QUOTEWORTHY: “I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand…Adventure is a state of mind – and spirit.” ~Jacqueline Cochran, who became the first woman to break the sound barrier in 1953.
On Monday, July 8, we continued the trek east starting with an AMAZING drive south along the Crooked River on OR-27. If you are ever within striking distance of this drive, trust me and take it. The scenery is the river and the walls of the Crooked River Gorge…ous!! At the lower end we crossed the Prineville Reservoir dam, and shortly after that, turned west for a few miles on Reservoir Road. There we topped a hill and caught SIX mountains in the distance covered in snow!! Beautiful!
Next it was south on Millican Highway, which put us back on US-20, the same road from the last post that goes all the way to Boston. That took us to our destination, Vale, Oregon, with a stop in Burns for lunch at Figaro’s Pizza. Aside from the initial, stunning gorge, the rest of the drive had a few surprises, too. There was a LOT of hay production, cows, goats, and horses, despite being mostly desert. Near the end there was even quite a bit of corn. Along the way we saw lots of signs to watch for wildlife, but very little actual wildlife except for a couple of deer/pronghorns way off in the distance. Oh, and I got a pretty amazing shot of a great blue heron in mid-flight while cruising at 60 MPH!!! It was a gorgeous day for a drive with clear, blue skies, BUT…temps soared. Big Jake showed 101 degrees at 2 PM! When we arrived at the campground mid-afternoon, we were totally dismayed. I’ll tell you about that in the review below.
FUNNY SIDE NOTE: Figaro’s Pizza was the second place in a matter of weeks that had an odd setup for the stall door in the women’s room. At a little under 5′ tall, most adults could see right over it. I’ll just say…not a fan!! They also had a cute, banana peel “wet floor” sign. Didn’t make up for the short door, though!
On Tuesday we headed over to Mal’s Diner for a bit of lunch, where we met the nicest young couple. The young man caught my attention because he had a tattoo above his right eye in script that read “Sinner”. We ended up having the nicest conversation. He said that, despite making mistakes (and who hasn’t?), all he wants now is to work hard and take care of his soon-to-be wife and the baby on the way. They seemed sweet, and I sure hope he gets his wish. After that we walked up to Malheur Drug for a couple of things. I really LOVE small-town drugstores and/or hardware stores. In this case, it was a bit of both and honestly had some of everything! A little wandering was necessary to take it all in. Before leaving downtown, I got a few pics of the murals Vale is famous for, which relate the history of the Oregon trail, area, and town. We were surprised to find a military plane on a stick at their park, too, especially one that MW couldn’t identify immediately! I’m not sure that’s ever happened before! It turned out to be a variant of the F-86 Sabre, but that nose cone really throws the lines off.
Next we rode out to take a look at some important tracks. There are almost a dozen places in the United States where you can actually see the ruts left behind by those who traversed the Oregon Trail, and the Keeney Pass Historic Site in Vale is one of them. Here they are particularly deep and easy to see, and still out in an area that isn’t surrounded by houses. The words “wagon ruts” automatically bring to mind narrow little tracks in the dirt, but that is far from the reality. So many wagons and horses and oxen and cattle and people passed through that what you actually see are large indentions in the hillside. They aren’t typically single ones, but several spread out across the open area. I am fascinated by the people who uprooted their lives and marched across the plains and mountains, fording rivers, crossing chasms, and braving a multitude of other dangers. What became the famous wagon trail actually began as a route for trappers and traders somewhere around 1811. It was a walking or horse route, but certainly not passable any other way. By the time the first wagon train hit the trail in 1836 from Independence, Missouri, the path had been cleared all the way to Fort Hill in Idaho. It took a while longer, but the road finally made it all the way to the beautiful Willamette Valley in Oregon, a total of almost 2,200 miles. What must that have been like? The only things we have that are similar today are the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Coast Trail, both walked in full by hundreds of people every year. Despite that being really cool, they are only saddled with the bare essentials and not moving their entire lives and families. Also, chances are pretty good that they won’t be attacked, develop a severe illness, or have anything else happen that is life-threatening. More than 400,000 families made their way west on this trail and several off-shoots before the locomotive made it mostly obsolete. For those folks, walking 15 miles EVERY DAY, burning in the scorching sun, getting drenched in the torrential rain, breathing dust, smelling the sweat of campmates and animals, building a fire after the long walk to cook supper, eating the same food EVERY DAY, being bone tired and hot or freezing cold, then laying down for the night on a blanket on the ground or in the back of a wagon only to wake up covered with more sand and grit or snow. The trail passed over the plains, high mountains, and deserts, and approximately 10% of those who took the first steps never made it to the promised land. Their bodies are buried all the way across this great country, many in unmarked graves, beside these amazing, deep ruts.
Wednesday MW’s morning did not begin as well. The bathhouse, which had not been cleaned in a while when we arrived two days before, was still awful, which made him grumpy. We decided breakfast was in order, and he walked while I rode my bike over to the Starlite Cafe. Afterwards, he headed back while I rode several miles out towards the wagon ruts. When I returned, he had walked up to chat with the office about the cleanliness issue. Apparently, the person responsible for that was supposed to be doing it every day, and just stopped. The lady apologized and was very nice, then later we saw her and another person check out the bathhouse. We could tell by her demeanor that she was NOT happy about the situation. Later we saw a $10 credit on our card for the site fee. It was a nice gesture, but checking to make sure your people are actually doing their job would be a better one. In the afternoon we drove around town to catch a few more mural pics.
Vale Trails RV & Resort is AWFUL! It must have been nice once, because the website pics were pretty darned good and the reviews talked about a nice, quiet place. Now it is a pile of un-mowed weeds with several long-term people there who have clearly been parked for years, and have all manner of junk stacked up around their rigs. The campground sits right up against a road and very near railroad tracks, so you get speeding truck, motorcycles, and trains with whistles all the time. I think the person who reviewed it as quiet must have been deaf! The website lists overflow sites, and something called CH sites, plus studio and Mexico cabin rentals. I didn’t see any of that in person or on the map they gave us of the park. What we did find were a fenced pet area, a bathhouse, a dump station, wifi, and a laundry. The campground consisted of 22 sites, that I believe were all pull-through but some were pretty short. There were some 30- and some 50-amp, some full-hookup and some water only. They did not have picnic tables or even enough room between them to sit outside. We were given rules upon check-in, which included “no parking on the grass” and “no mats on the grass”. Neither MW nor I saw any grass in the entire RV section. It was dirt, gravel, and weeds that were about 12-14″ high. The bathhouse was not air conditioned, and even in the early morning, pretty darned hot. It was an older building, and the interior did not remotely resemble the beautiful little powder room pic on the website. The women’s was relatively clean, but the men’s was absolutely filthy when we arrived and only got cleaned after MW said something to the front office on day THREE! There was a sign up to report bathroom vandalism, and the doors had coded locks. We were in site 2, which barely fit our RV and truck. According to the map, there was extra parking on the other side of the park. Our exit was a narrow road that, depending on how the neighbors parked, could be almost impassable. When it was time for us to tow out, we had to pull to the end of the fence, then make a tight right u-turn with very little space. The dump station was to the left, and there was absolutely no way we could have made that turn. As you probably guessed, this is a no go for us. For this visit in July 2024, we paid $45 per night, not subtracting the $10 credit mentioned above.
Thursday we were happy to put that campground behind us. We were on the road around 6:15ish, with our first stop in Ontario. The Albertson’s wasn’t quite open yet, so we popped into McDonalds to wait. We were pointed east again by 7:30 AM, crossing into Idaho, then taking ID-52 to Horseshoe Bend, followed by ID-55 to Banks. There we hit ID-21, which crosses the Salmon River Mountains at Banner Summit (7,562′). This drive, often closed in winter, is very scenic with gorgeous mountain and river views, but also slower with lots of climbs and curves. On the other side of the pass we stopped for lunch at Sawtooth Luce’s Restaurant (pretty good sandwiches) in Stanley, ID. It was also nice to get out of the truck for a bit!
After that, ID-75 took us through the prettiest part of the drive yet, passing through, then climbing up the opposite side of the Sawtooth Valley. The road passes between Galena Summit at 8,701′ and Castle Peak at 11,815′, and near the small stream at nearly 7,000′ that becomes the Salmon River (also known as the “river of no return” because Lewis and Clark could not make it through the white water and rugged canyons) and eventually runs into the Snake River. We’ve driven this route once before, and it is nothing less than spectacular. After taking a little time to enjoy it, we continued on down to Ketchum and The Meadows RV Park. We were both pretty tired and ready to be finished. I even headed to bed a little early.
One of the nice things about staying between Ketchum and Hailey is the Wood River Trail, which extends north to Sun Valley and south to Bellevue and is used by exercisers and commuters. It is a nice, paved biking/walking trail along the Big Wood River, passing through meadows and woods of aspen and cottonwood. So on Friday morning I headed out about 6 AM for a nice ride, first going north towards Ketchum, then south down to Boxcar Bend. It was about 50 degrees with an 8 mph wind, and my hands were freezing! The beauty of the surroundings made up for it, though. After getting cleaned up back at Priscilla, I headed into Ketchum to tackle the laundry at Grumpy’s Laundry. You know I don’t often totally pan a place, but seriously, don’t go. It was awful! The machines were clean inside, but everything else was filthy. I even had to clean off the folding table before using it. I thought it was funny that a sign on the door said “No dogs allowed. No exceptions. Customers come here to clean dog hair off of their clothes.” Apparently the owner doesn’t have the same strong feelings about dirt in general. (I found out later that I had another option. It was named The Laundromutt, though, and I thought it was a pet grooming place. Turns out you can clean your dog and your clothes there at the same time. Check that out if you need clean clothes in Ketchum.) Chore done, I stopped in at Bigwood Bread for lunch and a bit of writing, then got a much-needed mani/pedi at Resource Salon. The owner, Laura, worked me in and was really awesome. (One of the hardest things about being on the road so much is finding places for haircuts and pedicures.) Finally, I could wear sandals again!! By the time my pretty feet and I made it back to Priscilla, it was time for some relaxing.
Saturday morning MW and I headed out for an early walk, then back over to Bigwood Bread so he could give it a try. They do breakfast, lunch, and bakery items, including some pretty amazing bagels. (Full disclosure…a couple of sweeties went home with us for later.) Next we headed over to check out the memorial to one of the area’s beloved former residents…Ernest Hemingway. Now there is a writer with an amazing past and a sad ending! Born in 1899, Hemingway started as a journalist just out of high school, but WWI interrupted his career. He drove an ambulance on the Italian Front while serving with the Red Cross. Later in the Spanish Civil War and WWII, he went back to his journalism career, and was present at both the invasion of Normandy and the liberation of Paris. His novels For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms were written out of his experiences. He wasn’t a terribly lucky man, though. He was seriously wounded in 1918 during the war, requiring immediate surgery and a 6-month hospital stay from severe shrapnel in both legs. In 1927, he contracted anthrax, but lived. In 1928, he conked himself in the head with a skylight, leaving a nasty scar. (He thought he was pulling the toilet chain. Maybe all of the drinking didn’t start later.) In 1930, he broke his arm and suffered nerve damage in his writing hand in a car accident that laid him up for 7 weeks and continued to bother him for years. In 1933 while touring in Africa, he contracted amoebic dysentery, which caused a prolapsed intestine for which he was air-evaced to Nairobi. In another car accident in 1945, he received both knee and head wounds. Then in 1954 he was nearly killed in TWO PLANE CRASHES ON SUCCESSIVE DAYS in Africa. The first left him with back and shoulder wounds, but the second left him with burns and a life-threatening head injury. His wife later said that he had two cracked discs, kidney and liver ruptures, a dislocated shoulder, and a broken skull. While recuperating from that, he received second-degree burns on his legs, front torso, lips, left hand, and right forearm in a brush fire. By his later years, he dulled all of the pain with alcohol. He didn’t fare well in marriage, either, racking up FOUR different wives. However, that was less an issue of bad luck and more a case of zipper problems. In the 1930s while living on Key West, Ernest discovered Wyoming and began to spend his summers there. In the 1950s he discovered Sun Valley, Idaho, and moved to nearby Ketchum in 1959. This amazing writer, who had been a journalist and Nobel Prize Winning novelist, used a shotgun to end his life in 1961. Maybe it was the physical pain or the abundance of head injuries. Maybe it was the emotional toll of four wives and three children. Maybe it was fear that his writing career was coming to an end. One doctor postulates that he ended up with some form of dementia brought on by excessive concussions, depression, and alcohol. It is possible, though, that he was following a tradition of sorts. His father, sister, and brother all committed suicide. When he found out about his father’s death, he said “I’ll probably go the same way.” Sadly in 1996, the cycle continued as his granddaughter, Margaux Hemingway, took her life. Ketchum and Sun Valley are proud of their adopted son. They installed a monument to Papa, as he was known, in a peaceful little clearing by a creek, and he is buried in the Ketchum Cemetery just down the road. Visitors leave pens and other gifts there.
As we headed back towards town, we had a good view of the nearby ski slopes that Ketchum is famous for. We met a nice couple from Utah who preferred skiing at Ketchum. They said you can get on the ski lifts right in town and there is rarely a wait. Our last stop for the morning was the Ketchum Arts Festival in Festival Meadow between Ketchum and Sun Valley. I love looking at the amazing things people make with their hands, and this show had some really great, quality stuff. It has been going on for 26 years and has grown from a dozen local artists to more than 70. We took it all in, enjoying the sunshine, but not the HEAT!! Before leaving we ran into Laura, from the salon yesterday, and her family. Her son is a woodworker and was displaying his wares. We also managed to grab a couple of gifts. On the way out, we took a gander at the statues of local olympians, saw the biggest draft horse I’ve ever seen, and took some pics around town.
Sunday started with another bike ride, this time a few miles further south and back. Then, after getting cleaned up, we drove down to Calvary Bible Church in Hailey, where Pastor Ron Brown gave a nice sermon from Zechariah. Jesus IS coming, and He will speak peace to the nations by the power of His word! Afterwards we headed over to Sun Valley Brewing Company for lunch, but were denied…closed. Plan B was Sawtooth Brewery Tap Room right around the corner, which turned out to be a good thing. The food was terrific. Then, after a quick grocery stop, we spent the afternoon relaxing. There was even a nap!! Oh and we also had some terrific neighbors come in…Karen and Enzo.
The Meadows RV Park is conveniently located off of ID-75 between Ketchum and Hailey. On the plus side, the 43 parallel sites are 60′ long and paved with full-hookup and both 30- and 50-amp. There is free wifi, a laundry facility onsite (just a couple of machines), a playground, and a bathhouse. What we didn’t like is the setup. They park every other RV opposite direction, so you will have someone’s back side to your back side, but that leaves your front door facing someone else’s front door. With just 6-8′ of gravel between, that left very little space for anything. Most of the campers parked their cars across the way and set up any sitting areas behind or in front of their rigs, which wouldn’t be terrible. However, we had one neighbor, thankfully for just a couple of days, who brought out an 8×10 rug, a pet fenced area of about the same size for their two big dogs, chairs, tables, and a playpen for their baby. He set it all up right between our rigs, so that when we came out of our front door, we had a thin little path to get to our truck. Another negative was that the bathhouse wasn’t cleaned from Thursday when we arrived to Monday when we left. With a constant stream of campers, many with minimal rigs, they were well-used and gross. Over-the-air tv was nonexistent, but cell signals were fine. For this visit in July 2024, we paid a little under $77 per night.
Thanks for riding along with us. Next up…A Museum for Potatoes, Leaving Idaho, and Wyoming Bluegrass. See you on the path!!
Talisa
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