Wagons East!

Seriously, did anyone ever see that movie? Not one of John Candy's finer moments. And that includes Canadian Bacon. And I'm still trying to figure out the formatting on this blog, so please bear with me!
Anyway, leaving Seattle, I went by Mount Rainier again.

I saw a bear, but it was really far away. I tried the old "I think I'm going to leave this pic-a-nic basket here and walk away" trick, but to no avail.







I got to see a few more examples of columnar basalt. Yes, I pulled over to the side of the road to get these pictures.








Oh, and by the way: Idaho? You have WAAAAAY too much time and money on your hands. Seriously, this was the best use of the cash? And in case you were wondering, yes, these signs were on both sides of the road.

I camped that night on...
The Oregon Trail

You have come to SNAKE RIVER.
What would you like to do?
1. Attempt to ford the river.
2. Take the wheels off and float across.
3. Pay $1.00 for the ferry to take you across.

You have chosen to take the ferry.
The ferry is a broke-ass piece of shit, and sank. You have lost 4 oxen, 2 horses, an axle, and 15 pounds of food. Your children have all drowned.

Oh, and you now have dysentery.

MTV, pimp my wagon!

Idaho also boasts the largest inland sand dune in the country (suck it, Delaware!), at over 400 feet tall. The thin dotted line is where I climbed up, and the thick one is where I fell down. I'm still trying to get all of the sand out of my ass.

I did a quick tour through Idaho's Mammoth Cave, not to be confused with the REAL Mammoth Cave NP in Kentucky. The "visitor center" was down a dirt road off the highway, staffed by a kid who couldn't have started shaving more than 6 months ago. He gave me a Coleman lantern and told me that the entrance to the cave was about a quarter mile down the path, and to just bring it back when I was done.

Have you ever been in a giant cave by yourself, with only a shitty gas lantern that throws shadows that look like giant bears all around you?

Speaking of bears, the visitor center also featured one of the most impressive collections of dead things I've ever seen.

Rawr rawr rarwr, nobody understands you, she-bear.

I wanted to go see Shannon Ice Caves, just up the road, but it was closed for the season. Though, as a consolation prize, I got to see a large dinosaur with an Indian on his head. There was no explanation for it; I found that pretty much most of Idaho is that way.

One of the hands-down coolest things I've seen is the Craters of the Moon NP in central Idaho. This is a giant volcanic plain, with cinder, splatter, and ash cones, spread across several hundred acres of lava flows.










There are several underground caves and lava tubes, which I took some time to explore. Again, underground, by myself- not my favorite thing. Absolutely incredible, though, and unlike the NP in Hawaii, this place is not very well known, so I didn't have to climb over any tourists.

That's been one of the best parts of this trip. I've avoided the main highways as much as possible, so I've been stumbling across all of these amazing, out-of-the-way spots that don't get a lot of traffic. I've driven through areas where I've only passed 5 or so other cars in an hour. And, as a bonus, I've gotten to see a fair amount of wildlife. A list of things that I've run over:
- A bunny, on my second morning out of Vegas. I've had a few near-misses before, even had a couple pass directly between the wheels unscathed, but this one never had a chance.
- A snake, in southern Idaho. It was near dusk, and I thought is was a piece of hose. It actually felt like I ran over a piece of hose (filled with corn flakes).
- A wild turkey, just today, in South Dakota. His brother just got clear, and I thought for a split second that he was going to pass between the wheels, but then I got him with my rear left wheel. I share Tyler's philosophy on this one: If you can fly, and you get hit with something that can't, I have no sympathy for you.

My last stop in Idaho was Arco, the first town in the country to be powered by nuclear energy. The "Atoms For Peace" sign will probably only be funny to Brett. [In Bangkok, we passed a building with the sign "Ministry of Atoms for Peace." We thought that it was a translation error.]

That night, I got into Yellowstone around 10 p.m., freezing my ass off. Pictures and story to follow soon.

I'm currently camped at a KOA in North Sioux City, SD (very southeast tip, another 2 miles and I'll be in Iowa). I got off the freeway, thinking I was following the signs for the campground, and found myself driving down a fairly residential area. Another car was about half a mile behind me (bear in mind it's very dark). I flip a U once I figure I've gone to far and begin to head back, at which point I notice the other car flip a U as well. Ok, I think, maybe they're looking for the KOA as well. I go back for about a mile, then U again, for one more pass. The other car turns around too. Huh. All of a sudden, I've got party lights in my rearview, and it dawns on me that I just made two illegal U turns and was going about 40 in a 25. I explain the the sheriff that I've been driving all day, and I have no idea where the hell I am (case in point: I thought I was in Iowa, and I was still in South Dakota). He gives me a "courtesy warning" for my brake light (it works about half of the time, apparently not this half), and then pointed me towards the campground. If he only knew about the dead hooker under the tarp in the back of the Jeep....