Day 3 -- Twin Falls to Idaho Falls, Idaho -- 184 Miles

Today promised to be easy from the start. First of all, we were camped next to Route 93 which made it super easy to head north out of Twin Falls since that's the route we wanted to take toward Idaho Falls. Second, we both got a great night's sleep and didn't get up until 6:30 which meant we'd be well-rested for whatever came our way. Third and last, I've fallen back easily into the routine of setting up and breaking down the rig so I encountered no problems in pumping the tanks and stowing the gear.

Despite the fact that we overslept a bit, we were somewhat earlier than usual leaving camp at 8:45 a.m. We plugged in the GPS and fed in a fictitious address in Shoshone, Idaho, along our intended route and sure enough camping next to Route 93 had been a great idea. The GPS just had us exit the camp and head directly north and out of Twin Falls. Once we crossed the Snake River, we stopped to top up the tank, then we were quickly back on the highway. When driving the RV I never let the gas gauge drop below a half tank if I can help it. Since we travel the two-lane highways whenever possible, you never know when the next gas station will appear on the horizon.

We very quickly arrived at the fictitious address we had fed into the GPS for the town of Shoshone. From there we switched to Idaho Route 20 and headed east toward the town of Idaho Falls. Idaho Falls didn't hold any particular significance, but was just a probable destination for the next camping opportunity. Traveling Route 20, we soon entered the boundaries of the Craters of the Moon national park and began to see ever larger fields of volcanic rock. We were intrigued, since the rock was, for the most part, coal black and jagged and not covered by any sort of vegetation.

I thought perhaps that the lava fields were probably just a few tens of thousands of years old, but later in the day when we stopped at the Craters Visitor Center, we would find out that the further you were away from Yellowstone Park the older the lava fields became. On the western fringes of the Craters of the Moon site the lava fields were some 10 million years old. Now THAT'S old!

Since Concetta and I had toured the lava fields a couple of times in the past, we opted not to take the tour this time. Still, the visitor center parking lot had ample space for our rig so we decided to stay, tour the visitor center, and then have lunch with the singular vistas of the park in our living room window. If you've not yet seen the Craters of the Moon Park, by all means put it on your next vacation itinerary. The visitor center is quite thorough in their explanation of the ancient events in the park, and I found that their library of reading material was just excellent. I especially liked their variety of books on the subject of geology. If I hadn't been already carry a half dozen books on the subject, I would have definitely picked up a couple of their excellent guides.

After leaving the Craters of the moon park there wasn't much of a historic nature to see save the magnificent scope of the Idaho prairie. We passed hundreds of acres of corn, kale, potatoes, hay, alfalfa, and possibly other green things we couldn't identify at 60 miles an hour. Still the landscape varies from obviously volcanic with not much vegetation at all, to full-blown agricultural fields with only the occasional volcanic outcroppings to mar the beauty of the magnificent fields of crops.

Possibly the most intriguing geologic features of the Idaho prairie in this area is the many volcanic cones rising up from the sage lands that mark the existence of extinct volcanoes. The land is so flat and golden that the black and burnt-red volcanic cones are startling in their incongruity with the surroundings.

One thing you usually have to contend with when motoring along in your RV is that very nearly everyone wants to go faster, and usually a LOT faster than you want to travel. For me, cruising along at 60 mph is a fine speed for taking in the surroundings, as well as avoiding panic stops when you want to pull over for some reason. But the bulk of traffic seems intent on risking life and limb to get around you. Naturally, I pull over if space is provided for such a maneuver, but much of the time it's not. More than once today we found ourselves holding our breath as cars went past us at seventy-five or eighty miles per hour and just managed to squeak back into line ahead of oncoming cars. Fortunately today most of the two-lane highway we traveled was open to passing, so traffic didn't pile up behind us too much.

When we were approaching Idaho Falls, Concetta pulled out her trusty IPhone and queried suitable camps. After reading about a couple, she checked the GPS for its recommendation and discovered the same ones listed. By this time we were cruising through the outskirts of the city and I once again began looking for a hardware store. While traveling yesterday I mentioned to Concetta that I had forgotten to pack the rock hammer, which would be necessary if we wanted to do a little rock hunting. I've also been meaning to look for a couple of hardwood handles for two hammer heads I brought along for which I have been unable to find suitable handles online.

Fortunately, before we had to head north toward our camp for the evening, I spied a True Value Hardware store just off to the left which appeared to have ample parking for the rig. You can't always assume that you can squeeze 32 feet of RV into a strip mall's parking lot. But the choice of True Value appeared to be just what I needed. Not only did they have the rock hammer, but a HUGE selection of hammer handles to pick from. So in one opportunity I was able to fulfill all my shopping desires.

Leaving True Value, we soon found our camp ground. The camp hosts said they had a spot for us, which didn't turn out to be in the nicest area of the camp, but in fairness they usually reserve the nicest spots for long-term guests. The spot turned out to be basically level and I had the rig set up in a jiffy. Concetta meantime had my cocktail mixed, the pretzels plated, and we were soon enjoying the remainder of the afternoon under the extended awning.

Thank goodness the techs back in Carson City had been able to fix the broken awning last fall. The awning had broken the last time we were in Montana and there were no spare parts ANYWHERE to be found. Now, not only do I carry two sets of spare pivot parts for the awning structure, but I also have an extra awning extension arm. When you're RVing, spare parts is the name of the game in a lot of cases.

So ends our third day on the road. We've had great traveling weather. It's been just a bit warm, but this afternoon we're not running the air conditioner and things seem just fine. Concetta has been sitting in the shade reading her book for the past hour and, well, you know what I've been doing -- pursuing that skill I acquired in the 7th grade as only one of a couple of boys in the typing class.

Tomorrow we're headed east again. We're skirting Yellowstone Park this time. In fact, our encounter with lame-brained, buffalo-petting tourists and huge irritating traffic jams in the park during our 2017 visit may have cured me forever from wanting to visit Yellowstone. This time we'll cross north of the park and then begin to edge our way further east in hopes of catching South Dakota Route 212 toward Minneapolis-Saint Paul. There I have to pick up a couple of front seats for a 1929 Ford which I purchased on Ebay.

Of course taking the northern route was planned from the beginning as we hoped that cooler temperatures would prevail up there. So far, the temperatures and weather have been pretty reminiscent of Carson City. But you never know, they had several inches of hail in the Dakotas last week. Maybe things will begin to cool down a bit when we reach the Dakotas.

So that's all for now from the "Happy Wanderers." We wish you the best of traveling conditions as you take to the road for your wandering adventures. And if you see us somewhere out there on the Great Plains or in the High Lonesome, give us a wave!