170627
Day 1 Nampa ID to West Yellowstone MT
395 miles.
Hail. Oh hell yes. Hail. Big, fat, paid too much for it at Whole Food pea sized hail. That serious, hurts like a M*&%#^[%$&er hail. Yes, we had stopped and put on the rain gear. Yes, I had the windshield all the way up. Yes, this idiot in a Toyota Corolla actually pulled over and stopped on the highway because he was scared—and YES, he stopped on the railroad crossing. ON THE TRACKS. It was special kind of stupid. AND there are no overpasses on US20 heading east from Rexburg; there is nowhere to hide just miles and miles and miles of stinging and welt generating hail. We stopped in Rexburg to put on the gear got back on 20 East and it started raining and went downhill from there. But I'm way ahead of myself.
We rolled out of Nampa at 8am. Things were great, the temperature was about 60 degrees and steadily rose throughout the morning to 78. Our plan was to get on I-84 and beat feet east, with an 80mph speed limit running 85 all the way to Idaho Falls made sense from a strategy standpoint. Fortunately I am not know as a strategist and I decided to bail out at Mountain Home and get on US 20 East, where we would spend the day. Had a lovely drive and was able to keep my speed in the 70 to 80 range because of wide open turns and some long straightaways around Fairfield. I did find Picabo Idaho a real pleasure. We rolled in to gas up and Julie went in to find some cable ties. They didn't have any at the General Store/Service Station so the proprietor actually phoned the Ace Hardware across the street to check to make sure they did. Both shops were clean and tight, very sanitary and I kinda want to move there now. We continued through Shelly and on to Craters of the Moon which doesn't really look like the moon I saw Neil Armstrong land on but…so it goes.
Craters of the Moon is a strange land that sometimes looks like it's a rubble field and others appear like the earth burped under a lava flow and the bubble almost burst but only created a cracked dome. The lava comes in different colors as well as textures. Black in the dominant color but there is reds and an odd brownish hue mixed in. If the “Naked & Afraid†producers really wanted to kill someone they would drop them out in that lava field. What made Craters? It is part of the path that a superhot spot under the earth has taken over the last 16 million years as it has moved from the Idaho/Oregon border to its current location under Yellowstone National Park. Who knew super-volcanos moved around? Not me. Later I did get to see a coyote running across the highway into the Idaho National Laboratory. They move around. I believe Jules wanted me to run it over but I deferred. I did get a kick out of Arco which sits below large rock faces and every high school class since somewhere in the fifties has inked their year in 10 foot tall numbers.
After Arco came Atomic City and all kinds of “Restricted Area†signs on gates and fences. There is an atomic museum out there somewhere but since we had hung out at the Craters of the Moon visitors center learning about ambulatory super-volcanoes we motored on by. In all frankness I really enjoyed US20 crossing Idaho. Beats the heck out of the interstate. It was cooler by temperature and sights, I was able to run fast and keep a good pace. The transition from Craters of the Moon and its desolate blacken landscape to a running grassland and then into the lodge-pole pine forests of the Targhee National Forest was interesting and entertaining. We did get hailed on. It was unpleasant but we've talked about that; thing is as we bore down on West Yellowstone the sky when vivid blue with the occasional classic fluffy white cloud welcoming us to Montana and the edge of Yellowstone National Park.
This wouldn't be a real Capt Crash report without the obligatory food report. Had a small signature pizza delivered from The Gusher Pizza and Sandwich. Really, really good stuff, I was trying to pinpoint what I really like about it and I realized the cheese was generously applied but somehow different. Turns out it was a mozzarella, fontina and asiago mix which played nicely with the house marinara sauce. I will sleep well tonight and breakfast is waiting in the fridge. Tomorrow may make a lap around Yellowstone as we work our way east to Hill City SD. Watched “Dinosaur 13†(story of Sue, the largest, most complete T-Rex ever found and the court fight that ensued) and felt we'd give the town a shot of tourism that the feds had stolen from them.
Just to put a capper on the day around 7pm the management of the motel stopped by to hand out bottles of water. Turns out that due to damage from heavy winds the town's water supply cut in half and they asked us to use as little water as possible.
Day 1 Nampa ID to West Yellowstone MT
395 miles.
Hail. Oh hell yes. Hail. Big, fat, paid too much for it at Whole Food pea sized hail. That serious, hurts like a M*&%#^[%$&er hail. Yes, we had stopped and put on the rain gear. Yes, I had the windshield all the way up. Yes, this idiot in a Toyota Corolla actually pulled over and stopped on the highway because he was scared—and YES, he stopped on the railroad crossing. ON THE TRACKS. It was special kind of stupid. AND there are no overpasses on US20 heading east from Rexburg; there is nowhere to hide just miles and miles and miles of stinging and welt generating hail. We stopped in Rexburg to put on the gear got back on 20 East and it started raining and went downhill from there. But I'm way ahead of myself.
We rolled out of Nampa at 8am. Things were great, the temperature was about 60 degrees and steadily rose throughout the morning to 78. Our plan was to get on I-84 and beat feet east, with an 80mph speed limit running 85 all the way to Idaho Falls made sense from a strategy standpoint. Fortunately I am not know as a strategist and I decided to bail out at Mountain Home and get on US 20 East, where we would spend the day. Had a lovely drive and was able to keep my speed in the 70 to 80 range because of wide open turns and some long straightaways around Fairfield. I did find Picabo Idaho a real pleasure. We rolled in to gas up and Julie went in to find some cable ties. They didn't have any at the General Store/Service Station so the proprietor actually phoned the Ace Hardware across the street to check to make sure they did. Both shops were clean and tight, very sanitary and I kinda want to move there now. We continued through Shelly and on to Craters of the Moon which doesn't really look like the moon I saw Neil Armstrong land on but…so it goes.
Craters of the Moon is a strange land that sometimes looks like it's a rubble field and others appear like the earth burped under a lava flow and the bubble almost burst but only created a cracked dome. The lava comes in different colors as well as textures. Black in the dominant color but there is reds and an odd brownish hue mixed in. If the “Naked & Afraid†producers really wanted to kill someone they would drop them out in that lava field. What made Craters? It is part of the path that a superhot spot under the earth has taken over the last 16 million years as it has moved from the Idaho/Oregon border to its current location under Yellowstone National Park. Who knew super-volcanos moved around? Not me. Later I did get to see a coyote running across the highway into the Idaho National Laboratory. They move around. I believe Jules wanted me to run it over but I deferred. I did get a kick out of Arco which sits below large rock faces and every high school class since somewhere in the fifties has inked their year in 10 foot tall numbers.
After Arco came Atomic City and all kinds of “Restricted Area†signs on gates and fences. There is an atomic museum out there somewhere but since we had hung out at the Craters of the Moon visitors center learning about ambulatory super-volcanoes we motored on by. In all frankness I really enjoyed US20 crossing Idaho. Beats the heck out of the interstate. It was cooler by temperature and sights, I was able to run fast and keep a good pace. The transition from Craters of the Moon and its desolate blacken landscape to a running grassland and then into the lodge-pole pine forests of the Targhee National Forest was interesting and entertaining. We did get hailed on. It was unpleasant but we've talked about that; thing is as we bore down on West Yellowstone the sky when vivid blue with the occasional classic fluffy white cloud welcoming us to Montana and the edge of Yellowstone National Park.
This wouldn't be a real Capt Crash report without the obligatory food report. Had a small signature pizza delivered from The Gusher Pizza and Sandwich. Really, really good stuff, I was trying to pinpoint what I really like about it and I realized the cheese was generously applied but somehow different. Turns out it was a mozzarella, fontina and asiago mix which played nicely with the house marinara sauce. I will sleep well tonight and breakfast is waiting in the fridge. Tomorrow may make a lap around Yellowstone as we work our way east to Hill City SD. Watched “Dinosaur 13†(story of Sue, the largest, most complete T-Rex ever found and the court fight that ensued) and felt we'd give the town a shot of tourism that the feds had stolen from them.
Just to put a capper on the day around 7pm the management of the motel stopped by to hand out bottles of water. Turns out that due to damage from heavy winds the town's water supply cut in half and they asked us to use as little water as possible.
