Category Archives: Spyder

Rodeo Mystery

It seems like we’ve had our share of wet weather in the second half of summer. Rain found us here in Greeley, Colorado first thing Wednesday morning. Showers continued on and off all day long. We decided to forego Wednesday’s senior rodeo and hoped we could catch the second day of the event on Thursday. I shouldn’t complain too much about the weather – I heard that US212 was closed yesterday where it enters Wyoming from Montana due to snow!

Donna used the time indoors on Wednesday to catch up on a couple of proposals she’s writing. I finished another novel – The Hit by David Baldacci. It was a thriller with a decent plot and held my interest, but sometimes these authors make mis-statements that peeve me. Early in the story, Baldacci writes about a long-range sniper shot. He claims that the bullet actually increases its kinetic energy over the distance of the shot. What? The kinetic energy of the projectile is a product of mass and velocity. The bullet doesn’t gain mass as it flies along and velocity begins to decay almost immediately due to aerodynamic drag. Kinetic energy is continually reduced over the entire flight path of the bullet. It’s a small thing, but how does a best-selling author get away with such a statement? End of rant.

On Thursday morning, we had a few high, thin clouds and the weather looked promising. Donna wanted to go for a long bike ride. I wanted to check out the rodeo. So Donna headed out on her bicycle and I rode the Spyder to Island Grove Regional Park on the north side of Greeley to the Pro Rodeo Arena. Donna met me there on her bicycle. But, there wasn’t a rodeo – in fact, the arena had bulldozers converting it to a motocross track for an event.

When I read about the National Senior Professional Rodeo Association (NSPRA) event in Greeley, I assumed it would be held at the Pro Rodeo Arena. I looked it up again on my smartphone and found sketchy directions to a rodeo arena northeast of town on the NSPRA site. In fact, I think this was the old Greeley Rodeo Arena where I rode a bull in 1976.

Donna continued her bike ride – she wanted to ride the Poudre River Trail to the town of Windsor. It’s about a 20-mile ride on a paved trail heading west from Greeley. I was on a mission to find the rodeo. After a few false turns, I finally found my way to the area where the NSPRA site said the arena was. Except I was looking at corn fields. I got my phone out again and looked up another page on the site with a map to the arena. It showed the arena in the cornfield I was looking at. Something was clearly wrong here. It’s a rural area, so I couldn’t ask anyone for directions. I rode the Spyder a few miles in every direction looking for an arena, cars or a sign – anything that might mean a rodeo was going on. No luck.

I gave up and rode about 15 miles west from the location to Windsor. I met Donna at Sol De Jalisco Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We locked up her bicycle and went inside. The food was outstanding and the service was good. I’d definitely recommend this place if you’re ever in the area and have a hankering for Mexican cuisine.

After lunch, Donna got back on her bike to make the 20-mile ride back. On my way back, I stopped at a liquor store near Greeley RV Park. I had gone there on Tuesday and asked about Blue Ice vodka. Blue Ice is a potato vodka made in Idaho and is one of my favorites for martinis. They ordered it for me and told me I could pick it up on Thursday. I was standing there holding the bottle when another customer looked at me, then looked at the bottle, then looked at me again. He said, “I get it, you’re Heisenberg, right?” If you watched the series Breaking Bad, you’ll know what he was talking about. With my shaved head and goatee, I’ve been told I look like the character Walter White aka Heisenberg. Heisenberg cooked a special crystal meth called Blue Ice.

This makes a nice martini

Donna made it home about an hour after I arrived. We planned to go to the WeldWerks brewery in Greeley around 4pm. I looked at the weather radar app and saw a thunderstorm approaching from the west. We decided to head over earlier to beat the storm and were getting ready to leave at 3:30pm when the rain started. Looking at the radar app again, it looked like we would have rain for the next couple of hours. That nixed our plan – neither of us wanted to ride into town during a thunderstorm. We had a quiet evening.

Today we had a few rain drops early but it’s sunny with a few clouds at 10am. The forecast looks promising with the high temperature reaching the mid-70s and a slight chance of a passing shower later. Maybe we can make it to the Weldwerks brewery this afternoon. Meanwhile I need to organize the trailer and begin preparations for the road. We’ll pull out of here tomorrow.

Poudre River Trail

The first white men to explore some of the places in and around the Rocky Mountains were fur trappers. Many of them were French and gave French names to places such as rivers, lakes and trading posts. This being the wild west, the pronunciation of these French names were often changed from the proper French name to something else altogether.

Donna went for a bike ride yesterday. She’s been looking forward to riding the Poudre River Trail. Donna studied French in high school and college, so she pronounced the Cache la Poudre River with a proper French accent. I told her it’s locally pronounced Poo-der. While riding what she thought might be the beginning of the trail, she stopped to ask a couple of women if this was the trail to Windsor. They weren’t sure about that but they did say that it was the Poo-der River Trail.

Here are a few pictures of informative kiosks and views from the trail. The paved trail is multi-use for hiking and biking and runs from Greeley to Windsor. A short ride through Windsor will get you to another trail and you can ride to Fort Collins.

You can see the river water level is quite low – not unusual for this time of year.

While Donna was out on her ride, I rode the Spyder to King Soopers to buy a rack of babyback ribs. I set up the Treager wood pellet fired smoker/grill and prepped the ribs. I always remove the tough, thin membrane from the bone side of the ribs first. The membrane can be tough and chewy – also it blocks the spices in the rub from contact with the meat. I dry rubbed the ribs with a mixture of two parts Pappy’s Choice seasoning and one part Lambert’s Sweet Rub O’Mine.

It was hot out and unusually humid again. The temperature was in the upper 80s when I fired up the Traeger. After the first half hour, I lowered the temperature setting on the Traeger and went inside to read a book. I checked the grill a couple of times without opening the lid by peering through the smoke vents. I also stirred the wood pellets in the hopper to keep them feeding smoothly through the auger.

The wind kicked up during the cook and the outside temperature dropped. When I estimated about 30 minutes of cooking time remaining, I decided to raise the temperature setting of the Traeger to compensate for the cooling effect of the wind. In the end, I wish I hadn’t done that. The ribs were slightly overcooked and not as moist as I would have liked. I’m also going to modify my rub to a 3:2 ratio of Pappy’s to Lambert’s to reduce the salt content.

Rack of ribs hot off the Traeger

Meanwhile, Donna prepared a potato salad and steamed green beans for a complete meal.

A yummy meal

The windy conditions persisted well into the night. This morning we woke to the sound of rain drops on the roof of our coach. The weather almanac shows an inch of rain for the month to date in Greeley – but that usually comes in the form of an afternoon thundershower. Overcast skies and rain in the morning seems unusual to me for this time of year.

We had planned to go to a National Senior Professional Rodeo Association event this morning, but the rain shower put a damper on that plan. Senior professionals are pro rodeo cowboys over 40 years old. They compete in age groups of 40 and over, 50 and over and 60 and over. The event continues tomorrow at the Greeley Pro Rodeo Arena, so maybe we’ll attend tomorrow. I rode in a rodeo once – it was held right here in Greeley – I wrote about that in this post.

The temperature is supposed to be cooler for the next few days with highs in the upper 70s. Sounds good to me.

Back Roads to Greeley

After four nights in the Sierra Trading Post lot, we pulled out yesterday. We’ve been dry-camped for six nights straight and were getting a little concerned about our fresh water supply. We didn’t plan to dry camp this long and didn’t make water conservation a priority at first. Having said that, our time on the road has made water conservation habitual. We use much less water than we ever did when we were in a sticks-and-bricks home. We can usually make our fresh water tank last a week if we try.

Our first stop was the Pilot/Flying J travel center two miles down Campstool Road. We put about 30 hours on the generator while we were off the grid, plus we traveled over 300 miles since I last filled the tank. After fueling up, I drove us past the I-80 on-ramp and continued down Campstool Road. We were headed for Greeley, Colorado and I wanted to hit US85 for the drive south instead of taking I-80 to I-25. I didn’t activate Nally – our Rand-McNally RV GPS – until I was well down the road so she wouldn’t direct me onto the interstate.

I made a mistake though. I missed a turn and drove too far down the road. When Nally was activated, I was directed east and crossed the state line into Colorado at Hereford – well east of our intended route. Oh well, we just went with the flow and enjoyed the high plains grassland. There were large ranches and a few clusters of huge new homes. I surmised the homes were recently built during the oil boom which is now in more of bust cycle. Obviously some people in the Cheyenne area are doing well judging by the homes and this – I saw a cowboy park his Ferrari F360 at Sierra Trading Post.

Ferrari F360 Modena in the Sierra Trading Post lot

Our route had us zig-zagging down quiet county roads. In the first 40 miles of our drive, we only saw four other vehicles. Some of the road surfaces were horrible and Ozark the cat lost her breakfast in her crate. She’s only been carsick a couple of times and it’s always been when we were pounding down a rough road. We also encountered a stoppage at a road construction site which had traffic following a pilot car down a single lane for about three miles. We weren’t held up too long though.

We arrived at the Greeley RV Park around 12:30pm. The check-in was very efficient – they had taken our information over the phone when I reserved the site and they knew our rig was long. They had a pull-through site for us and the woman told me to pull as far forward as possible and not to worry if our trailer extended a couple of feet past the rear of the site.

The sites here are relatively narrow, but we were easily lined up in the level gravel site. I hooked up our power, water and sewer and dumped the holding tanks. I’ll need to refill our fresh water tank – but first I needed to do some research. I saw a warning posted in the park office stating that the nitrate level of the water supply was higher than the 10ppm federally mandated maximum. The water here has a nitrate level of 11.3ppm.

Nitrates can seep into ground water from a few sources. It can be due to runoff from decomposing plants or chemical fertilizers or it can come from excessive amounts of livestock manure. Once nitrate is in the groundwater, it’s very difficult to remove it. It takes a special filtration process – our sediment filter and activated carbon filtration doesn’t remove it. The good news is, this level of nitrate isn’t especially dangerous unless it’s ingested by a baby under six months old. This is due to the bacteria in an infants digestive tract that can convert nitrate into nitrite and interfere with it’s ability to carry oxygen in the bloodstream. After about six months of age, acids form in the digestive system and nitrite is no longer formed.

I unloaded the Spyder and put an orange warning cone at the rear of the trailer which is hanging into the road.

Trailer extends past the rear of the site

The trailer shouldn’t be a problem – we saw a few sites with cars parked in the rear that also extend past the rear site border. Donna and I hopped on the Spyder and rode into town to take a look at the grocery store. King Soopers is the grocery chain in the area, they’re an affiliate of Kroger. The King Soopers here in Greeley is a large, well-stocked store and the prices look reasonable.

It was unusually humid here yesterday and the temperature reached the upper 80s. Thankfully we have a 50 amp service and ran both roof air conditioners. Today we expect the temperature to reach the upper 80s again but the humidity won’t be a factor – the forecast calls for a more normal level below 20%. There’s also a 20% chance of a thundershower this afternoon. I told Donna that when I lived in Longmont about 20 miles south of here, we had a thundershower just about every afternoon in August. The clouds would build over the Rocky Mountains to the west, then arrive over town around 5pm. It would pour down rain with lightning and thunder for about 15 minutes before it blew out east over the plains. Within 20 minutes, everything would be dry with clear skies. I’m wondering if we can expect the same pattern here.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Christmas in August

A cold front was pushing down from the north on Friday. After exploring a few options, we decided the best bet was to stay put and hunker down for the day. The wind picked up in the afternoon, but most of the thunderstorm activity was to the south of us – we could see lightning and hear the thunder but we only had one squall here at Sierra Trading Post.

It was good day to kick back and read a book, so that’s what I did. Satelite TV reception was spotty in the afternoon due to the heavy storm clouds blocking the southern sky. The temperature dropped dramatically.

Screenshot of weather conditions on my smartphone at 7:46pm

I couldn’t think of anything better to do, so I opened a bottle of Flanders Black Ale that I picked up when I visited the Deschutes Brewery. This is a limited release – you won’t find it in stores. It’s a bourbon barrel-aged black ale with brett bacteria.

Flanders Black Ale

It was strong at 10.5% ABV with very complex flavors and a sour finish. I thought it was delicious. I poured a taster for Donna and she agreed. It was also expensive at about a dollar an ounce! When the storm clouds thinned out, we watched some coverage of the Rio Olympics.

We rose to sunny skies Saturday morning. It was still cool out but the forecast called for temperatures in the 70s by the afternoon. We wanted to get out so we rode the Spyder downtown to the depot at the south end of Capitol Avenue. They have a farmers’ market there on Saturdays from 7am to 1pm beginning on the first weekend of August and running through the first weekend in October.

Farmers’ market

It was a fairly large market with local produce sourced from Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.

Depot plaza

The entrance to the depot plaza which is the site for the market has sculptures of cowboy boots flanking either side.

Boot on the right

Another boot on the left

We walked through the marketplace and Donna bought fennel and squash while I bought coarse grain habanero mustard – we sampled it and it was very tasty while not overly hot.

There was an art exhibit in the train depot that houses a gift shop and museum. The fee to enter the museum was $8 – we passed on it. We also checked out the Accomplice brew pub but it was too early to sample brews.

As we headed back to the Spyder, we saw a western wear shop called The Wrangler which is also a Boot Barn store. Donna’s been wanting me to buy cowboy boots to wear with jeans when we go out. When I’m not wearing flip-flops, I usually wear running shoes or cross-trainers.

I humored her and we went inside for a look. I haven’t worn cowboy boots since I was a kid. I posted about those cowboy boots here. For some reason, I imagined cowboy boots would be uncomfortable to wear. After browsing around for a while, I found a pair I liked and tried them on. They were a little tight around my forefoot and a little loose at the heel. I looked for a different size. I tried a larger boot, but it was loose. That’s when a store clerk came over to offer assistance.

I told him how the first boot fit. He told me that it sounded like a perfect fit – they should always feel a little tight behind the ball of your foot and have a little space at the heel. He said the leather would stretch and conform to my forefoot after walking in them and breaking them in. They were actually quite comfortable. The brand name was Ariat.

Donna made it Christmas in August and bought the boots for me. I also picked up some leather conditioner.

On the way back to the Spyder, we stopped at a used book store and found a couple of books for a dollar each. Donna asked the guy there for a recommendation for lunch. He told us we should go back toward the depot and try The Albany restaurant. It’s been family-owned since 1942. We dropped our stuff in the Spyder trunk and I donned my new cowboy boots to start the break-in process.

My new Ariat boots

We had a nice lunch and the service was good. After we came home, Donna went for a walk. She ended up walking a few miles east, then came back and stopped at the coach before walking west to pick up a few things at Walmart, logging a total of 6.6 miles for the day. I watched the qualifying for this weekend’s Moto GP race in the Czech Republic.

Today’s weather looks good – clear skies with the temperature expected to reach the low 80s and not as windy as the previous few days. We’ll hang out here at Sierra Trading Post one more night before we move on to Colorado tomorrow.

Sierra Trading Post

We had a late start leaving Laramie – we pulled out of the Cavalryman’s parking lot around 11am. Our route took us east on I-80 for about nine miles up a steep grade. We were at an elevation of about 7,200 feet above sea level in Laramie. By the time we pulled off I-80 at Happy Jack Road (WY210), we were over 8,600 feet above sea level.

The terrain changed drastically as we climbed into the Laramie range of the Rocky Mountains. We were surrounded by coniferous forest now instead of the high plains grassland and sage brush as we drove through the Happy Jack Recreation Area.

WY210 took us through a section of Medicine Bow National Forest before we came through the Curt Gowdy State Park area at Granite Lake. This is beautiful country with stunning views of forest, open meadows and huge rock formations. WY210 – also known as Happy Jack Road and the Sand Creek Massacre Trail – is a relatively narrow, two-lane road through this area. I was wishing for a turnout so I could stop and take a few photos, but it never materialized.

East of Curt Gowdy State Park, we dropped down to an elevation of about 6,400 feet above sea level and we were in high plains grassland again. We saw a few antelope which favor this terrain over forest.

By the way, the Curt Gowdy State Park is named after a Wyoming native. Curt Gowdy was born in Green River and grew up in Cheyenne. He was the announcer for the Boston Red Sox in the 1950s and moved on to national television sports announcing first for ABC in 1960, then NBC in 1965. He covered many different sporting events and was called “the broadcaster of everything.” His career continued into the mid-1980s.

The detour from I-80 onto WY210 added about 10 miles to our trip but was well worth it. The scenery was spectacular. We eventually rejoined I-80 a few miles west of Cheyenne near the junction of I-25. Our destination was the Sierra Trading Post outlet and fulfillment center in Cheyenne. They have a large parking lot with RV and truck parking in marked stalls 100 feet long.

We checked in with the woman at the counter in the fulfillment center. She took down our information – name, coach description and plate number and an emergency phone contact. She said the information would be passed on to security and the lot is patrolled 24/7. We were welcome to stay through the weekend if we wanted, no charge.

Donna and I then walked over to the outlet store and saw a few things we would want to purchase before we leave. We could see heavy clouds to the southwest and we had a few raindrops on the windshield earlier. We came back to the coach for lunch. Donna wanted to go back to the outlet and shop. I needed to get the Spyder out and ride over to Petco – about four miles away – to get cat food. We were nearly out of cat food and Ozark likes the brand I find at Petco.

I knew I was taking a chance of getting caught out in a thunderstorm, but I quickly unloaded the Spyder and headed out around 1:30pm. Donna went back to the Sierra Trading Post outlet. I didn’t waste any time at Petco and returned just as a few raindrops were falling. I loaded the Spyder back in the trailer and came inside before the skies opened up.

We had a massive thunderstorm approaching. I had to pull the living room slide back in as the wind really kicked up. By 3pm, it was raining hard and there were lightning strikes all around us. Donna was still in the outlet. I sent her a text telling her to stay in the store until the storm passed. She was happy to do that as she was in her element trying on clothes and shoes.

The storm finally moved on to the east around 5pm – but Donna didn’t finish shopping until 6pm! I had the living room slide back out by then. Donna reheated some jambalaya she made in the crockpot two days ago and we watched TV until bedtime.

This morning, it’s cloudy and the high temperature is only supposed to reach 66 degrees. Another thunderstorm is predicted for the afternoon. We’re undecided at this point on whether we should stay put or move on. We have to hit an RV park soon – I’ll need to refill the fresh water and dump our tanks. Either way, I’ll hit the outlet and pick up a couple of shirts and shorts I saw yesterday that were real bargains.

Across the Divide

On Monday morning, Donna saw that UPS tracking indicated the delivery of her new laptop would arrive by 8pm. I was hoping it would be well before before 8pm because the Sweetwater Fairgrounds office closes at 5pm and they would take the delivery.

I went to the office and told them we expected a delivery and asked when UPS usually delivers – I was told between noon and 3pm. I paid for another night here to be sure we could get her laptop. I then made a run to town on the Spyder to pay for the diagnostic fee and retrieve her bad hard drive and also pick up a few necessities.

Around 4pm, I asked Donna to check the status of her laptop delivery – the woman in the office said she would call me when UPS delivered, but I hadn’t heard from her. The UPS tracking showed “Delivered and handed to local resident Adams.” What?

I went to the fairground office and the office manager Erika said that UPS dropped everything back in their shop since they delivered some large boxes. She led me back to the workshop area and there it was – Donna’s new laptop. I have to say, the office staff at Sweetwater Fairgrounds and Events Complex are some of the nicest people you’ll ever encounter.

Fairgrounds building

They do a great job of keeping the area around the events center clean and well-landscaped.

Nice flowers by the office

More flowers honoring the sheriff’s department

However, the RV area is nothing more than a large gravel lot with 1200 hook-ups. The caretaker doesn’t seem to do much. Donna and I slept poorly most nights as we had issues with barking dogs early in the morning and long-term residents heading out to their workaday lives. The barking dogs were especially bothersome. A couple in a site near us had three dogs and it seems that they thought it was okay to just let the dogs out in the morning around 6am to do their business. The dogs would bark constantly as they ran around loose for what seemed like an eternity. Then the caretaker’s dogs would join in the barkfest.

Donna spent most of Monday evening getting her laptop configured. Of course this meant using a lot of data on our Verizon plan, but what can you do? I have to mention that Verizon’s coverage is incredible – it’s rare for us not to have a usable Internet connection.

Donna defrosted some grass-fed lamb rib chops we bought from the rancher in Portland and made lamb chops with a red wine, rosemary and garlic pan sauce. As usual, I’m dining first-class.

Lamb chops with red wine, rosemary and garlic pan sauce

We were watching the Rio Olympics on TV when dogs started barking non-stop near our coach after 9pm. I looked out the window and sure enough, our neighbor with the three dogs had let them out. I walked over to his site and knocked on the door. He and his wife were totally oblivious to the barking dogs running loose. It wasn’t a pleasant exchange.

We got a late start Tuesday morning. It was 11am by the time we pulled out. I had to circle back before we left the grounds when I realized I left our jack pads behind. Our first stop was the Pilot/Flying J at I-80. We took on 45 gallons of fuel at $2.42/gallon. I wanted to have a full tank as we weren’t sure of where we’ll stop for the night and how much generator run-time we might have in the next couple of days.

We stopped at the Love’s travel center in Wamsutter for lunch. It was a crowded truck stop with back-in spaces. I had to jockey back-and-forth a few times to get us into a parking lane, but no harm done. Over lunch, Donna and I discussed our options for the night. We decided to hit a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) site south of Rawlins at Teton Reservoir.

Heading eastward on I-80 we crossed the continental divide twice. The continental divide is a hydrological divide where watersheds drain either westward to the Pacific Ocean or eastward to the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic. In southern Wyoming we encountered the Great Divide Basin. This is a region where none of the water falling to the ground drains into any ocean. We were at 7,000 feet above sea level at that point.

We pulled off I-80 at Rawlins and headed for the BLM site. On the way, we passed a sign for Rim Lake which also turned out to be BLM public land. The road we were on turned to gravel five miles before Teton Lake and I stopped in a turn-out. I was leery of continuing to Teton Reservoir. The road surface looked okay at that point, but there was no guarantee of its condition further on and being able to turn around. We made a several-point turn-around and came back to the Rim Lake turn-off.

It was a gravel/dirt road that took us a couple of miles to the small lake. On the way, we spied a few pronghorn antelope. That’s Wyoming – you’re likely to see more pronghorns than people in many areas. This is not a bad thing.

We found a level spot that I can easily exit from and we set up for the night.

Our quiet space

Rim Lake view

A few cars and pickup trucks came through the area in the afternoon but didn’t stay long. Three bicyclists rode in around 7pm and set up tents for an overnight stop. They were far enough away from us that we couldn’t hear them. We heard a pack of coyotes howling after dark and the gusty winds woke me a few times in the night. But it’s nice to be away from it all and only waking to the sounds of nature instead barking dogs and vehicles early in the morning.

The weather forecast for today looks good – sunny and mid 80s. We’re debating about moving to Teton Reservoir and staying overnight there. I’d like to check it out, but there’s a 50% chance of rain by tomorrow and we’ll be five miles down a dirt road that could become muddy. Also, it’s not likely that we would have internet at Teton Reservoir. Our other option is to head to Laramie where we won’t have any worries about mud. We’re in no hurry, so we’ll decide later this morning.

Blues ‘n Brews

Our highlight for the weekend was the Sweetwater Blues ‘n Brews Festival held in Bunning Park here in Rock Springs, Wyoming. This was the 10th anniversary of the event. We rode down to Bunning Park on the Spyder around 2:30pm. The festival started at noon and was scheduled to run until 10pm. There were six blues bands in the line-up with each band performing for about an hour and a half.

Blues ‘n Brews line-up

We parked in the free parking lot next to the park off Elk Street, only a few miles from the Sweetwater Events Complex where we’re staying (map). Nothing in Rock Springs is more than a few miles away!

The first thing we did was sign Donna up for the Designated Driver program. This entitled her to free admission and a goody bag with a T-shirt and a few other items. I paid the $5 entry fee and bought five beer tickets for $20.

There were 11 kiosks under portable canopies – each had three or four different beers from brewers in Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Goose Island Brewing in Chicago. I don’t know why I see so many Goose Island beers in the northwest – they obviously have a good distribution network here. The beer isn’t anything special in my opinion. I had one bartender tell me Goose Island beer is made with Northwest-sourced ingredients. Well, most craft brews will have some Cascade, Centennial or Magnum hops – all sourced from Washington, Oregon or Idaho.

When we arrived, the David Gerald Band was on stage. David Gerald hails from Detroit, Michigan. He’s a real blues-rocker and his band sounded great.

David Gerald Band

Next up was the Andy T and Nick Nixon Band. Andy T is a guitarist originally from southern California. He teamed up with vocalist/guitarist Nick Nixon to front the band in Nashville, Tennessee. However, Nick Nixon was under the weather and couldn’t come with the band. A vocalist/guitarist from Mississippi filled in for Nick Nixon – I don’t recall his full name – he was Zach something or other..

I was blown away at how tight they were able to perform with a replacement singer/guitarist. The stand-in was the front man singing and directing the band and he happened to be a first-class guitar player as well. A couple of songs were improvisations – they made it up as they went along and it was great.

Andy T in the center and a stand-in at the mic

All six bands tour the country and come from different areas. It’s impressive how a town with a population of 24,000 people well off the beaten path can put together an event such as this. By the way, the nearest “big city” is Salt Lake City, 180 miles away.

It was warm and sunny out. After a few hours of music and beer, it was time to go home. I rode on the passenger seat of the Spyder for the first time. Designated Driver Donna chauffeured me home and did a fine job of it.

Back at home, I watched the first weekend of pre-season NFL football. I had to stay up until 10pm to catch the kick-off of the Chargers game.

Sunday was a low-key day. I watched the Moto GP race from Austria and it was a good one. Donna rode the Spyder to town for groceries. It was a little windy, but otherwise a fine day. We grilled hot Italian sausages and Donna made sandwiches on hoagie rolls smothered in peppers and onions. Yum!

I should give you an update on our damage claim from the encounter with the suicidal buck in Idaho. A claims adjuster from Allied Insurance (a Nationwide Insurance company) phoned me on Friday. We discussed the accident and the damage. Our current travel makes it difficult to get an inspection and estimate done. The adjuster was very accommodating – we plan to have the coach inspected when we reach Colorado Springs at the end of the month. He’ll call me on Monday, August 29th to make the arrangements.

I’m doing some research to see where we should have the work done. It won’t be a simple patch job. I’ve read so many horror stories about this type of repair that I’m preparing for a drawn-out, painful ordeal. Hopefully we won’t be sharing a horror story, but I think it’ll take weeks to get the work done. We’ll see.

Today we expect Donna’s new laptop to arrive. I have to go to Sweetwater Technology Services to pick up her dead hard drive and pay for the diagnostic work. I’ll extend our stay here at the fairgrounds for one more night, then we’ll head east.

Rolling on the River

After lunch, we loaded up the Spyder with our floaties, pump and other gear to float the Boise River Monday. We rode the Spyder to the take-out point at Ann Morrison Park. I pumped up our floaties and we waited for the bus to take us a little over five miles east to the launch point at Barber Park.

Map of the floaters’ route

The bus pulled up right on time for the 1pm run. The bus picks up river floaters at the top of the hour from 1pm to 5pm. It was an old Bluebird bus with a rear door and storage area in the back where seats had been removed.

Ancient Bluebird bus

The bus ride costs three dollars per person. It was about a 20-minute ride to Barber Park. We debated whether we should lash our floaties together so we wouldn’t get separated, but decided we could hang together with our paddles.

Our gear ready to go

Donna entered first around 1:30pm. I was immediately hung up as I got on my floatie in shallow water. The current started taking Donna downriver while I sorted myself out. I was able to catch her after a few minutes and thought it would be best if I held her floatie so we wouldn’t become separated. The current moved at a pretty good clip – I estimated our speed at about 3mph.

Donna ready to launch

After a few minutes, we could hear the sound of rapids ahead. We watched as a raft with four people suddenly plunged a couple feet down and bounced on the water. We were in for a ride and our first splash. We were glad we brought paddles as the current would often push us toward the bank where we might get hung up on roots or low branches. Paddling with my right arm and holding us together with my left was giving my arms and shoulders a workout. We only hit the bank one time and I was able to push off with my feet.

We could float with the current effortlessly at times, but most of the time we were paddling to stay in the channel. We hit one section of low water and I dragged over a few river rocks, but no harm done. It was challenging at times when we approached small islands and had to decide which side was the best passage. The current would speed up over shallow areas with several areas of sudden drops over gravel bars where would splash and bob in the choppy current. The deeper water moved more slowly.

The water temperature was reported to be 58 degrees, but it didn’t feel that cold. The air temperature was over 80 degrees. We pulled out at Ann Morrison Park at 3:30pm. After I got out of the water and started deflating our floaties, I was chilled. Two hours of floating with my backside in cold water caught up with me.

We came home to a hot shower and got ready for visitors. A long-time subscriber to Donna’s organizing newsletter contacted Donna. She lives in Boise and wanted to meet up for dinner. Her name is Allie – she and her husband Rod came over just before 6pm. Donna gave them a short tour of our place, then we piled into their BMW X5 SUV and went downtown for dinner.

We went to 10 Barrel Brewing near Freak Alley. We loved 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend, Oregon. I knew they had another place in Portland, but I didn’t know they were in Boise as well. Rod and Allie don’t drink beer, but picked this place mostly because they knew I did and the food is good.

Rod, Allie and Donna

Once again, good food and great conversation made the time fly. Before we knew it, it was 9pm. Allie generously picked up the tab. Thanks, Allie! We were tired from our day on the water and Rod and Allie dropped us off back at Mountain View RV Park. It’s always nice to meet people on the road and for Donna it was the opportunity to meet face to face with one of her readers.

Today we’re thinking about a trip to the Basque Museum and Basque food for lunch. Later we’ll get together with Dina and Mike again for dinner at their place. Tomorrow will be a travel day as we’re planning to head for Wyoming.

Freak Alley – Boise, Idaho

We pulled into the Mountain View RV Park in Boise around 2pm on Saturday. The registration lane is relatively short and we took up the whole lane. The manager on duty, Justin, came over to my window before I shut off the engine. He told me to follow him in his golf cart and he would get us into our site so the lane wouldn’t be blocked. He already knew who we were and what site he was going to put us in.

He knew we had a long rig with our trailer and selected a site with a smaller rig next door which he had them position well forward in their site to give us more room to turn in. I think he expected us to have a difficult time maneuvering, but it went smoothly. I pulled through our site, then reversed to straighten out the trailer and we were all set. He told me to take my time setting up and come to the office any time before 6pm to sign in and pay. Nice check-in process.

The park is fairly tight and a little noisy as it’s next to I-84. It’s on the east end of the Boise airport, but since the prevailing wind is out of the west, airplanes take off in that direction and we don’t even hear them. The park is nicely landscaped and well-kept. All of the sites and interior roads are paved so there’s no issue with dust.

After we set up, I made a run to the Fred Meyer store on the Spyder and reconnoitered the area. Later, Donna went out and walked nearly five miles.

On Sunday afternoon, we rode the Spyder to the Boise Depot a few miles from here. The Boise Depot is a Mission-style structure built in 1925 to house the train station. It was proclaimed “the most beautiful structure of its kind in the west.” Today the Boise Depot is a museum with artifacts from the golden age of railroading prior to World War II. After perusing the displays, a docent took us up the bell tower in an elevator. The original spiral staircase had been removed and replaced with a elevator.

Boise Depot bell tower

There are four bells in the tower, each one a different size and weight to create different tones. Today only one is used and it chimes at 8am, noon and 5pm. The view from the bell tower was outstanding. We could see the old downtown district and state capitol to the north.

Downtown and capitol building

To the east, we had a view of a city park and mountains in the distance.

View to the east

From there we rode to the old downtown area. The roads are a little tricky to figure out around the depot. Capitol Boulevard is divided and you can only go south from the intersection at the depot. We wanted to go north. I found a way by following Crescent Rim Drive to South Americana Boulevard which took us downtown.

We planned to meet up with Mike and DIna Martin at 5pm at the Bittercreek Alehouse for cold brew and dinner. We found a place to park on the street in front, but we were early. So, we took a walk across the street to Freak Alley. This is an outdoor art gallery established in 2002 where local artists create spray-paint art. Artists submit their proposals and once a year – between the first and second Saturday in August – new murals are painted. I’ve seen something similar to this in Barcelona, Spain. It was an interesting walk down what is otherwise a regular working alley with dumpsters and loading areas behind businesses.

Freak Alley

We walked back toward Bittercreek Alehouse just in time to find Dina and Mike coming up the sidewalk – they were early too. We found a table inside next to an open air window to the patio and sidewalk. I’ve never met them before but Donna’s known Dina for about 10 years through the National Association of Professional Organizers.

This was the reason we left the McCall area to come to Boise – Mike and DIna have been on the road for nearly four years in their Monaco Signature coach and this was the first time we found ourselves in the same area at the same time and we wanted to get together.

Donna, Dina and Mike

Our server seemed a little spacey at first. She brought us water right away and we said we needed a minute to peruse the beer selections. They have about 40 beers on tap plus bottled beer. Then she disappeared and seemed to forget about us. Eventually she came back and took our drink orders.

We sat and talked and enjoyed a couple of cold ones before we ordered food. Donna ordered a smoked trout salad and I went for the beef au jus sandwich. The food was outstanding – one of the best sandwiches I’ve had and Donna really liked her salad.

Donna’s smoked trout salad

Beef au jus sandwich with potato-corn chowder

We stayed at the alehouse talking until about 8pm. The time flies when we’re with good company.

Today the forecast calls for a high of 86 degrees with only a few clouds. Donna and I are planning to float down the Boise River this afternoon.

Idaho’s First Capital

I asked Bob, the camp host at the Coeur D’Alene Elks Lodge, where the best place was to get propane in the area. He told me there was a place a few miles south on Appleway Avenue that had the best price. Later I rode the Spyder down there to check it out. It turned out to be an RV store that had propane for $1.99/gallon. I talked to the guy there and he said he would open a second gate for me so I could drive in and circle behind the shop to pull up to the propane tank. Easy!

While I was out, I ran a few errands and stopped at Del Taco for lunch. I rarely buy from fast food chains, but it wasn’t bad. When I got home, Donna walked to Bed, Bath and Beyond, then hit a couple of other stores nearby. She ended up buying a smaller tomato cage at a local feed store, so I won’t modify the one I bought at Home Depot. We actually gave the one I bought to Bob and told him he could return if he wanted and use the refund to buy a drink on us.

Donna’s heirloom cherry tomato plant – look closely and you’ll see she already has a tomato

On Wednesday night, Donna tried a new recipe for black bean soup with braised chicken and chorizo. She wanted to use the dry beans she bought in Quincy (one of many agricultural crops there) and read that she could do it without soaking the beans first, but it would take longer to cook. It ended up taking even longer than expected and came out much thicker than she wanted – more like a stew or pot of chili than soup. But, served with a dollop of sour cream, avocado cubes, green onions and cilantro it was very tasty.

Donna in her element

Black bean soup

I was hoping to roll out of the Elks Lodge by 9:30am Thursday morning. We loaded up and picked up the trailer, then I loaded the Spyder in the parking lot. We pulled out at 9:32am. We went directly to Bobby Combs RV Center on Appleway Avenue where I checked out the propane the day before.

The last time I bought propane was in Coeur D’Alene in July of 2014 – we went more than two years on one tank. The weight placard for our coach says the tank holds 42 gallons or about 189 pounds of propane. I’m not sure if it’s a 42-gallon tank – which would really only hold about 34 gallons of propane or a 53-gallon tank which would hold about 42 gallons. Propane tanks can only be filled to 80% of their actual capacity.

Our tank level sensor display fell below a quarter tank a few months ago and has been showing empty. It took 30.1 gallons to fill it. So, I’m assuming we have a 42-gallon tank with about 33 gallons of usable propane. The only time we use propane is driving down the road to run the refrigerator – very low consumption – or when we’re boondocking to run the refrigerator and water heater. We’ve rarely used the propane furnace – we usually stay in warm areas or run the heat pumps if needed. I hope it’ll be another two years before I have to fill it again.

After filling the tank, we drove south on US95 past Lake Coeur D’Alene and climbed into forested mountains. We would make several climbs and a few descents along the way. After a while, as we neared Potlatch, the forest gave way to farmland – mostly rolling hills with wheat fields. We continued on through Moscow – home of the University of Idaho and eventually hit the steep downgrade into Lewiston.

The grade is long and very steep with several runaway truck ramps along the way. The runaway truck ramps are lanes off to the side of the road filled with deep gravel to slow a truck that’s lost its braking power. Some of the runaway truck ramps were built into steep hillsides to further slow a truck without brakes. There were advisory signs for trucks indicating a speed of 35mph.

I thought this seemed like a reasonable speed down the long grade with a few switchback turns. I kept the Jake brake on high and only stabbed the brake pedal a few times on the way down. About a third of the way down, I pulled off at a scenic overlook. The view was incredible. Looking down into the valley toward Hell’s Canyon, we could see where the Clearwater River joins the Snake River. The Snake River flows north out of Hell’s Canyon. Lewiston is on the east bank while Clarkston, Washington is on the west bank. The Snake River continues through Washington and joins the Columbia River.

Clearwater River from left to right joins the Snake river, separating Lewiston, Idaho from Clarkston, Washington.

Clearwater River from left to right joins the Snake River flowing up from the south, separating Lewiston, Idaho from Clarkston, Washington.

A little known factoid is that Lewiston was the original capital of the Idaho Territory.

Click to enlarge and read about the first capital of Idaho

US95 took us across the Clearwater River at an elevation of about 750 feet above sea level. We began a long, steady, uphill grind out of the valley. It wasn’t too steep, but it was a constant uphill pull with a headwind component. And it was about 90 degrees out. With the engine running full turbocharger boost pressure, our coolant temperature started to climb. When it hit 200 degrees, I downshifted the six-speed Allison 3000MH transmission to fifth gear. This kept the temperature stable at 198 – 200 until we hit a steeper grade.I went to fourth gear and slowed to 50mph. Then the grade got steeper again. I watched the coolant temperature rise to 207 degrees and saw it flicker up to 210 a couple of times on the Scan Gauge D digital readout. The Scan Gauge operates off the feed from engine sensors to the Engine Control Module (ECM). For our CAPS Cummins ISL, 210 is the maximum coolant temperature I want to see. Later models with the common rail fuel system can tolerate higher temperatures.

I finally downshifted to third gear and slowed again. This kept the engine RPM up to 1,900-2,000 RPM to circulate coolant and run the radiator cooling fan at high speed. This dropped the temperature again and we finally crested the plateau.

For the previous hundred miles or so, we drove through farmland mostly growing wheat. On the plateau, the wheat fields were replaced by miles of barley – the grain most often used to make beer. Being rural farmland, we had to watch for farm machinery driving on the highway. We came upon a couple in the road and also drove through a few construction zones. All-in-all it wasn’t a hard day of driving though.

Slow tractor on the highway

We pulled into Bear Den RV Park just outside of Grangeville around 2pm. We have a long pull-through site with full hook-ups and 50 amp power. We set up quickly and started the air conditioners. The park is surprisingly nice considering the relatively remote location. Nice, level, long pull-throughs and good wifi!

Donna took a walk to town – about a four-mile round trip. Driving through all those barley fields left me with beer on my mind. So I opened one!

The park was quiet overnight and the temperature dropped to a low of 55 degrees. We slept comfortably with the bedroom window open. The elevation here is around 3,400 feet above sea level.

We’ve changed up our plan. Instead of making it a two-day stop here, we’ll pull out today so we can drive down ID55 and hook up with our friends, Mark and Emily Fagan (Roadslesstraveled) near McCall, Idaho before moving on to Boise.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Spyder

Rodeo Mystery

Poudre River Trail

Back Roads to Greeley

Christmas in August

Sierra Trading Post

Across the Divide

Blues ‘n Brews

Rolling on the River

Freak Alley – Boise, Idaho

Idaho’s First Capital

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