Departure is torture....are we having fun yet?

Escaping  our home in the PNW is pretty daunting. Five (5) pages of lists of things to pack, tasks to complete – both for the house/yard and for our house on wheels. Food to buy, pack and store; activity accessories (helmets, paddles, bikes, etc.) and clothes. Did we forget anything? You bet we did...well, I did. By DAY 3 of decisions, packing, storing, (never mind the things we have to keep within reach until the very last minute, ie hair dryer, toothpaste, "those" shoes...it's endless.), "do I really have enough socks/jeans/shoes?, my Barre 3 equipment/DVD's, how much freezer space is there? ,- I can not get out of the house fast enough. Well, it does feel that crazy...that  'up-track trek' on  the roller-coaster that never gets to the top kind of crazy.

This year THE cat, Lucy, decided she wasn’t participating and took to hiding. Not so different from previous years, however, we spent a good 30 minutes looking for her in her favorite hidey-hole places – behind the sofa and under the bed…only to be discovered crouched behind Mike’s computer desk…smart girl.  At least I didn't need the broom (which never worked anyway-she just let me poke her with it) and she finally came out to wait the inevitable...and just like the spoilt cat she is - mewed all the way into the house-on-wheels.  Get in line after me.

And we are out of here! (yes, we closed the slides first)

[Government shutdown, we aren't changing our plans - so please get yourselves together and get our campgrounds open...Corps of Engineers, National Forests and National Parks - we plan on using them along the way.]

In years past we have been, what we lovingly call, type A, goal directed in our departures. Where are we going and how fast can we get from here to there...thankfully, sanity was restored,  (Call it aging if you MUST) and it was determined that slower, gentler and easy was going to be our journey from Oregon to Louisiana.  Given our previous departure road was approximately the same this year I haven't taken nearly the photos as in years past...I-84 still looks the same, the leaves are changing colors right on schedule and so I picked up a magazine that I got back in July and began reading. I stopped when we reached Boardman...the Boardman Marina and Park is lovely. 1) on arrival; 2) parked; 3) out our back window at sunset. The Columbia River never looked better than it did on our first night out. (Oregon is pretty in the Fall.)

gorgeous day on the Columbia River

and it's sunset out our back window

Day 2 we are in search of a 'regulator'...for the propane tank. Apparently we have a leak in the 2nd tank.  Found one in Pendleton that replaced this bad boy. We continued to drive East and decided we needed a "rest" break starting Day 3, so only drove to Huntington, OR....so far, we are passing the slow/easy/gentle test on this adventure East. Out two days and still 30 miles from the Idaho border...<cough>"exhausted"<cough>.

  There isn't much in Huntington, OR...a couple of taverns and a "general store"...no gas station so Mike had to drive into Ontario (almost Idaho) to get gas. However, the Farewell Bend State Park, where we planned to stay for the night is lovely. It closed on the 15th...for the season. And was only $17/night, FHU too. Less than a dozen RV's...it was nice. It was quiet.

The Snake River is off in the distance in the shot below.  

 

This is a huge state park...so I'm guessing very busy during the  summer...Oregon Trail et al.

Next stop: Our "rest-days" in Glenn's Ferry ID, again Three Island Crossing State Park. The lower section is closed for the winter and the upper section closes at the end of this month. Another beautiful state park, which we visited last year. Has a museum next door and just down the street is the  Carmela Vineyard/Restaurant/RV Park...which we haven't visited and the RV park was virtually empty, but that may have more to do with it being October and past the grape picking/wine-making season, but it is beautiful and looks down on the Snake River. The restaurant must have fabulous views.

Today we drove the 50 mile into Twin Falls; primarily to visit the Shoshone Falls Park and were rewarded by noticing a group of base jumpers on the Perrine Bridge that spans the Snake as we drove across. Not ones to miss a photo op, we pulled into the Visitors Center (closed for the season) to take photos...

 Perrine Bridge from the Visitor Center (above)

Statue of Perrine himself...(and yes I have a photo holding hands with him) he was the banker who built the canals downstream.

 And there he goes....

 

 

 



One of a dozen base jumpers...(according to the sign the fall is only about 490') we witnessed jumping...so they pull their 'shutes  as they lean-in-to the fall. We are standing on a viewpoint that is about 50' under the bridge under-belly.

 

And no - the place was closed or I would have considered taking the class. Can't beat the 'rush' from a good fall out of the sky!

 

The circle is the landing target, which we only saw one jumper 'stick'!(below)

 

It's quite a ways down, and you can climb back up, hike back up or take a boat up river to a parking lot where your "people" can meet you and drive you back up, to do this all over again. No permit required, and the accents I heard were definitely not just Americans enjoying this sport.

 

Then we were off to Shoshone Falls, a mere 5 miles from town. The road down to the parking is narrow and winding...while we did meet a truck pulling a small trailer it was not truly wide enough and we had to pull WAY over to allow him to pass.

 

 Power plants and the dam....

The Snake River in all it's splendor...

 

The Sun was out most the day, but it was cold...what we in the PNW like to call "crisp". The thermometer hovered in the low 50's most of the day...but the views made it doable. 

The "fun" has definitely begun.

~Ciao

 

Author's note: As this goes to "press", it is with profound relief that I can report that the US Congress has agreed to put the US government back to work. As an American traveling this country I want to apologize to our international visitors who may have been inconvenienced by the temporary insanity that overtook our <cough>"leadership"<cough>. I do hope you will be able to visit our National Parks, for they are spectacular.