April 28th - 30th, 2024 Travel to Washington (State, not DC)

April 28th, 2024

We said our "see you laters" plus lots of hugs to Sue and headed north.  We hope to see her in a few months.

It was another beautiful day.

Over the Snake River:

Into Oregon:

We traveled this route in September 2022.  The views were still breathtaking (do I say that too much?):

We are on the interstate here - lots of hills and valleys:

And rivers too:

I am playing with my camera settings which is why you see the different overall color.

Homes in the middle of nowhere:

Abandoned homes - what is their story?:

Lone tree???:

The mountains - dramatic:

Another OMNI - can you tell I was excited to see this?:

The view - can you imagine living here:

Oh my!:

Oh-Oh... no we were ok (I checked before we traveled this way):

This is part of the Oregon Trail and yes, they did come over these mountains.  This area is on my bucket list - there are still ruts in the road from those early travelers:

They mean business!  It is a LONG downhill.  The trucks need to take lots of precautions.   I cannot imagine how our early pioneers crossed this way.

Check this out - God bless our truckers:

Here we go - Down!:

We are down!:

Kudos to my Andy - I held my breath!:

Farms on the valley floor:

OMGOSH!  What a treat!  Another OMNI!:

Large Granary - no longer used:

 

Over the Columbia River:

Past the McNary Dam:

Into Washington State:

We are camped at the Plymouth Park Campground right below this bridge.  It is an ACOE campground and we stayed here in September 2022.  

We were hoping to have a campfire but between the wind and the rain, we just set up and settled in. 

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 228 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Idaho: US-95

Oregon: US-95; I-84; I-82

Washington: I-82; WA-14; Plymouth Road

April 29th, 2024

Today was a hang out day and that is just what we did.  The weather was rainy, windy, chilly so it was a good day to do just that.  We did do a few things around the motorhome so it wasn't a total loss - LOL!

April 30th, 2024

We had a number of errands to do today so that is what we did - Recycle, UPS Store, Visitor Center and Groceries.  We also checked out where we are heading tomorrow.

When I made the reservations for this park, I never realized that we were here before.  Going back thru my pictures, I did not find any so I just had to take a few today.

I try to take pictures of every park but in the past few years I have slacked.  Need to get on the band wagon again!

We did come here to just hang out.  In 2022, we did do some exploring in this area and it is covered here:

https://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2022/10/september-26-27-2022-plymouth-mcnary.html

This is a great park to just hang out OR use it as a base.  Within 50 miles - N, S, E, W - there is a lot to see and do.  Mostly, we have used it as a place to hang out but who knows in the future.

We have a site that has water and electric.  The dump station and the sewer on some of the FHU is out of commission.  We talked to the ranger this morning and he said they are not sure where it is blocked.  They have had a 200 foot line thru but did not help.  (Hopefully someone did not dump something they should not have dumped.  SAD but we have seen this in some places.  WTH!)

So tomorrow we have a short trip north and a cool tour scheduled for Thursday.

Stay tuned and enjoy today.

April 26th, 2024 - Travel to Parma, Idaho

We woke to rain, rain and more rain.  What a muddy mess.. But we got packed up, hooked up and away we went north. (My Andy took the brunt of getting wet.  Thank you Andy.)

The rivers were running high:

The clouds were low:

But the further north we went, the clouds and rain were breaking up:

To the west of this area is the location of the McDermitt Caldera - an ancient super volcano where the geologists discovered the largest deposit of lithium in the world.

There are links here:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a45086253/worlds-largest-lithium-deposit-found-in-nevada/

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-evidence-mcdermitt-caldera-largest-lithium.html

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/30/23849619/lithium-ev-battery-thacker-pass-mine-mcdermitt-caldera

When I saw the signs and all the activity happening in Winnemucca, I just had to do the research.  Right now construction has started on some of the mine buildings and they currently bus people from Winnemucca to work there.  The main company and well as some of the communities are starting to put in the infrastructure (housing, roads, schools, water supply, etc.) to prepare for the influx of people.

If you are really interested on what is happening, there is a lot of information out there and I plan to follow along.

(On a side note:  In 2007, we came thru the sleepy town of Williston, North Dakota.  A few years later when we came thru, we were shocked at the changes.  This was in the middle of the oil boom there.   There are so many pros and cons to this that I will not go there on this blog.)

How about this - the Say When Café!  LOL!

Into Oregon:

The scenery is just breathtaking:

Free Range Cattle EVERYWHERE!:

A little snow..

Rain in the distance:

Reminded me of the little girl with the red coat in Schindlers List:

Another OMNI!  Although I think this one has been decommissioned:

These are also called VORTEC. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHF_omnidirectional_range

The scenery continues:

Down into the valley:

Up the other side:

To the plateau:

Check out those mountains:

Into Idaho:

Where we went up:

Then down into the valley below:

Farming:

Many horses (and cattle too):

HOPS Farms:

Canals for the farms:

And many beautiful rivers:

We landed in Parma, Idaho at Old Fort Boise RV Park - a cute little 9-space RV park.   Our friend, Sue, lives about 90 miles from here in the summer and we were so so glad she could come down and spend the weekend with us.

Here is our space and Sue is behind us:

We spent the rest of that day/night just getting caught up, doing our happy hour and laughing away.  We were outside for a while - sun was nice but then it did get windy. 

What a great day!

Tomorrow we will do some exploring so stay tuned.

A note on today's journey - US-95 from Winnemucca to Parma is one of the more beautiful drives in this country.  If you have a chance to do it, go for it.  There are many places to camp and hotel/motels in the little towns.  Breathtaking Views!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 241 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Nevada: NV-289; BL-80; US-95

Oregon: US-95

Idaho: US-95