06-19-13

Yesterday was our last full day in Idaho Falls.

Around 8:00 we headed over to the North Highway Cafe to meet up with Jo Ann and Dave and Doris and Jim.
On the way we saw a bunch of Geese, adults and juveniles clustered near a canal. We stopped to take a picture of them

and then moved along to get some pictures of The Idaho Falls which are in the middle of town.

One thing that impressed me was that they use the power of the falls to generate electricity for the residents of the city. Talk about intelligent use of a resource. Of course this was started in 1900 before the advent of the environmentalist movement. 
I would think that any town that has a live stream going through it could also do this but the EPA probably wouldn’t let it happen nowadays.
If you want more information on the falls click on the link below.

http://www.idahofallsidaho.gov/city/city-departments/idaho-falls-power/power-portfolio/ifp-electric-project.html 

Dave and I spent the morning taking a trailer load of branches to the dump and driving around the area. He took me to see a elk ranch. But the elk were so far away that we could just make them out.

We hung around Jo Ann and Dave’s for a while and around 3:30 Patti and I went back to the RV so we could start getting ready to leave today.
We went back to J&D’s for dinner and visited with them until around 7:30 then we said our goodbye’s and went back to the RV.

We are heading for Butte Montana today. We will spend the night there and tomorrow we will head for Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho to meet up with Shirley, Bill, Suzanne and Roy.

We had a really nice visit with JoAnn and Dave. They took us to some beautiful places and we really enjoyed our stay in Idaho Falls. You couldn’t ask for better host.

THANK YOU JO ANN AND DAVE.

06-17-13

Yesterday we took a ride with Jo Ann and Dave to the site of the Teton Dam disaster.

In 1976 the then, brand new Teton Dam collapsed and the flood waters wiped out three towns in its path.
The water dumped into the Snake River and reached as far as Idaho Falls. 
The flood waters covered thousands of acres of farmland and killed thousands of head of livestock.
Fortunately only eleven people were killed.

Here is a view of what is left of the the dam. In person, it looks like a pyramid.

Across the canyon you can see the flood gates.

 

This is the spillway.

Here is a view of the canyon. The collapse began on the left side of the dam and eventually took out both sides of the earth dam.

Looking down stream. It sure looks like some great fishing spots down there.

If you want more information on this disaster you can Google “Teton Dam collapse”

On the way to the dam site we went through the neighborhood where Dave grew up so Patti could see it.
This is the house where his parents lived when he was born.

As we drove along the highway we got some great views of the Grand Tetons'.

And the awesome Idaho skies.

On the way home we stopped at Dave’s son Lynn’s house. We didn’t get a picture of Lynn when he took us up the river in his boat so Patti took one at his house.

 

Also, I misspelled his name on the boat trip post. The Correct spelling is “Lynn”

We had a great ride yesterday.

Today we are taking the day off. Patti is going to do some laundry and I am going to putter around the RV and check some things on the jeep.
Speaking of which; when Dave and I were working on the jeep the other day we were working in the wrong place. I got to really looking at the Jeep manual we borrowed from the jeep dealer and found that the dimmer switch isn’t in the steering column. It is bolted to the column, under the dash. It will still take some major dismantling of the instrument panel so I will wait until I get home to tackle the job. I am also going to try and photograph the pertinent pages in the manual.       

 

06-15-13

A few days ago Dave took me to the Jeep dealer here in Idaho Falls to order a dimmer switch for Clifford. 
He hasn’t had headlights since we left Quartzsite.
I started to look at the problem while we were in “Q” but didn’t have a steering wheel puller so I couldn’t do anything about it. 
Dave found out that it was possible to borrow a puller from Auto Zone so we went there today after breakfast and picked one up.
Back at Dave’s, we removed the steering wheel and found out that we needed another special tool to go any deeper into the column.
Dave and I scrounged through his stash of metal, did some cutting, drilling and tapping; bought a couple of screws from Ace Hardware and after a couple of hours we had a tool that would do the job. 
We got to the next level and found that the switch was buried even deeper in the column and would mean taking apart the instrument panel and  a whole lot more just to get to the switch. It started to look like we weren’t going to get to the bottom of the problem in one day. I decided to put the steering column back together so I could drive the jeep.
I will try again when we get home where I have other vehicles to drive while I am working on Clifford.

While Dave and I were working on Clifford today, Jo Ann and Patti went shopping and went to Sam’s Club. Jo Ann also took Patti around Idaho Falls and showed her the falls.

Yesterday (06-14-13) Dave and I took a great ride on the Snake River with Dave’s son, Linn in his jet boat.

We met Jo Ann and Dave at the cafe for breakfast. From there Patti and Jo Ann took Clifford and went shopping.
Dave and I drove out to Linn’s house and hooked up his boat.

From there we headed for a boat ramp about 25 miles up the Snake River.
We launched the boat

and headed upstream.

 

The river is beautiful and goes through some wonderful country.

  

After going about 15 miles up the river, we stopped the boat and began drifting down stream.

We scanned the cliffs for Mountain Goats which have been planted in the area by Fish and Game.

 

Unfortunately we didn’t spot any goats.
Linn pulled the boat into some spots along the edge so we could do some fishing.

   
The fishing was very good.
On the Snake River you are allowed to keep two Germane brown trout. Cutthroat trout is catch and release only and there is no limit on rainbow trout or hybrids.
We caught one Brown weighing about two pounds,

one Rainbow of about the same size

and a smaller rainbow.
We caught and released a bunch of Cutthroat’s, some of them were quite large.

I also caught a two pound Chub which we cut up for bait.

We were on the river from about 10:30 to 5:30. It was a great day of boating and fishing on the Snake River.    

06-14-13

It was raining when we got up yesterday'. Around 10:00 the sun came out and it was a nice day until around 4:00, then the clouds came back and it sprinkled a few times.

Patti and I went to Walmart to get a couple of things then we drove about 4 miles south of town to a huge Army Surplus store. It was pretty cool. I bought a couple of marine style ball caps and a new belt.
They had a lot of stuff there that I didn’t recognize. I am used to the old army surplus stores with old WWII stuff.
It was fun to look around never the less.

We went to Jo Ann and Dave’s for dinner.

We are going to meet them at the North Highway Cafe this morning. 
If the weather cooperates Dave and I are going to take a ride with his son Linn up the Snake River in his jet boat. JoAnn and Patti are planning to go to Sam’s Club.

Maybe I’ll have some pictures for you tomorrow.     

06-13-13

Yesterday we met Jo Ann and Dave at the North Highway Cafe for breakfast.

Doris and Jim were also there.

While we were having breakfast, Dave suggested that the ladies go to the Fort Hall Casino. We all agreed that that was a great idea.
That way Dave and I could go for a jeep ride.

Dave took me through the neighborhood where he grew up. It was mostly farms in those days. Now there are small housing developments where the farms used to be.   
We drove past the sight of the infamous “Iona Chicken Lynching”.
To get the full story on that, you will have to ask Dave if you ever have a chance meet him.

We then drove into the hills heading for the ranch where Dave spent his summers as a youth with his grandparents living in a tent and helping with the sheep and cattle. It sounded to me like an ideal way for a boy to grow up.

On the way to the ranch we went through an area with hundreds of windmills.

It reminded me of Altamont Pass in California.
The farmers that have leased their land for the windmills get a large amount of money per year for each mill and also are getting government subsidies for not growing crops on their land. Sounds like a great deal for the farmers.

When we got to the ranch we drove by the cabin that Dave built over 50 years ago.

  

It was a great little cabin. I could live there, no problem.

From the cabin we followed an old over grown trail through the woods. There were a few trees down across the trail. Some had bypasses but one was a fairly fresh downfall and we had to pull it out of the way.

After getting by the tree we continued up the mountain.

Eventually we got to a good gravel road called Skyline Drive and followed it along the top of the ridge. From here we could see the Teton Range.

After a few miles we took a road down the east side of the mountains and ended up at the Snake River. We stopped at a small restaurant for lunch. Then followed the Snake River back to Idaho Falls.

It was a great ride through some beautiful green hills.
Unlike in California the hills stay green here all summer and don’t turn brown until the freeze comes in the fall.
Where back home the hills are brown all summer until the rains come in the fall. I think I prefer the green summer but I would not appreciate the cold snowy winters.
Oh well, nowhere is perfect.

It was a good day for the girls, all came home winners!

06-12-13

We made it to Idaho Falls.

We left Manti, Utah around 7:00 yesterday morning and drove up Highway 89 through some pretty country with green valleys

surrounded by high mountains.

There were lots of nice homes along the road as well as small farms. It was quite a pleasant drive.

  

That all changed when we got to I-15. From there it was traffic and stress.

We timed it just right to get through Salt Lake City between the morning commute and the lunch time rush. There was still some traffic but it was manageable.

I just stayed in one lane maintained my speed of 63 mph. and let everyone else fight for the other lanes. I don’t think I had to change lanes more that twice the whole time.
Eventually we got through Salt Lake

and the traffic thinned out.

 

We arrived in Idaho Falls around 4:00

and got checked into the Snake River RV Park.
After a little nap and a call to Jo Ann for directions to their house, we drove the jeep to their place and only got lost once.

Jo Ann didn’t tell Dave we were in town so he was real surprised to see us.
We sat around Jo Ann and Dave’s for a while and as it was Dave’s Birthday we went with them to a pizza place to have dinner with some of their family.

When we got back to Jo Ann and Dave’s place it was about 45 minutes until the sun went down. Since the jeep doesn’t have working headlights, we left their place and made it back to the RV with plenty of sunlight left. 

06-11-13

Yesterday we were kind of beat up after Sunday’s ride.
It was my fault because I didn’t air down the tires on the jeep and the road was pretty rocky. I should know better.

We took a ride through the neighborhoods Manti and were impressed by the very nice houses and how well the yards were kept.

I was wrong about no business district. They do have some businesses in town but they are very subtle. Most of the public buildings look like churches.

We decided to go a couple miles north of Manti to the town of Ephraim. Here the businesses are more up front and visible. We drove through the town and at the north end lo and behold there was a Walmart.
We didn’t have our list with us so we decided to come back later in the afternoon to do our Walmart shopping.

It was about noon so we stopped at a small diner called The Malt Shop. It was a 50’s style diner and was pretty cute. The food was okay.

We went back to Plan “B” and hung out until around 4:00. Then we went back to Ephraim and did our shopping.
For dinner we went to a restaurant in Manti.
I had raviolis and Patti had a chicken dish.
I liked the raviolis but Patti didn’t care for the chicken dish.

We will be leaving here around 7:00.
We are heading north and want to get through Salt Lake City between the morning commute and the lunch hour rush.

We will probably go all the way to Pocatello Idaho.