The next day, we drove 103 miles to Greybull, Wyoming, where we dry camped at Rick and Carol Lechner's place (soon-to-be Lazy Daze owners). On our way, we stopped in Worland to see the Toth statue located on the grounds of the Washakie County Courthouse.
Toth statue in Worland, Wyoming
September 28, 1980
N 43° 01.023', W 107° 57.335'
Earl and I had dinner in Greybull that night at Buffalo Rose Restaurant.
After bidding goodbye to Rick and Carol on Tuesday, we stopped to fill the Lazy Daze before heading out. We drove 150 miles to the Ocean Lake State Wildlife Management Area near Riverton, Wyoming (free, no services). This was a nice quiet spot next to the lake.
The next day, we drove 132 miles to Grand Teton National Park where we camped in the Colter Bay Campground ($6 per night with the Golden Age Passport...no hookups, but fresh water and a dump are available).
On Thursday, we drove into Jackson to do grocery shopping and send back the extra DW6000 Direcway modem which, as it turned out, we didn't need after all. We stopped and had lunch at Picas.
The following day, we picked up our mail and then took the Signal Mountain Road scenic drive. Beautiful scenery!
Tetons:
Sixty to 75 million years ago, the Teton Range and the valley of Jackson Hole were an arched block of sedimentary rock that ancient seas had deposited. About 2 to 13 million years ago, the Teton Range began to rise while the valley floor dropped. At the same time (and this still happens today), the valley itself slowly widened at the rate of about one foot every 100 years. This continual fault action normally creates a deep, steep-sided valley; however, several times massive glaciers 3,000 feet thick slowly flowed across the valley eroding, transporting, and depositing huge quantities of rock and glacial debris (the valley's true floor, for example, lies buried beneath 26,000 feet of debris that form today's valley floor).
On Saturday, August 7, we left Jackson and drove 128 miles to the South Tourist Park in Idaho Falls, Idaho (free, water and dump available). After setting up, we did shopping at Sam's Club.
The next day, before we left Idaho Falls, we stopped at the Home Depot and Albertson's to do shopping (bought a new barbecue at Home Depot). We also stopped to view another Toth statue which is located at the North Tourist Park.
Toth Statue in Idaho Falls, Idaho
November 18, 1980
N 43° 30.663', W 112° 00.946'
We drove 65 miles to camp at a BLM area along Birch Creek north of Mud Lake, Idaho. We left a donation of $3 (no facilities). This is a nice quiet area to the west of SR-28.
The next day, we drove 77 miles to Craters of the Moon National Monument, stopping in Arco, Idaho to do laundry and fill up the Lazy Daze. We also had lunch at Pickles Restaurant while in Arco.
We found a great spot to park in -- at the highest point in the campground with a view of the lava fields.
Craters of the Moon
Picture on the left is a view from our campsite
Picture on the right is one of the many volcanic cones that dot this area
The fissure vents, volcanic cones, and lava flows of the Great Rift Zone began erupting about 15,000 years ago and ceased on 2,000 years ago. Geologists predict that the landscape will erupt once again!
The next day when we were getting ready to leave Craters of the Moon, I accidentally locked my keys in the Honda (we use Earl's single key to put in the ignition). That meant that we had to stop along the way to find someone to jimmy the door open -- which we did in Carey, Idaho, to the tune of $30! An expensive mistake that we'll make sure never happens again!
We drove 106 miles to Fort Running Bear RV Resort near Mountain Home, Idaho, one of our Coast to Coast parks.
On Wednesday, we drove 76 miles to the Playground RV Park in Meridian, Idaho, a Good Neighbor Park. We took the Honda to Dirty Harry's Car Wash to clean it, and then had dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's home in Kuna, along with my mother. This was the first time we'd been in their new house (which Andy had built -- he's a home builder in the area). It was a beautiful house!
The next day, we had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, stopped at the Wal-Mart to pick up Earl's prescription for Pravachol, and stopped by the Post Office to pick up our mail. Mom, Earl, and I then went by one of the houses that Andy had almost completed -- another beautiful house! If you'd like to look at pictures of some of the houses my brother has built, go to the website for his business: Timberstone Builders. On Friday, we drove 53 miles to the Simpson RV Park in Nyssa, Oregon, where we visited with my aunt, Ilene Suiter. Earl and I brought back Chinese food from the local Chinese restaurant for dinner for the three of us.
The next morning, we washed the Lazy Daze and then went by Ilene's place for coffee before heading out. Her son and daughter-in-law were there visiting, too. This was the first time we'd ever met them. After leaving Nyssa, we drove 102 miles to the Cold Spring Campground in the Payette National Forest near Pine Ridge, Idaho ($5 with GAP, no services).
Sunday we headed north, stopping in Lewiston, Idaho at the Flying J to fill the Lazy Daze with gas, and then continued on to the Latah County Fairgrounds in Moscow, Idaho. While this campground isn't free, there is no pay box, and the past several times when we've been here, we've never found anyone in the office to pay, which was true this time, too. After setting up, we went across the street to shop at the Safeway store.
The next day, we drove 108 miles to the Elks Club in Spokane, Washington. When we went to plug in, I noticed that the electrical monitor we keep plugged into an outlet, was giving strange readings. We unplugged from the electric, and I took the monitor out to check the electric at the post. Everything was OK there, so we plugged in the RV again...but the monitor still wasn't reading correctly inside. So we called Steve at the Lazy Daze factory for some guidance. He had us run through some procedures, and then told us it was probably something wrong with the converter. So, since it was hot, we pulled off into the empty lot so that we could run our generator and A/C (it was in the high 90's!).
We then headed down to an RV center we'd used in previous years, but it was no longer there! We ended up at Freedom RV and made an appointment for the next day. We had dinner that night at Applebee's.
The next morning, we drove the Lazy Daze down to Freedom RV. The problem turned out to be in the wiring for the exterior 30-amp outlet on the rig. When the outlet had been installed at the factory, the insulation on the ground wire had been stripped back too far. After awhile, that bare wire touched the screw which hold the outlet to the rig and shorted out -- and, in the process, also shorted out the 15-amp GFCI fuse which had to be replaced. Fortunately, all the work was done under warranty, so we didn't have to pay anything for the repairs. When we got back to the Elks Club, we moved back to our space and plugged in.
On Wednesday, Earl went golfing at Liberty Lake Golf Course. That evening, we went out to dinner with George and Mary Doran at the Spokane Club. It was great to see them again!
On Thursday, soon-to-be Lazy Daze owners, David & Verna Renggli came by the Elks Club to visit us on their way to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Earl also took the Honda to Valley Honda to have the oil changed. That evening, we had a barbecue at the Elks Club -- everyone brings their own meat, and a side dish to share with everyone.
Friday, we picked up supplies at Johnson RV, and bought a collapsible clothes hamper and a small Shark vacuum at Linens 'n Things. That night, we had dinner at the Thai Kitchen. We've eaten here before, and the owner recognized us even though it had been a couple of years since we'd been there!
Saturday, we drove out to Airway Heights to drive by the log home that we had built during the 80's and then stopped by the Longhorn BBQ for lunch.
On Sunday, we had breakfast at Marie Callender's with George and Mary. Afterward, we did laundry and went by PetCo to pick up more food for Maxx.
When we left Spokane on Monday, August 23, we stopped by Albertson's to do grocery shopping and fill up the Lazy Daze with gas. We then drove 99 miles to the Lake Gillette Campground in the Colville National Forest near Ione, Washington.
The next day, we drove 103 miles to Bonaparte Lake Campground in the Okanogan National Forest near Wauconda, Washington. Along the way, we stopped in Republic and had lunch at the Sportsman Roost, and then picked up a couple of sweatshirts as it was a bit on the cool side and we had left Quartzsite without any.
On Wednesday, we drove 73 miles to the North Summit Sno Park at Loup Loup Pass on SR-20 west of Okanogan, Washington. We hadn't originally planned on staying here, but had stopped for a break. It was a huge, clear area, and would be perfect for setting up the satellite Internet tripod (it had been a couple of days since I'd been able to download email!)... so we decided to spend the night. Later in the evening -- and again the next morning -- we had a small herd of cows visit us!
The next day, we drove 94 miles to the Newhalem Creek Campground in the North Cascade National Park. This is a beautiful area...we'll definitely have to come back and visit when we can spend a few days. We did take a walk through the woods...it was quite dark with all those big trees looming over us!
We arrived at Buck and Phyllis Draughn's place in Woodinville on Friday, having traveled 117 miles. Along the way, we stopped at Buffalo Run in Marblemount for breakfast. That night, we had dinner with Buck and Phyllis at their house.
We stayed with Buck and Phyllis for eight nights. While there, we cleaned the Lazy Daze inside and out, including giving the rig it's first wax job -- the white areas got one coat of Finish First; the red areas two coats. Earl also changed the oil in the generator. Earl golfed twice at Battle Creek Golf Course and once at Snohomish Golf Course, and we had dinner out -- once at Las Margaritas and once at Thai Woodinville.
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