The next morning, I wandered around the RV park and took some more pictures around the area. This park was pretty remote, miles from a small town, on a spur road miles from the freeway. I talked to the owner and found out his family had owned the park for decades. Both his parents were gone now and they left the park to him. He’d moved back to take care of them. He was cleaning and fixing it up after years of neglect. It is looking pretty good now and if I didn’t have a destination in mind I might have stayed a couple weeks…but now that I think of it, it was too cold at the time, there was no WiFi, and it was miles from anywhere, so no, I wouldn’t have stayed, even if I had nowhere to go. One peculiar thing about this lonely park was that it was right next door to another lonely RV park! About the same size, had the same river access and all. Strange that they ended up so close together. Probably the 2nd park came in and took advantage of the services now available the first park had paid for, sewer, electric, water; so their initial investment was lower.
The Snake river in the morning.
Looking off to the South.
A view across from the campground.
Note that the day is hazy and overcast. It was coolish too, probably in the low 50’s. I only stayed long enough for some pictures and breakfast and then headed out. Backtracked to the I-84 freeway and soon I was in Idaho. After driving 2 hours the dismal weather really got to me and my normally sunny disposition drifted into mild depression. So I pulled over at a rest stop and grabbed the Woodall’s Camping Guide looking for an upcoming campground along the freeway. I found one nearby, 50 miles down the road, in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. The major attractions were the smallness of the town, and the fact that there were 3 RV parks there, including a relatively new one. Which increased the odds that at least one of them would have free WiFi. Since it was so early in the day, I would still have time to go further south if none of the campgrounds were suitable.
So, I continued on to Glenns Ferry and arrived around 1:30pm. Pretty early to stop for the night but what did I care. The first RV park I pulled into had free WiFi so I hooked up for the night. It was a rustic park, probably close to 50 years old, but pleasant enough. They had cable TV too. The following pictures include some of the antiques they had on the grounds of the RV park, and then later in town. I walked downtown and bought a few minor items for the RV, then spent some time shopping in the old grocery store they had there. For a Thursday afternoon the town was really empty. Only saw a couple cars while I was wandering downtown.
I'm parked and all snuggled in. The weather hadn't changed much from earlier in the day.
The near neighborhood. I saw something up on the hill that was picture worthy, but can't remember what it was now.
A one hundred and fifty year old pioneer wagon.
A neat old building that use to be a barn, then an auto shop. I took the picture because of the artwork on the side of the building. It also had the look of an old livery stable. It looks abandoned inside when you peer in the windows. This is right downtown. On a Thursday afternoon.
Then this Conestoga wagon was downtown in a lot. I got the sense that they have a Pioneer Days celebration here in town and these old wagons become part of the parade.
Another Conestoga.
I stayed overnight here in Glenns Ferry and since I arrived so early the first day, I had several hours of browsing & wandering time. I liked this little town and am pretty sure I’ll make a point of stopping here again. Maybe on my way back up to Alaska.
The next morning as I was getting ready to leave, I got distracted by something, can’t remember exactly what, but it ended up I climbed into the RV thinking I’d disconnected everything. Well, I hadn’t. I’d forgotten to disconnect the cable TV cable & the power cord from the parks services. As I pulled away, I heard some funny noises and a few yards beyond that pulled to a stop. I could see my thick electrical cord lying on the ground, still connected to the parks service outlet. When I opened the power compartment, I found that the power cable had pulled the junction box off the plywood compartment wall, cracked the wall badly, then pulled out of the connectors and the junction box. The TV cable had pulled out of it’s connector but had not damaged anything else. Embarrassed, I inspected the parks service connectors with the owners and since everything was OK on their end, I collected my damaged cords and off I went. Heading for Vernal, Utah and the Dinosaur National Monument.
The following series of pictures kind of show how the weather was over the entire day.
The mornings weather starts out dismal and dreary. No rain, though.
A couple hours later I'm nearing Morgan, Utah and there is some blue in the sky.
Then I headed into the hills (mountains?) East of Salt Lake City.
After crossing the foothills, still enjoying an overcast cloud cover, and the blue is gone.
Then, just an hour later, it's all clear!
Interesting topography.
Ancient ocean floor I suppose, or I was shooting the moon, who knows?
Fading light in the late afternoon, in the Utah desert.
Although the trip was only 7 hours from Glenns Ferry to Vernal, I arrived after dark somehow and set up in a downtown Vernal RV park. This was my destination so I’d be close to the Dinosaur National Monument for the next mornings trip. I stayed at Fossil Valley RV Park. Wasn’t a very nice park. Didn’t care for it.
Next time, I’ll take you all on a trip around the Dinosaur NM.