While I was writing my last post, after the farmers’ market Saturday morning, Donna went for a walk. When she came back she told me she walked all way back to the downtown area and it was getting busy – many more people out and about than we saw earlier.

We decided against going back downtown for wine tasting where most places required reservations and opted to head east to the Airport Wine District. This is an interesting area. During World War II, the Army Air Corps built a training facility next to the existing Walla Walla Regional Airport. They put in a new runway and constructed over 300 buildings for administative offices, barracks, mess halls and storage. The facility covered over 2,100 acres. B-17 Flying Fortress crews trained there.

After the war, the new Air Force declared the base surplus and turned it over to the city of Walla Walla in 1947. In 1989, the Port of Walla Walla took over operations. The airport is mostly used for General Aviation although there is one commercial airline in operation.

The old army buildings were soon home to small manufacturing businesses and eventually 14 wineries established operations there. The wineries produce their wine onsite from grapes sourced from Walla Walla and Columbia Valley appelations.

We visited the CAVU winery there. CAVU doesn’t require reservations – many of the others do.The winery name CAVU comes from an aviation term – ceiling and visibility unlimited (CAVU) – ideal flying conditions. Their specialty is wines based on the barbera grape although they also offer a very nice sauvignon blanc, tempranillo, malbec and a Bordeaux right bank style red blend. We tasted seven wines and ending buying two bottles of Barbera Rose, two bottles of 2019 Barbera and two bottles of 2019 Rule Breaker II. The Rule Breaker is a blend of barbera, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot grapes. The wine maker calls it Rule Breaker because his usual rule is not to blend barbera grapes with other varieties.

The Airport District also houses a couple of breweries with pubs and outdoor beer gardens and a few eateries. We stopped at Burwood Brewing Company and tried a beer in their outdoor area. They had very good beer!

The we went to Quirk Brewing for a second cold one and enjoyed their beer as well. Both breweries had a food truck on their premises. If you’re in the area, I recommend taking the short drive to the Airport District and checking it out.

Sunday morning it was time to hit the road. We wanted to head down to Twin Falls, Idaho, but to get there we’d need a stop along the way. We opted to boondock and Donna found a few options. We ended up boondocking in a small gravel turnout near Huntington, Oregon, south of Baker City. To get there, we traveled on I-84 first through more wheat growing country, then made the climb into the Blue Mountains up Emigrant Hill to Deadman Pass. The road has several switchbacks and is a 6% grade. We saw a few trucks, one RV and a couple of cars on the road shoulder with overheated engines. I-84 in Oregon tops out at Blue Mountain summit 4,193 feet above sea level.

The boondocking spot was fairly quiet and the overnight stay was uneventful. Trains came by, but they were on the other side of the river, far enough away not to be bothersome and they didn’t have to cross a road and blow their horns.

Monday morning we were back on the road southbound on I-84. It was just over 200 miles to Twin Falls but the slog through Caldwell, Nampa and Boise slowed us down. The traffic was heavy there and, as usual, all of the city folk were in hurry, driving like idiots and causing traffic snarls.

Our plan was to stop at Rock Creek County RV Park in Twin Falls. They don’t take reservations – it’s all first-come, first-served. We thought arriving early afternoon on a Monday, we would find an open site. We thought wrong. The place was full. Tthe camp host told us the Twin Falls County Fair was only a week away and every place was full.

Last year, we stayed at the Elk’s Lodge in Rupert. It was only 40 miles away, so we headed there. We found the five RV sites with water and electricity were all open – no one was staying at the Elk’s Lodge. I paid for two nights at $20/night and we set up.

The Elk’s have saved the day again – it wasn’t the first time we had to go to plan “B” and the Elk’s never let us down.

Adjoining the Elk’s Lodge is the Rupert Country Club which features a tree-lined 18-hole golf course. The land is all owned by the Elk’s but the country club leases the acreage for the golf course and operates it.

Yesterday, a truck with a camper pulling a long (20 feet or more) enclosed trailer came in next to us. The guys rolled a golf cart out of the trailer along with their clubs and headed out to the golf course. They were out all day.

Their trailer hitch is interesting. Due to the length of the camper, the hitch is cantilevered three feet or more from the rear of the truck. I don’t know how much tongue weight he has, but that’s a lot of leverage on the hitch receiver!

Later, when the guys came back from golfing, they pulled some equipment out of the trailer. I was curious as I didn’t recognize it.

I had to ask about it. It turns out they have state-of-the-art machinery called DryJect which is used to aerate and condition turf. Normally, turf is aerated by pulling cylindrical plugs out of the soil. This loosens the soil and allows oxygen to penetrate, improving the health of the turf. Sometimes soil amendments are added to the holes created.

On a golf green, this means a clean-up is required. The cylindrical plugs of soil lay on the surface and look similar to goose droppings. No one wants that on the green. The DryJect machines work by injecting a high-pressure jet of water mixed with sand or other soil amendments, fracturing the soil and creating the aeration pocket. The pocket is simultaneously filled with the sand or other soil additive, leaving a smooth surface with no clean-up required. These guys travel around and treat golf course greens – golfing their way around the country while earning a living. Sweet!

I originally paid for two nights here, but after visiting the lodge for a cold one, I decided we needed another night. Lodge members told me about the prime rib dinner on Wednesday night and convinced me it wasn’t something we should miss. They have a special rotisserie that allows them to roast up to eight prime rib roasts at a time. They dry rub the meat the day before. The dinner includes salad, choice of potato and fresh corn on the cob for $25/plate. Beer is $3/pint. I signed us up.

The weather here in Rupert has been pleasant. We’ve had daily highs in the mid 80s and overnight lows around 50 degrees. This morning, it was 53 degrees outside and 63 degrees in the coach – just right for sleeping with a window open and blankets on the bed.

Tomorrow we’ll head out of here and travel through Utah on the west side – avoiding the gauntlet on I-15 that extends from Tremonton through Salt Lake City to Provo. I detest that drive. Instead, we’ll head in a westerly direction to West Wendover, NV and spend the night near the Bonneville Salt Flats. Our next stop will be Panguitch, Utah where we expect some very fine weather.