Idaho or bust!

Left Rock Springs at 9:39 am

This morning was beautiful at the Sweetwater Fairgrounds.  The sun was shining and the winds had died down, so we decided to cook breakfast out on the camp stove.

My cowboy cooking breakfast

This was a relatively short day for us.  We were headed to Pocatello, Idaho to spend some time with family, and to pick up cousin Alli who will be joining us for the next two weeks.  Alli and Joanie are the same age, so we thought it would be fun if Alli could join us for part of the Alaska adventure.

In addition to the excitement of seeing family, it will be nice to stay in one place for more than one night!  We have been pushing hard to get here since leaving Charlotte, and after all the other travel, I am pretty worn out. 

We had two MUST stops today.....Little America, WY and Soda Springs, ID.

Little America is what Wall Drug is to South Dakota and South of the Border is to South Carolina.  You see the signs hundreds of miles before you actually get there.  We have special memories of Little America, as this is where we learned that we had shredded a tire on our Great Southwest Adventure five years earlier.  We were hoping not to have a repeat performance.  Another thing that is sort of a family tradition is to take a photo of family members on the Sinclair Oil dinosaur.  I am not sure why this is a tradition, but it is.  So, Joanie and Frankie obliged, and here you are....

Joanie and Frankie in Little America, Wyoming

Soda Springs is the other obligatory stop.  The geyser at Soda Springs is on a timer, so you can plan your day around seeing it.  It goes off every hour on the hour.  For us, it was a good time to have a picnic lunch and stretch our legs.

Soda Springs is also on the Oregon Trail.  

In the past, we have stopped at the Oregon Trail museum in  town, but we decided to skip it this trip.  We were too excited to get to Pocatello!

When we arrived in Pocatello, Heather and Joe were still at work.  Alli was there to greet us, along with Diana, Bob and Jim.  So wonderful to see our family that we have not seen in a couple of years.

Diana prepared a wonderful summer meal with two of my favourite food items.....barbeque ribs and corn on the cob!

Joanie and Alli shucking the corn

Life is good!


Arrived Pocatello at 3:30pm
Mileage = 266.1

America the Beautiful

Today started with a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts....for Joanie, of course!  I felt obligated to help eat a portion of the 1/2 dozen....fortunately there happened to be sour cream doughnuts in the box!

After that All-American meal, we headed to the Golden Spike Tower and Bailey Yard....the largest rail car sorting yard in the United States...if not the world.

Joanie in front of a Union Pacific rail car

Just part of Bailey Yard

The Golden Spike

Fascinating to watch all the activity....especially the hump yards where the rail cars are sorted and moved to tracks for their outbound destinations.  There was a docent at the top of the tower who was happy to answer any and all questions.  I am glad we stopped.....it was very interesting.
It is nice when we have one interesting stop on these long days of driving.

We headed out of town, caught I-80, and continued our journey west toward Wyoming.
While Nebraska is a fairly flat state, the terrain starts to change as one approaches the Wyoming border.  The high desert is a lot scrubber and rocky, with views of the snow capped mountains on the horizon.  We also saw a change in the wildlife.....fewer deer and more prairie dogs and antelope.

I drove the first half of the day, which I realized was a good thing when the winds picked up once we hit Laramie, Wyoming.  It is a little scary pulling a trailer when the wind is gusting.  And in Wyoming, those conditions are pretty typical.  Rick handled it like a champ, and we arrived safely at our destination.  It was so windy, we had to really hold on to the door of the Airstream when we opened and closed it, for fear that it might get torn off its hinges.  It was a lot cooler in Rock Springs too.....84 degrees, probably 75 if you factor in wind chill....a pleasant change from the heat we had experienced since leaving North Carolina.

The campground was pretty desolate, as it is used mainly for the county fair in August.  The spaces that they rent out to campers are in the livestock holding area.  Taking this into consideration, one might think that this area could be pretty disgusting, but it really was not bad.  Although the area is all gravel and treeless, it had electricity, water and sewer.  That's all it takes to make this girl happy!  Frankie enjoyed this campground too!  He loved being free of his car seat in the truck and running free in the little grass that existed in front of the main entrance to the fairgrounds.

Looking forward to seeing family tomorrow in Pocatello, Idaho.

Left Holiday RV Park at 9:15am
Arrived Sweetwater Fairgrounds at 6:00pm
Mileage = 486.9 miles

Missouri and Nebraska are really wide

We spent today in the car.  For what seemed like a long time.  We drove from Danville, MO to North Platte, NE.  Nothing really exciting happened...although I did think we had a flat tire when we were driving on NE-2 upon entering Nebraska.  Turns out, the road could use repaving.

Left Lazy Day Czmpground at 9:30am
Arrived Holiday RV Park near North Platte, NE AT 8:15pm
Mileage = 581.9 miles

Saint Louis bound.....

We were hoping to drive about 400 miles today.....with The Lazy Day Campground as our destination for the evening.

The highlight of the day was our midday stop at Apple Valley Hillbilly Garden and Toyland near Paducah, KY.  How can you pass up a place with a name like that?  I discovered it on an app called Roadtrippers, and then looked it up again on Tripadvisor.  Both indicated that this was a worthwhile stop.

Where to begin on describing this place?  The owner greeted us as we walked up, and he gave us a tour of the place.  His dream is to build a structure to show all the toys he has collected over the past 30 years.  In the meantime, he has created a garden out of discarded objects (aka junk).....much to his neighbors' chagrin!

Western ghost town.....I think

This place has been many things...including a gas station

My favourite....the hillbilly shower 

Look at all these toys!

From the get go, Joanie was not impressed.  It was hot, humid, and in her opinion boring.  It was definitely Americana with a capital A.  The garden is an oasis of bad puns.....one after the other.  There was a pot garden...made out of overturned flowerpots.  There was a gator pit made out of Gatorade containers strewn on the ground.  There was a garden of lost soles....filled with soleless shoes.  And the bad puns went on and on and on.  The tour lasted an hour, but that was only because we told the owner that we could not stay much longer as we still had four hours of driving ahead of us.  Otherwise, he would have been more than happy to spend the afternoon sharing more bad puns with us.

I really hope this guy can make his Toyland a reality.  It appears that he has very little money.....but a big vision of what it could be.  I admire hm for pursuing his dream.

We continued on to out campground in Missouri.  Uneventful drive, and we were pleased to see that this campground was well-maintained and had clean bathrooms.  We all took showers!


Left Seven Points Campground at 9:15am
Arrived Lazy Day Campground at 7:24pm
Mileage = 430 miles

30 hours to Pocatello

We are certifiable!  After being back in the U.S. for 1 week, 3 days, 17 hours and 23 seconds, we are on the highway to Alaska!

The last ten days have been spent:

• visiting family in Annapolis

• driving from Annapolis back to the Charlotte area

• playing some Bridge with our dear friends Michael & Nancy, 
who also put us up at their house for our first night back in town

• picking up Frankie after spending a year with my fabulous friends Susan & Luke

• cleaning and moving furniture back into our lake house (where we stayed for the past week)

• catching up with Susan before and after she took Joanie to the Selena Gomez concert

• getting the Joanie Mac (our beloved Airstream) serviced and ready for the trip

• enjoying Will & Jamie's visit for the weekend

• driving into Charlotte four days in a row for appointments, lunch, dinner & ice cream dates with friends whom we have not seen in a year

We are now on the road, headed west.  Spending tonight at Seven Points Campground, just outside of Nashville.  Rick has done all the driving....although I have offered!  Hmmm....I may get to play a lot of Spider Solitaire this trip!

Mileage today = 382.8 miles

Left Sherrills Ford at 1:00pm

Arrived Seven Points at 8:58pm