some quite old that looked like they’d been there for decades. Except for the fact that people were living in the trailers, we might have thought we were in a junkyard. Okay, that’s an exaggeration! But Rob talked to a man in a golf cart who told us to park & he’d go check with the owner. Eventually an old lady came to our RV to say they were full up. We hastily made a U-turn out of there, but not before a rickety truck approached us and a very aged couple told us that the Park was full. Who owns this place, anyway.
We hooked up the car to the RV again & high-tailed it out of there & looked at the AllStays App for an alternative. Found another possibility, about 15 miles away. We were still trying to stay reasonably close to the National Wildlife Refuge with high hopes for a fantastic birdwatching experience. But our long afternoon at the Refuge was dwindling away with all the folderol associated with finding a place to stay. We were also hungry; we hadn’t stopped for a break because we thought for quite awhile that “we were almost there”. This makes us quite grouchy!
We took small roads thru tall corn fields for 12 miles to the road that the GPS directed us to, Pioneer Road, turned right as instructed, and travelled along the Snake River to an industrial area. End of road except for a narrow gravel road which looked like it was going to the parking lot for a building. Sigh. Turned right again & found that we should’ve continued on that narrow road, the GPS rudely telling us to turn around & go back. I’m ready to yell at the GPS, “we cannot turn around, we are on a small road with nothing but corn fields in a large vehicle towing a Honda CRV!”. LOL. Anyway, we had to circle around and approach again, delaying us even further. When Pioneer Road ended, this time we continued on the narrow gravel road to the campground, Snake River RV Resort. I think if they’d said they were full, I would’ve just cried. They were not full. We were directed to a wonderful campsite on the Snake River, site #34, and it was $30 for full hook-ups, good price. We were set up (and had lunch) by 3:45 p.m., 67 degrees, partly cloudy, beautiful weather. The campground is VERY quiet. Feeling much better now, LOL.
We drove to Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, 25 miles away. It was not what we’d expected but it’s been that kind of day. Very large, on the equally-large Lake Lowell, it’s focused mostly on hunting & fishing. The book we have on National Wildlife Refuges said that this was a stopover for many migrating birds, so we’d hoped for the typical wildlife drive close to the waterways, but except for the two parking lots for people to park when they launch their boats, there really wasn’t any way to approach the birds the way we like to do. Turned around & drove back to the campground. The girls, oblivious to our plights today, were relaxing comfortably. So glad to be back & relaxing at this great campground. Hey, things can’t go perfectly ALL the time, right? Tomorrow is another day, and we’re headed to Oregon!
Best Laid Plans. Although things did not work out as planned yesterday or today, we did end up both days in excellent campgrounds, both became favorites so far on this trip. What’s funny is that we made up our minds we wouldn’t plan things, just go with the flow. But now, finding that independent campgrounds are full in the west even on week days, & there have been fewer State Parks to choose from on the route we’ve taken, we need to rethink this “no planning” idea and at least phone ahead to check availability at several campgrounds.
If everything went well all the time you wouldn’t have any great stories! 🙂
My Dad says he likes Cape Blanco State Park in Oregon. If you’re in that area you might check it out. There is a light house there too. It’s near Port Orford. You’re finding all the great places for us 🙂
Thanks for the recommendation for Cape Blanco! We are discovering that getting spots at State Parks in OR, even this late in the year, is difficult on weekends. We’re going to try getting a spot early so we can stay a while at Cape Blanco. It looks great!