Let's Finish this Thing!

 

                                                     Leaving Boise September 29, 2020

We finished our cross-country trip and made our last entry on this blog on July 14, 2017. We ended our trip at Yellowstone National Park. We drove home to Boise, across the Southern Idaho Desert and put the car and tent trailer away. But there was one thing wrong; we hadn't really finished the Yellowstone Trail. It is true that an earlier generation of the Yellowstone Trail terminated at Yellowstone National Park, but fairly soon thereafter the Yellowstone Trail Association sponsored the building of a transcontinental road all the way to Puget Sound. The Yellowstone Trail then joined the Lincoln Highway as one of the earliest transcontinental roads!

It has always bothered me that we didn't complete this trip all the way to Puget Sound. Even though on other occasions we've driven what was once the Yellowstone Trail from our home in Idaho to Seattle, I wanted to do it as part of this effort. So as Willie Nelson sings: "We're on the Road Again". We're starting a bit late, and it would have been better to have done this trip during the summer time, but COVID got in the way. But it is better late than never.

On our first day day we managed to get out of the house and on the road by 8:30. We drove first to the Boise Depot to get a picture of the city and of our "rig". Then it was off to Mountain Home and Yellowstone National Park to pick up "The Trail" again.

 From there, we will continue through Montana and try and trace the Yellowstone Trail as best we can. Although Interstate 90 has obliterated much of the Yellowstone Trail, we can at least hit the cities and towns that it passes through. In addition, it's turning cold. Last night it was 17° in West Yellowstone. I hope it's warmer tonight and that we don't end up as a couple of popsicles!

For early travelers and "autoists", Southern Idaho was something to be traversed, endured and survived. For instance, Frederic's Van de Water who wrote "The Family Flivvers to Frisco" felt that Southern Idaho's main purpose was to provide a contrast with the beauty of Yellowstone and the beauty of Western Oregon. I doubt that the Idaho Travel Commission will be using any of his quotes. 

Van de Water's impressions aside, there is much to see here and I will mention the points that I find noteworthy. 

From Boise we drove Interstate 84 to Mountain Home. At Mountain home we left the interstate to take U.S. 20 across southern Idaho to Interstate 15. The drive to West Yellowstone was approximately six hours and we hadn't even really started yet.

There are some things to see through southern Idaho. We crossed Highway 75 which is the road to Sun Valley. Beyond that, we drove through the town of Picabo (Peek-a-Boo - Remember the Olympic gold medal skier? She was from near here!) and then over the hill to Arco, Idaho. 

Before Arco, we stopped at Craters of the Moon. Craters of the Moon is a national monument. It has an otherworldly appearance. So otherworldly in fact that the Apollo astronauts practiced for the moon landing here.

 

Arco Idaho has the distinction of being the first town to be lighted by electricity generated by atomic power. East of Arco is EBR 1, which is the first nuclear power plant used to generate electricity. The plant has been since decommissioned, but most years you can tour the plant.

                       

In a park in the center of Arco is a Conning Tower or Sail from a nuclear submarine, The USS Hawkbill. This is another nod to Southern Idaho's significant contribution to nuclear research. On the rocks above Arco there are many numbers painted on the rock cliffs. These are whitewashed or painted on the rocks by the graduating seniors of the high school in Arco. The oldest one dates to the 1920's and the most recent last year's.                                                                                     

 

We crossed the Big Lost River before entering Arco and again after we left. The first time I came to Southern Idaho I wondered about the name. It comes from the fact that the flowing river enters the Lava beds in the desert and disappears into the aquifer It reappears near Hagerman as the Thousand Springs where it falls into the Snake River. 

Interstate 15 we turned north towards West Yellowstone. Along the way we went through the town of Rigby. Rigby is proud of the fact that it is the birthplace of Philo T. Farnsworth who invented television. Apparently Mr. Farnsworth wrote his idea on a chalkboard at Rigby High where he was a student!

Tomorrow we will go into Yellowstone Park and then north to Livingston to pick up the east-west route of the Yellowstone Trail. 

Good to have you along for the ride!