Two Days to Boise

Our next major stop is to visit friends in Boise, and that's a two day haul from the Grand Tetons. We have a tour stop planned at Craters of the Moon National Monument, which is the next page, about halfway between. It was difficult to find an RV park near Craters, since there isn't anything near Craters, and the closest thing we found was in Arco, about 20 miles east of the Park. The drive to Arco was mostly uneventful. We drove Hwy 22 out of Jackson over mountain pass that had a 10% grade to it, this meant a top speed at times of 20 to 25 mph. It was surprising to us how quickly the west side of the Tetons transformed into Idaho farmland. After Idaho Falls the farmland quickly transformed into wasteland. The volcanic history became apparent at the ground surface and the value of the land for farming quickly went to zero. Nonetheless, resourceful people found a use for the land and created INEEL, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab. Miles from anywhere, this open space became the home to the nation's first nuclear power plant. We were driving through the area around 4:30pm in the opposite direction to the heavy traffic that was flowing from the labs as people headed home to Idaho Falls, presumably named so because if the plant fails, well, Idaho falls.

We finally arrived at Arco after only 200 miles and almost 5 hours - not one of our faster days. We stayed at the Landing Pad RV Park, run by a retired Army Colonel who kept the military theme throughout the park. He did a great job, though, there was plenty of shade in this desert junction, and the latrines were spic and span. Across the street were the local cliffs which were tagged with every year number from at least '36 on. We assumed, though didn't confirm, that these were from each of the graduating high school classes. Arco is the hub of local education.

Kevin and I played a bit of horseshoes, and Eric, Kev and I had a good game of catch. It ended up being a very relaxing evening hanging out there. As the sun began to set we got a beautiful display of "God Rays" in the clouds, and about a dozen Nighthawks came out to catch bugs. I hadn't seen Nighthawks before, they look like very large swallows with their swept back wings and forked tails, and they maneuver like bats as the swoop around for insects. They would pass four or five feet over our heads and you couldn't hear a sound from them - it was really beautiful.


We've begun the final stretch now and feel like we can see Atherton on the western horizon - the light beams all seem to be pointing home. Though we're looking forward to seeing friends and family along the way, and still have rocket launches at Black Rock desert, we are sated from our experiences so far.