EXPOdition

[Voyager3]

Coming back into Utah I ended up at Bear Lake, which is very pretty. It's particular shade of blue comes from the refraction of calcium carbonate deposits in the water. Another thing that struck me about the area was the care, attention, and sense of pride evident in every single residence around it. Whether it was a large home or a collection of trailers, the grounds were always meticulously kept and gave the area a very wholesome feeling.







I went up the east shore and all the camping had fees and crowds. So onward into Idaho to some road that at least went west where I knew there was National Forest land, and wouldn't you know it, a delightful little stream and space for a tent.





I'm a fan of the ground tent over a roof top. Between that and the way I've organized the Jeep, I feel like I have much more flexibility. With nothing built into the Jeep except some of my possible shade and the fridge, I can separate myself easily from it. I've got 4 Wolfpack boxes, a multi-day backpacking pack, and a daypack. It all packs below the belt line of the truck so all the windows are clear, and it can all move around or come out altogether if I want to accommodate something else in the cargo area. I'm also light and don't have a lot hanging off the vehicle so on open road days I can still put in tanks of up to 24mpg. In the 3600 miles or so of this trip, and 15 fillups of all gallon amounts and types of terrain, only 5 of those calculated out to under 19mpg. Benefits of not modifying your vehicle and not being in a hurry.

However, I did have a bit of a moment that evening. This time I knew exactly what set it off, often times I don't. It was just something someone said that just played over and over in my head. Generally, I'm getting better, but sometimes my mood just sinks, and until I get better at not becoming so attached to those feelings, I have to ride them out the old fashioned way. For me that comes with quite a lot of negativity and a dissolution of my feeling of self worth. On the plus side, these are becoming less frequent, but it does happen. And when it does, especially in large groups, simply excusing myself and calling it a night early is sometimes all I can do.

 

[Voyager3]

But now you need a happy note, which is why I'm glad this report has arrived at this day, because it's one of those days that makes the whole thing make sense. The sleeping in the Jeep, long driving hours, and the uncertainty that leads to the more memorable moments. You'll see how beautiful Idaho is. On that note, I'm sure there are plenty of Americans who dream of travel to far away places, and to make their lives look like the pages they follow on Instagram, but remember how much there is to see in this country and why so many come here to explore. We take it for granted because it's home, but get out however you can, even if it's just exploring your own state or the one next door.







The morning was rather uneventful, a tiny bit of interstate to get to Blackfoot and some grocery shopping. But upon consulting my map, to my surprise, I find that Craters of the Moon is between me and Oregon. I've heard of it, remember seeing pictures and can't wait to get going. But what's this? What's between me and Craters? A little blip on the map called Atomic City. The history buff in me can't resist. Early aviation, the birth of our space program, the style and design that came with the rapid progress of the 50s and 60s. I love all that. It might be small, but it's on the way, and if it has anything to do with the birth of the atomic age, it could be interesting.



Well it is small. Like fewer than 30. The smallest place I had ever lived was Bullfrog at about 250, around 50 of whom stayed through the winter. Bullfrog certainly was a long way from anything. We used to go 220 miles one way back to Colorado for groceries every few weeks. But Atomic City looks like it used to be bigger, I mean, it's got a race track. So what gives?



The bar is open, so I pop in to see what's what. Inside I find a woman at the counter, it seems I'm the first real visitor of the season. So I ask why is it called Atomic City? At this point I might as well have a beer and sit down for a chat. Atomic City was supposed to be the first city in the world lit by atomic power. In anticipation of this possibility, the name of the town was changed in 1950 from Midway since it was halfway between Arco and Blackfoot. Apparently, the town used to be much larger (I heard as many as 3500) with two bars, a grocery store and more because many of the people who worked at the National Reactor Testing Station lived there. “The Site” as it was known was home to more than 50 reactors over the years of various types including EBR-1 (the first reactor to make useable electricity in 1951) and the power plant for the first nuclear submarine. But something happened, the decision was made to send the power to Arco instead, and for that famous hour on July 17, 1955, they instead became the first town lit solely by atomic power from The Site's Borax-III reactor. After losing out on their time in the spotlight, the town started a decline. And the world's first and the U.S.'s only fatal reactor accident on Janurary 3, 1961 at the SL-1 reactor didn't help. Atomic City these days seems forgotten, and some articles write it off as a ghost town. But the bar's guestbook is full, there are messages on dollar bills on the walls from visitors from all over, and the racetrack, a small dirt oval, is active. The bar's owner, Vickie is sweet, full of great conversation, and a racing fan. She owns the track there as well as a track in nearby Pocatello. So if you see it on your map, take the one mile detour, stop in and say hi. Oddball Americana like this is part of the joy of exploring.





After I directed some bicyclists who were heading towards the storm to the bar down the road back towards the bar, I kept heading west. And since EBR-1 was right there, and I had a few extra minutes before this monster storm hit, I had a look around. There is no entrance fee, and everything is remarkably well preserved, right down to the chalk writing on the wall of all the people present and working there as they ushered in a new era of energy. After soaking up some more history, I decided I wanted to avoid an actual soaking. Radio reported the potential for quarter sized hail and I drove into Arco to wait it out.

 

[Voyager3]

On the other side of the storm, I rolled into Craters of the Moon excited by the landscape.





It's a fairly recent lava field from just a couple thousand years ago. This means that the life that is there is very recent on the earth's timescale, and as beautiful as it is hardy.







These monkey flowers only bloom a few weeks with the early rains, and I'm glad I was able to see so many. There's a story with the trees as well. The crazy branches are the result of dwarf mistletoe, which is parasitic but only weakens the host tree, it doesn't kill it. The plant secretes a hormone that makes the tree send more nutrients to that part of the tree and the branches go nuts around it. The problem is when the area was turned into a protected park, we thought we would do something about this because it was not pleasing to the eye, and surely we would be helping the ecosystem by cutting down or poisoning over 6000 trees. Trees that had gotten on just fine without us. Conservation is something we are still learning, but here I feel we are now doing a good job. It's much more evident when the landscape is so fragile to keep it as pristine as Craters is. That takes work by the people who care for the park and I appreciate that. I made the loop seeing everything I could except the caves. I wondered if this would be one of those things I would regret.









After leaving the park I tracked down a local hot spring on a tip from Vickie and eventually found it. It was a small, word of mouth type of thing that I then found out used to be small, and word of mouth but now apparently is all over instagram and such and certainly got busier as the evening wound down. But before that happened, I got to hang out with a man and his young son and learning about their dinner recipe. Chef Boyardee ravioli straight out of the can, cold, onto a burger bun. I'm sure I'll try it myself at some point. Feeling relaxed I headed out for a campsite figuring I had just enough time to follow this man's recommendation, but after many miles off the main road, down into a gorge I found every possible site crammed with trucks, toy haulers, side by sides, and quads. I think it was a holiday weekend. So back to the second suggestion from someone else which led to this dam, with just one other party a short distance away. I did ********** something on a dark partially concreted water crossing, but that's just a lesson in not being in a hurry at night. I'm sure they meant well when they sort of paved it, but underneath it's all broken up so at least the holes they made are squared off.

 

[Voyager3]

In the morning I thought again about the caves and about not skipping things you want to see. The argument against was I had to make some time because I now had a flight out of Portland to catch in a few days and I was still in the middle of Idaho. However, I did go back and it was the right move. I got a cave permit and went back in. A big problem in caves in North America is the spread of White Nose Syndrome. It's a hardy little fungus that has impacted our bat populations tremendously. First documented in New York fairly recently in 2006, it's spread rapidly to 32 states, 7 Canadian provinces and has even been recently found as far west as Wyoming. Some sites have had a 100% mortality rate and the number of bats killed by the epidemic is now estimated between 5.7 and 6.7 million. We are trying to stop it, but it's spread largely by people who track it on their clothes from cave to cave. So if you go to caves in our parks they will ask you if you're wearing any clothing that has been in any cave in the last 10 years. Please be honest as there is no practical treatment for it, and stopping the spread is really our only reasonable course of action. Bat rant over.





I was clean so I did go in. (I later saw a cave I wanted to visit in Oregon and did not because I only had the one pair of boots and I know how sensitive the problem is. Someone might have contaminated Craters a week prior and even I could have tracked it to Oregon. We don't want that. Maybe I'll go back with a different set of boots) Anyway, the caves are all under the lava flow and very cool. Boy Scout Cave was my favorite, but tricky as the rock floor is covered in a layer of slick ice.





A lot of people don't know chocolate mousse is mined from caves in lava fields.



It was fun to shut the light off and experience the unique advanced darkness of a cave. There were great icicles, and evidence of how the rock moved when it was liquid.



Back on the road and the time crunch didn't mean I was going to give in to the insterstates. In fact, the first thing I did was make a wrong turn adding an hour to my travel time, I guess just to get it out of the way. But again, I find another roadside treasure as a result. This M37 was tempting at just 4500 bucks, but alas, nowhere to put it.



I was headed up in to the Sawtooth mountains and I was well rewarded by beautiful scenery. Not much time spent stopping, but what a place to drive though. The long drive put me into eastern Oregon for the night in another completely empty forest with a moon so bright I could make funny shadows on the forest floor.

 

[Bhodie]

Well, instead of snacking on your story, I gorged my way through the whole thing and find myself wanting more.. don’t spread it out too far/long ?. I love that you are recounting not only your physical journey, but your emotional one as well. Pretty perceptive, enjoy both.

 

[Voyager3]

Well, instead of snacking on your story, I gorged my way through the whole thing and find myself wanting more.. don’t spread it out too far/long ?. I love that you are recounting not only your physical journey, but your emotional one as well. Pretty perceptive, enjoy both.

That's good. I appreciate that, the two aspects of the trip are very intertwined. There's a little bit more to come yet on this trip.

 

[Voyager3]

Last roadside 4x4 find. So what will it be? FJ40, Series II Rover, M37 or a Willys Jeep Truck? Which would you take on your next adventure?



The last day of the trip I squeezed in the Painted Hills and Smith Rock. Painted hills is a small area but rather unique. It's a glimpse back in time for the area's transition from swampy to deciduous forest. The evidence in the colored clays shows when the climate was wetter (redder iron rich layers) to drier (whiter). There have also been thousands of tree fossils of various leafs and seeds found on site. It's a quick visit for a couple short walks and a view and off to Smith Rock.









I've seen a lot of road signs in my day, and I reckon these are fairly rare.



Smith Rock has become famous for the climbing on offer up to a staggering 5.14d rating. It's also home to Golden Eagles, but I didn't see any that day. Remember Jenson sitting next to the bird sign in Vermillion cliffs? With wingspans of up to 7 feet, they are impressive and beautiful birds. I remember the couple I did get to see around Waterpocket Fold in Utah a couple years ago including one on the ground on a freshly caught hare. But even their nests are huge, averaging 5-6 feet wide, and they are easily spotted in the enormous cliff faces at Smith Rock.







I arrived back in Newport with a couple days down time before an early flight to Florida for the weekend, and came back for 36 hours of rest before heading out for another 1400 mile weekend which I'm tacking onto this report because it didn't feel I stopped. And it was fun.

 

[Voyager3]

At Expo, Pete from Mosko Moto reminded me they were having an event back at the Alvord in June. As it turned out, I could make it. Maybe I could have a rest day out there. Right. I arrived in the dark to the playa again, and almost immediately lost Jenson. It could have been the party, or it could have been he just needed a pee, went to find a bush, didn't find one and got legitimately lost out in the darkness of the lake bed. He is a curious explorer, but his radius is usually great and he always checks in. To not see him for 5 or 10 minutes is odd. I didn't find him for 3 hours. When I finally did I was on my bicycle well over a mile from the camp and after all the stress of wondering if he was ok, I was so happy to find him. He seemed pretty ecstatic, I'm not sure he thought he would see me again. The next day I was determined to not do anything. Just relax, and I did for some of it. I read under my shade in the morning, but the day descended into axe throwing, trampolining, sail boarding, borrowing a big BMW to hit 110 in shorts and a t-shirt (which came with a bonus test of Nalgene bottle durability as it came out of its holder pinned in 5th), and a 2v2 U.S.A. v Netherlands soccer game. Wrapped up with a good fire, great conversation and a healthy amount of gratitude that days like this are even possible.















The next day a combination of weather coming in and things I needed to tend to in Newport and Bend along the way I headed back west. With news of Anthony Bourdain's passing, I had a nice meal at a Mexican/Peruvian restaurant and settled into a campsite in the Oregon Badlands.

This image shows the odd disconnect in the human mind regarding trash and effort exerted. You can pack your trash out, or you can leave it at camp. But the peculiar thing is that taking time and energy to hide trash on site rather than just putting it back in the car isn't even all that rare. If you're willing to take the time to stuff wine coolers in a bush, you can take them home and dispose of them properly like everything else.



Not necessarily on the way, but something I've continually missed in all the time I've lived in Oregon was Crater Lake, so I decided to go. The road I chose to go was initially shut, and plenty of people were turned around and probably did add an hour to their travel time. I however, took a short break in a nearby forest to see some of the melting snow and checked back. For whatever reason, the road was open and I drove right in. The road around Crater Lake is beautiful and the Lake, especially with the snow is stunning. The area gets an average of 43 feet of snow per year and it shows. It's a long way down, but in the summer it is possible to get a ranger to take you to Wizard Island by boat to hike around. I should do that someday.







They are serious about their snow plow guides.



The last little human touch to the trip happened on the way out of the park. I passed a car on the side of the road and once I found a place to turn around, I did and went back to check. There's a scene in the movie Logan where the accident happens on the highway that allows that family's horses to escape. After Charles suggests they help Logan says, “Someone will come along.” Charles' response is, “Someone HAS come along.” I don't like being just another person that sees a problem they might be able to help with and just keeps going. And even though I couldn't help him, he ended up trying to help me. When I arrived the man got out and I asked what the problem was. He saw I was wearing my Newport Fire jacket and said that he was in the medical field as well. A physician by trade but also an EMT and has been working in a number of capacities to help others. He was Indian, but living in Chicago and traveling the west. His car was overheating and though he had extra coolant, etc he was just waiting for it to cool down so he could get somewhere and have it checked. But we got to talking about life and travel and living simply. It seemed to him I was already headed in the right direction for being happy. When he found out also that I was heading the other way and had turned around for him, he went into his car to get me some information in Vipassana meditation. He told me it was like a mental boot camp, but that it could be something I was interested in. He was always smiling, and he even told me that maybe it was I that had been waiting for his car to break down so we could meet. I just might look into the 10 day course, difficult though it may be, it could help sharpen my mind and help me. We shall see.

I hope you enjoyed this report. I have some things to take care of here in Newport like sell this bus and then I'm off for a year. I will be sharing that trip with you all as it happens, as I discover more about cleaning up our beaches, and maybe even cleaning up our minds. I will try to do more than just use this as a place to dump pictures and say, “look where I went”. I'm out here not just to get to know landscapes, but other people, cultures, history, and myself. Hopefully I'll see some of you on the way.


Travis and Jenson

 

[SOAZ]

Awesome write up. Looking forward to whats next!

 

[Ace Brown]

Everything about your report reminds me of someone else’s travel writing. I traveled with a guy in Baja a few years ago and got to know him pretty well. I follow his wanderings here and on Facebook. He travels quite simply, avoids crowds and search’s out unique and interesting places all over the US, Canada and Baja. He also travels with just his dog. He’s Park Kitchings. Check out his wanderings and see if you don’t see the similarity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rut Ro]

Great write up man! I enjoyed this while sipping on some coffee. Looks like a good time was had. Great looking pup too!!

 

[justBill]

Thank you for taking us along!

 

[Voyager3]

Awesome write up. Looking forward to whats next!

Thanks guys, enjoy your trip!

Everything about your report reminds me of someone else’s travel writing. I traveled with a guy in Baja a few years ago and got to know him pretty well. I follow his wanderings here and on Facebook. He travels quite simply, avoids crowds and search’s out unique and interesting places all over the US, Canada and Baja. He also travels with just his dog. He’s Park Kitchings. Check out his wanderings and see if you don’t see the similarity.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll look him up, thanks for reading!

Great write up man! I enjoyed this while sipping on some coffee. Looks like a good time was had. Great looking pup too!!

I appreciate that, glad you enjoyed the read!

Thank you for taking us along!

You're welcome, my pleasure!

 

[gdaut]

That was a great read, and very inspirational. Thanks very much.

And I drove past the Series II Land rover today. Small world.

 

[Voyager3]

That was a great read, and very inspirational. Thanks very much.

And I drove past the Series II Land rover today. Small world.

Thank you, I want it to be worthwhile.

Did you buy it?