One with the Road

After a nice extra day layover relaxing in Jackson, WY, we moved out across Idaho towards Boise today. Once we made it over the mountains out of Wyoming and down into the heart of Idaho, the feel of Idaho is a bit like Iowa except that the corn is replaced by potatoes. To be fair to Idaho, while we were mainly on the same route as we were back in Iowa (US-20), it was not nearly as featureless as Iowa…perhaps just comparatively less dramatic than Yellowstone.

Besides all the potatoes, a noteworthy thing about Idaho is its historical and current ties to the development and support of using nuclear materials to generate electrical power. In fact, the very first experimental nuclear power plant was designed, built and successfully operated in Idaho. The first day that it was operated in 1951 by splitting Uranium atoms into Plutonium atoms, it powered four incandescent light bulbs.

On the second day of operation (a day later) it powered the entire facility in a self sustaining manner and operated until some sort of…almost…catastrophic experiment ended its operations about 10 years later.

While this test facility known as EBR-1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor-1) is right off US-20, it is quite literally out in the middle of nowhere with nothing for 50 miles in any direction except for the more modern facilities that have since replaced EBR-1 maybe 10 miles off in the distance.

Of course, they don’t let you get anywhere close to them unless you are presumably willing to deal with guys toting M-16’s.

After visiting EBR-1, we headed over to Arco, ID for lunch at a place named Pickles, and home to the “Atomic Burger”

However, as we approached the place, the neon green sign gave Sandra the shivers. She was apparently not quite so convinced that somehow radioactive materials were not going to be making it into our food even though Jeff explained to her that her “magnetic personality” would protect her.

To be fair, in addition to the generation of nuclear materials in Idaho, the state is also the place where virtually all radioactive waste is currently dumped…..so maybe the fear was not quite so farfetched. In any case, we skipped lunch and moved on along US-20 until we got to the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

Apparently, this is the location where they first build EBR-0, but after it went super critical and melted everything within a 50 mile radius, this is what was left behind. Ok, maybe not. This place is the result of an ancient lava flow and somewhat resembles the big island of Hawaii, but without the volcanic peak. In any case, the “craters of the moon” seems appropriate for this very much out of place site in the middle of Idaho.

Tomorrow we head to Portland, OR as our new base for starting our journey down the Pacific Coast Highway!

The first place we visited in Wyoming was Devils Tower National Monument.  We first spotted the tower more than 20 miles away because it shoots up 1,267 feet in the middle nowhere. While visiting the tower we could see climbers making their way to the top which is a common occurrence during the summer.  Most people take 4-6 hours to do the climb, but in 1980 we understand that someone did it in only 18 minutes – without ropes.  For reference it took us longer to walk from the parking lot to the base of the tower.

The next stop was Yellowstone National Park.  It’s funny that they call it a “park” when you spend most of your time driving around because the park’s primary access roads alone cover over 230 miles. Of course, the Corvette loved the windy and open roads…hmm so did the driver!

As with everyone visiting the park, we saw Old Faithful “blow” and visited the other various Geysers.  We were a bit amazed at how active the area is and you definitely get the sense the Earth is still very much alive.  However, the more dramatic experience was seeing firsthand the glorious scenery and wildlife.  During our drive we had to stop to let Bison cross the road, watch Elk eat the grass and stay well clear of the Grizzly bear who was keeping the Rangers busy.  But more often we simply stopped to soak up the scenery. 

Speaking of the wildlife, apparently many people don’t understand the meaning of “wildlife”.

A geographically noteworthy thing about Yellowstone is the Continental Divide passes through the park.  This means that all water to the West of the divide goes towards the Pacific Ocean and to the East goes towards the Atlantic Ocean.  Fortunately the Corvette goes in any direction.

The final park we visited was Grand Teton – rich with majestic mountains and pristine lakes.  These, said Teddy Roosevelt when first he laid eyes on the Teton Range, “are what mountains are supposed to look like.”  We know our new friends from Belgium would agree.

Finally for a literal interpretation of “drive by shooting”, note that rodeo rider on the state welcome sign is riddled with bullet holes.

When preparing for and planning this trip with the Corvette, there was one thing that worried us about having the Corvette out in the elements for an entire month: A hail storm. We do have a storm cover for the car, but given everything else we needed to bring in the limited cargo space - it just wasn’t practical to bring the cover along. So what do you think the odds are of hitting a hail storm during a trip like this. Apparently, about 100% for us.

During the later evening hours after we got into Hot Springs, SD several thunderstorms rolled through the mountains in succession. Lots of wind and lots of rain for periods, but they were in and gone quick. Somewhere around 11:00pm, another blew through with 3/4″ hail stones. It lasted a terrifying 5 minutes before it turned completely to rain and became clear that the hail portion of the storm had ended.

Fortunately, no damage to the car…..just shortened Jeff’s life by a couple of days. Beyond that, the rest of the evening was uneventful and the following day was a perfect day to make the trek to Deadwood, SD.

Our first stop for the day was at the perpetually in progress memorial for Chief Crazy Horse. This thing is huge and only partially completed. In fact, they are kind of just getting started with this thing. It’s hard to say how big this things really is except to note that all of Mount Rushmore would fit up where Crazy Horse’s face is. They are saying this thing will not be complete for at least another 30 years.

Here is what the memorial is going to look like when it is done.

Along the way through the grassland areas where we also saw lots of Buffalo, these cool little Prarie Dog dudes kept popping up. Rule #1: Don’t feed the Prarie Dogs – it will set you back about $1000 in fines if they caught you. Apparently people food is no good for them.

USA Road trip Kodak picture location numero uno:

After hitting the major monuments and making the drive down the Iron Mountain Road through the mountains, we circled back and headed north again up to Deadwood, SD. This town, originally a gold mining town where Wild Bill Hickock lived (and was killed with his Ace’s & Eight’s dead mans hand of poker), is now a little gambling oasis in the mountains. It kind of reminded us of the older area of Lake Tahoe only without the lake.

Tomorrow we head form Deadwood over to Devil’s Tower and on to Cody, WY to setup for the next day through Yellowstone, Grand Teton and in to Jackson, WY.