headername
The 2011 Trip
Part 148 – Provo, Utah to Idaho Falls, Idaho

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

We were up at 6:20AM our time or 7:20AM at the campground. While having breakfast there were a few flakes of snow in the rain falling at 6:40AM. It was over in a few minutes with nothing on the ground. The paved drive was not wet at 6:55AM. The temperature was around 34F with a lot of heavy cumulus cloud around. There was a few breaks in the clouds with the sun we cannot see shining on the clouds making them bright white. We could not see the tops of the mountains. Just a bit of the mountain bottoms only.

We went to the office for a bottle of propane but the office was closed so we had to wait until 9AM our time or 10AM their time.

While waiting I managed to have a chat with one of the older maintenance men. He told me the Boles Aero trailer had been purchased for $500.00 and it was to be fitted out as an ice cream sales outlet. What a shame. Any number of people would have enjoyed restoring it to its original glory I am sure.

We purchased our bottle of propane for a few cents less than we had paid for it in Arizona. We were on the road at 9:06AM our time. Once we were clear of the campground and had a chance to look around we realized Provo, Utah is surrounded by mountains and they were all snow capped. It was sunny and 46F when we left the campground.

pic1

pic2

These trees were very pretty. We have no idea what they are but there are quite a few around. Joan took these two photographs on Center Street in Provo as we were leaving.

We managed to stay on Geneva Road for a few miles before going on to interstate 15. Interstate 15 was in a state of turmoil with work being done on it all the way through Provo. We had one close call and saw a large truck lock up probably thirty some wheels leaving blue smoke all over the interstate. He managed to avoid one little pee pot sized car.

Coming through Salt Lake City was an experience. One can purchase a post card in Newfoundland showing nothing but solid fog with the note welcome to Newfoundland. Salt Lake City reminded us of that all the way through. We were in a combination of light rain mixed with snow and did well to see the road signs on interstate 215 and 15. 215 is one of those out and about to avoid the most of the traffic that most large cities have today. There was still plenty of traffic. We did not see a thing of Salt Lake City. The amount of traffic left us convinced Salt Lake City was there.

On the north side of Salt Lake City the sun shone for awhile. Long enough for us to pull over and top up the diesel tank at a Texaco Service station. We went in at 10:19AM and out at 10:26AM our time.

Joan was looking over her charts and publications and noted that the truck stop off 15 at Tremonton, Utah, had an Arby's outlet. So in we went for a nice lunch. We left our little diesel backed in as though it were a big diesel with the other big diesel rigs. We were there for about an hour from 11:29AM to 12:29PM our time. While there I picked up a couple of small plastic containers of diesel fuel additive.

We kept coming north on 15. The snow kept coming down the mountains until we were driving in it. Luckily it was just plain messy and did not make the highway slick. It was hard to see at times.

pic3

There were a lot of cattle and horses in various pastures as we came along. It was nice to see all the green grass and the animals. The desert was rather tiresome at times.

pic4
We have a hard time trying to get a state sign for some unknown reason. Probably because most are nowhere near a decent position to photograph. Joan managed to get a good shot of this one of Idaho.
The exit at McCammon, Idaho, had a Texaco station. We pulled in through the snow storm and found the pump. I put in one container of diesel additive and topped up the tank. We pulled in at 1:25PM and back on the road at 1:36PM our time. The weather was plain lousy.
pic5
This was the weather for much too long today. We did not think we would have any winter this year but we have had plenty the last couple of days. Here in the mountains the weather is forever changing.

The weather cleared up to a nice day right after we went past Pocatello, Idaho. This is because we went down a mountain.

Joan found the Snake River RV Park & Campground, 1440 Lindsay Road, Idaho Falls, Idaho, in her publications before we departed Provo, Utah. We headed for that this morning and made it.

The Lakeside RV Campground at Provo, Utah, certainly receives the Spud and Joan seal of approval. It was one of those older homey campgrounds with rocking chairs to sit in on the verandah. There were even two very friendly cats that loved to be petted and talked to. It was very pretty around there with the mountains, animals and so on.

This Snake River campground appears to be the same. They even gave us a small stuffed snake with a thank you card for our granddaughter Josie. This campground is also open all year round the same as the one at Provo. The water pipes are insulated and have heating tapes on them.

pic6

Note the snow on the front of the trailer. Joan took this right after we arrived at the Snake River campground while I went in the office to register.

We pulled in here at 2:50PM our time. The neighbours are from California and were out and greeted us on arrival. The lady had worked with someone from Nova Scotia who had showed her a lot of photographs of Nova Scotia. She said she hoped to get up some time. I have the Nova Scotia tourist bureau one eight hundred number memorized and told her to order a Doers and Dreamers directory and a road map.

Total mileage today was 423 kilometres. It is hard to believe we managed to do that much today. It must help when you cannot see where you are going.

We managed to get caught up on all the emails we had received. I managed to send two photographs to Robert for part 141 but could get no more off to him. We will have to do something about these photographs when we reach Calgary.

Joan finished quilting another quilt this evening and I simply did what I could with this lap top. We have another movie in the machine but did not watch it this evening. We will save it for another time.

That was the day and another is history.

 
Click HERE to email Spud