Salmon

Salmon Idaho is an eclectic little town. It caters to summer tourists wanting to play on the Salmon river, bikers riding through to destinations unknown that need to inebriate at the many downtown bars, and old guys like me that like to walk around and take pictures. Speaking of that, 67 photos of Salmon are awaiting your click below.

I do the heavy lifting and take the fall, so you don’t have to. Got some time?

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Sacajawea

This old Lewis and Clark indian guide chick sure is popular around here. She gets a road named after her, the motel I’m staying in is the Sacajawea Inn and the great fish sandwich I just ate from the Savage Grill had her image plastered all over the inside. You would think this little town of Salmon, ID I’m in would have her name instead.

I chose to make this my destination today because I’ve never been here before and my employer Trpta has service here. They inherited this location along with Driggs and Rexburg when they took over from Cart many moons ago. Man I thought Driggs was a ways out but this is 160 miles from the office in Idaho Falls! There was nobody home there when I dropped by but I’ll try later as I mosey uptown to check things out.

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Green Springs

I showed up at Green Canyon Hot Springs this morning right at 1000 and the noise of screaming kids coming from inside hit me out in the parking lot. The large indoors pool was crazy with swimming classes, parents and instructors.

I found some staff guy and tried to give him my money so I could go soak in the hot pool out back but he said the place wasn’t open to the general public until 1200. Really? I remember seeing something about summer swim classes on their website, but…

I was committed to this project today so I pushed my way back out the door through screaming nubiles and nubins and drove down to Rexburg where I had lunch at LeArbey and did some shopping at Walmarche.

When I finally dropped into their hot pool at 1200 I had it to myself and as I placed my foot in the water I thought, now we’re talking. The water temp at Norris is 100° at best. The highest we could legally get our hottub up to in Idaho was 104°. The staff told me later their pool temp was 110° but I’d say more like 106° with 115° coming out of the pipe at the bottom of the pool. I’ll have to bring a thermometer next time…

Here’s some more comparisons of Norris Hot Springs to our local Green Valley:

  • Distance:

      Norris is 312 miles round-trip while Green Valley is 60.

  • Non-hookup camping:

      Norris is $22 while Green Valley is $15 + $0.50 per person, although, since the latter is so close to home, why camp?

  • Soak fee:

      Norris is $3 and Green Valley is $6 but I save $.50 there because I’m old.

  • Pool size:

      Both are very similarly sized, actually. Norris is made of wood, this is not.

  • Goodies:

      Norris has booze, food and live music on weekends while Green Valley has none.

I also have to say that with a 90° airtemp, a blazing sun and that hot water, I only lasted an hour. Here’s some photos of the drive today and a few shots of the facilities.

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Green Canyon

Some may wonder, me included, why I drive 156 miles to soak in a hot springs at Norris, MT when we have one right down the road. Green Canyon Hot Springs is 30 miles away!

I need to check this place out. I can drive there first thing for their 10:00 opening, soak for a while, and drive home wet. The senior rate is $5.50 and no camp fee.

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Miscoula

The fun thing about having your own blog is making up words that will eventually show up in a Google search. Here’s a few miscellaneous shots from my last Missoula run.

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Missoula

Missoula on a Friday was happening last night. ZZ Top and Jeff Beck were rocking out and the Western Montana Fair was going on. So what did I do? Walk around and take pictures of buildings! So lame…

Anyway, if you’re into buildings, click the photo below.

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Bricks

My travel goal a while back was to drop into Old Town Butte, Montana and then land in Missoula. Today I completed that goal.

I left Norris early, grabbed coffee along the way and arrived in Butte just as the sun was doing it’s early morning magic on the great brickwork in Old Town. It’s a large historic area and I could have spent hours walking around but I had breakfast on my mind so I just grabbed a few shots and headed down the road.

Click the photo below to see some bricks…

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Cosmic Connections

I’m on the road again, heading north. Rain has been hammering our area for the last three days and I’m finally out of it. It seems like it’s becoming a tradition as I stopped at Norris Hot Springs today to soak and plan my next outing for tomorrow.

It’s $22 for the campsite and $3 for the soak. Meeting new friends, priceless! I was soaking in the cooler area when I overhead the phrase bluegrass floating across the water from the hot side. I floated on down and slowly integrated into the conversation of a couple of good old boys from Colorado.

I mentioned that I live right down the road from the Targhe Bluegrass festival (happening now) and the connection sparks started flying. Sam is a Bluegrass performer and former Drictor resident (5500 S), and knew the valley well.

The topic of hometowns came up and Sam mentioned he grew up in a small town in the South. As anyone following this blog knows, I drove Steph down to the South a couple of years ago to visit her daughter and grandson. I asked him what town he grew up in and as the same town rolled off his lips I knew I had just made a cosmic connection!

To further expand this connection, they live in Fort Collins, CO. I have not mentioned this publicly on my blog but my niece Tamara lived in Fort Collins and tragically lost her life there, a week ago today.

So, as I get older, my belief in the magic and mystery of the human connection continues to make me smile, and sometimes cry… To you Tami!

Here’s the good ol boys together:

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Tune Up

I believe strongly in preventative maintenance for your vehicle, especially if you rely on it to get you and your electronics back home safely from a long summer trip. I’m not a very good mechanic so I have professionals do most of the work but I can still do a tune up on a 1988 vehicle with a cap and rotor and no computer.

Still, a lot can go wrong, like over-tightening the plugs, mixing the wires up or not seating the connections properly. When she fired right up and purred like a kitten, I was relieved. Yesterday I had the driveline fluids flushed and refilled down in Rexburg so I guess I’m ready for my next trip, wherever that is…

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Mt Washington

Sisters Oregon is a quaint little tourist trap 22 Miles outside of Bend. I’ve often wondered how the name was derived and after looking at the map, I get it.

The area has some very distinguished mountain peaks and one’s called North Sister and the other South Sister. The most prominent peak is Mt Washington and there’s a great viewpoint as you head towards the coast. Click the photo to see my shots.

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Oregon 2014

I left Eugene early yesterday morning and drove to the coast. It was foggy but I’m used to that, I used to live in Monterey. The first place I spotted with access to the ocean had a signboard up that indicated only people with a Recreation Pass could walk on the beach. Sigh… Turns out that the Senior Pass I bought at Yellowstone a few years back was honored so I threw it on my dash and went down and touched the Pacific.

The sun came out, I mosied up the coast, caught some rays and had a great day. Oh, and you know the drill, click the photo below to see the pictures…

Here’s a video of me making contact with the ocean:

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Eugene

Last week I bopped over to Idaho Hwy 20 and drove through Bozeman, brushing by Butte and landed in Billings. This morning I blasted out of Boise onto Oregon Hwy 20 and drove through Burns, Brothers, the Oregon Badlands, and Bend before landing in Eugene.

The synergism does not escape me.

Tomi (my GPS) plopped me smack dab in downtown Eugene Oregon an hour ago and I grabbed the last room of the first motel I encountered. I ate my second night of happy hour food (crab stuffed mushrooms) at the Ambrosia and then walked around town. Click the photo below for my photoset:

Here’s some more photos from later in the evening:

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Oregon Trail

I put a post up on Craigslist/Rideshare yesterday indicating I was heading West this morning with a stop in Boise. A guy named Chad wanted me to call him urgently but didn’t included his phone number. Sorry Chad, not sending you mine :-) A girl in Rexburg said she needed to get some tripods from Rexburg to her grand-daddy in Boise. I told her to meet me at the Walmart at 0815. One other offer came from a couple with a name that sounded from India needing a ride to Boise. I emailed back that my little extended cab has one passenger seat with a fold down behind and if they’re small people they can take turns. Told them to meet me at 0815 at Walmart.

I arrived at 0815, nobody there. The phone rang and it was grand-daddy in Boise, an old guy, older than me. We agreed to set up a meet as I approached Boise and shortly after the girls husband showed up with the stuff (two wooden tripods and a mysterious plastic box). I shook the guys hand and thanked him for trusting my integrity. The couple never showed up, and I hit the Oregon Trail.

The transfer went off without a hitch in a Boise Target parking lot and I made $25. Hey, I do drive for a living! I’m currently hunkered down in a roadside motel, planning tomorrows adventure…

Update: I mosied over to a local happy hour and had four hard baked potato skins stuffed with pulled pork, cheese and sour cream, for $2.50. Dinner!

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Hitch

There’s been a hitch in the giddyup. Apparently a few mosquitos spent the night with me in my truck at Norris and had me for dinner. I’ve skipped the last two legs of this latest trip to Calamine up. Oh well, there’s next week :-)

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Canister Set

I snagged a nice room in Billings today but I had to wait for it to be cleaned. I parked my truck in their lot and walked around a bit and when I got back their manager had placed a canister set up on the counter with a $65 price tag on it and said Buy this for $25 and I’ll try to speed up your room. He didn’t know I hang with a container freak.

But just to be fair, the first person to request this item via comment, gets it.

I walked downtown this evening to check out the Thursday Night Music event. As I approached the stage, people came up to me and asked if I was going to take advantage of the $3 drink specials there, and if so I needed to wear a special bracelet. Excuse me! I’m a regular in this town and I know the Casino a block away has $2 happy hour drinks. Keep your stupid bracelet! I did have a $5 Mexican food special though…

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