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Finally, we are off and running. I'm pretty sure I haven't
forgotten anything. Glenn's in the car. Got my wallet. Car's full of more stuff
than I need. Nice sunny morning. We take I-90 over Stampede Pass.
I've been building a model of the Northern Pacific Hotel
at Easton. I've always assumed the building is long gone recalling nothing like it
near the tracks where I believe it was in past visits, though I never specifically
looked. Well, here's my chance to take a look. We're a good hour and some into the
trip and it's time to streatch our legs.
Wow, I can't believe it. That's it! Pretty beat up but that's definately
it. You can see the old windows, boarded up and new ones, well, old new ones cut in.
That's so cool! Another canidate for our "seen better days"
series of models. Take a look at the Scout building across the way. It's definately
seen better days. Not the Pacific Beer signage underneath.
The rest of the day is pretty much driving. A straight shot
across Washington state, well, a diagonal. Quick stop at Mac's for lunch in Yakima.
Gas in Pendleton. We don't know why it was so had to find. Went all the way through
town and had to come back. On to Boise. I think I remember Arby's for dinner. Nothing
exciting.
Glenn takes a turn at the wheel. What stupid story can I bore him with?
I know...
We'll do anything to entertain ourselves.
Pretty boring country when you get excited about a lime plant. It's
the only show in town.
About 10 o'clock we start looking for a campground. I vaguely remember a
"Grasslands" state park somewhere around the cut-off to Salt Lake but cannot find it
on the map. We stop for gas and ask some of the locals. My gosh, you don't want to
ask such questions to the folks working the late shift at way out of the way places
like this. Everyone's got an opinion and no one really knows the answer. The best one
was some biker's came throu looking for the same place a few weeks ago. They thought
it was five or ten miles back. Back past the rodeo grounds that was just leaving out,
Saturday night, cruzing with pick-up trucks. My story involved arriving to happily
find this nice, simple campground on one of my trips. The highligh was the wildfire
that I watched slowly grow as it rolled towards me. About the time I began to get
concerned the local fire department arrived and put it out. It was an interesting
show. I need to look that up in my log book and see where it actually was. We gave
up and decided to try the national forest near the Utah boarder.
Sublett, take this exit. At least it is paved, fopr a little
while. Gravel road. Actually, that's good, means we're getting towards the national
forest where hopefully we'll find a campsite or a place we can pull out for the night.
Five miles out, six, seven... a no nothing road winding
through the rolling desert scrub. Still fense and open range. A couple deer. Nothing
invite us to stay the night. Finally there's a dirt dam which we cross and find a
large parking area. Well, this isn't exactly what we had in mind. If we have to
we'll come back. We follow the road along the half empty resevoir. Not real trees,
just brush, some attempt to be large enough to be called trees. There's an occasional
turnoff towards the water but seem too steep for a car, at least at night. At the
end of the resevoir the road splits and a little ways up we decide this is no good
and should turn back. One of those turnouts will have to do.
It doesn't look too bad. We turn down and the headlights
shine on a featureless scape. A stubble a grass, a few small roaks and some sticks.
Welcome to paradise. A dusty lake bottom. Perfect. We don't need much.
I don't even light the lantern. Flashlights will do. We're
cowboy camping tonight. A large groundcloth, thing air matteraces, sleeping bags.
I pull out a pillow. I love car camping.
The best part is the moonless sky draped with the Milky
Way. Bright enough to make sighting the constilations a chore. I squint my eyes
to find them and search my mind for memory of their names and the stars within them.
You don't get a show like this back home. Look what we are missing.
It's a chilly night. Have I made a mistake bringing my
old summer bag?
This is the sign we'll see in the morning for the campsite. For some reason
it faces the opposite direction and we missed it in the dark. We didn't miss much, the
campsite is down in the bushes.
SUN. August 20, the better part of UTAH
MON. August 21, check-in
TUE. August 22, a train ride to Silverton
WED. August 23, a Goose ride
THUR. August 24, we're here (in Red Mountain)
FRI. August 25, the show, San Juan Shops, dead time.
SAT. August 26, teardown, Aztec ruins and Chama
SUN. August 27, ride The Cumbres & Toltec
MON. August 28, Creede, Lake City, Crested Butte and Gunnison
TUE. August 29, Northern Nevada RR, Route 50
WED. August 30, N. Cal., DQ and home.
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