My worst fears materialized last night. The generators in the nearby RVs we're going off all night, not one of them, not two of them, but it least three of them. Although I retired early, I did not sleep well at all, anticipating the racket that was to come. At 11 PM, I decided to install some ear plugs, despite the fact that they would get in my way of hearing any bears visiting our campsite. My hope was that Donner would hear them and wake me.
By 1 am, I was still awake. The ear plugs did not do the job. So, I decided to take an Ambien to knock myself out for a few hours, despite the prolonged effect that that stuff can have. It usually puts me into a deep sleep for four hours, but it clearly lingers for hours later. I have to take them on nights like this because if if I have a long drive the next day, I need to be as awake as possible.
The Ambien worked as advertised and knocked me out for four hours until 5 o'clock. For the next three hour, though, I drifted back-and-forth into a sleep, only to be pulled out of it by one generator or another.
Finally, at 7 o'clock, I crawled out of my tent and banged on the door of the nearby RV that was throwing off the obnoxious noise. When I complained vociferously about his use of a generator, he swore that he was not using it. Well, as it turns out, none of the offenders were using a generator in the generator-free camp loop. They were using the electricity in their sites to power their fans and heaters, and not doing as i thought last night in a moment of pique. But they keep them running all night, and it does interrupt the sleep of the nearb tenters.. Oops, my mistake. So, as it turns out, it was not the RVers who were causing the problem, but the camp host who assigned me to the RV section when in fact the tent section was not closed as I was later to find out. I counted at least six other tenters in the tent section, all with their private bear lockers. Frankly, I have a feeling that that camp host did this on purpose. For some reason I detected that when I signed in she did not like me, probably because of the intended-as-humor comments I made when I arrived.
Putting the nighth's troubles behind me, I got on the road at 9:30 to Jackson where I got a welcomed shower at their marvelous recreation center. After stocking up at the local Starbucks with Donner's favorite Starbucks treat, the pumpkin loaf, we got on the way to Idaho Falls where I was wanted to have the Defender serviced. The weather earlier in the morning was just splendid, the sun shining brightly a very comfortable morning temperature. But by the time we got to Jackson, the sky darkened. As soon as we got on our way, the rain came. The climb up the 9000 Idaho pass was not exactly a pleasant one in the conditions we faced, and the Defender did not perform as well as I hoped it would, requiring me to put it in fourth, then third, and sometimes second gear to make the steep, winding turns both up and down the pass.
The weather en route to Idaho Falls was what one could only describe as bad, rain, rain, and more rain. Fortunately good luck was with me as soon as I entered Idaho Falls, when I pulled over and asked my Garmin to direct me to the closest Jiffy Lube, and it was only 2 miles away. As soon as I pulled into Jiffy Lube, they took the Defender immediately, and we were on our road again in less than 45 minutes. That's precisely why when I am on the road I prefer to have the Defender serviced at a Jiffy Lube.
Our goal was to make the 84 miles to the Lava Flow Camp at Craters of the Moon National Park by 5 o'clock, although I knew the rain would slow us down some. And it did. There is virtually nothing between Idaho Falls and Arco, the small town that sits at the threshold of Craters of the Moon. there is nothing but flat grazing land on both sides of the highway for 84 miles and nothing else. The rain worsened during the trip and I could see that just a few hundred feet above us in the mountains it was not rain that was accumulating but snow. i occupied myself the entire 84 miles going over in my mind scenarios of what i would find at the camp. And how i would go about setting up camp, making dinner, for Donner anyway, and staying dry.
Although I have come to rely on my Garmin, it mis-directed me tonight twice, thinking that I would want to take a shortcut, even in these horrible weather conditions and late hour. So, I turned to Google Maps to direct me the correct route. When we pulled into Arco, still 18 miles from the entrance to the park, it was already getting dark and raining hard. I kept my eyes out looking for fallback positions if in fact things did not work out at the camp, but there were a few. At best I saw one motel in town, if we had to backtrack and come back into town. Thinking that at the camp I would be in no mood or condition to make Donner or me any dinner, I bought a special meal for him and a salad for myself at the local grocery store, which my GPS came through and directed me nicely to it.
As we headed to the entrance to the camp 18 miles down the highway, the weather, which I thought could not get any worse, did get worse. I noticed that the raindrops on the windshield were leaving more of an impression then rain normally does, and realized that it was now snowing. As soon as we passed a sign on the highway that read, Blizzard Mountain Road, literally we were hit with a blizzard conditions. Snow was falling all around, and it was hard snow. Obviously, the temperature was now below 32°.
Once again, 5 miles before the real entrance to the camp, my Garmin screwed up again and directed me down a narrow dirt road that literally went nowhere. I had a little bit of difficulty extricating myself from the mess of the road, but the Defender came through and we continued the remaining 5 miles down to the entrance of the camp. As I entered the park, just feet away from the entrance to the camp, we were greeted by a road closed sign. Now what do I do? I asked myself. I saw no other camps along the way, and besides, the conditions were just horrible for wanting to pitch a tent for tonight. Perhaps it is time to take refuge in a motel. But what if the motel is full, or did not take dogs. What what I do then? Sleep in the Defender for the night? Drive back to Idaho Falls, 82 miles away? I will work out a solution to this problem, i assured myself, and carried on.
For the 18 miles back into Arco I rehearsed my options, and they were a few, and not very attractive. About 3 miles short of our goal, with conditions improving just a little bit, I punched into my Garmin "camps near Arco," believing that by going into a motel for the night would be cheating. In an instant, what might have been a terrible day turned into a good one. Garmin Informed me that there was a KOA camp just a few miles away. I immediately set out for the camp, and arrived at 6:30.
On my road trips my goal is to stay at national parks, state parks, provincial Parks, or even bivouac on government land where possible. But as a fallback, I am a big fan of Campgrounds of America, known as KOA. They are clean, neat, reliable, dependable, predictable, and I could go on. More important, they are usually just off the main highways, as this one was in Arco. I have probably stayed in almost 35 KOAs over my nine road trips. Let me just say that this one in Arco is by far and away the best that I have ever spent time in. I would probably run out of battery here if I were to go over the things that made me reach that conclusion after only a few hours. But besides the facility itself, the hosts, Barbara and Alan, former Army personnel specialist and MP, respectively, make the facility what it is. And to top it off, Barbara and Alan lived in Ely Nevada for 15 years and just bought this KOA recently. Devoted readers of my blog two years ago, and even a blog before that, will recall my fond experiences in Ely as I crossed route 50. Alan in fact grew up in Ely. And they lived there while i want through my 2016 ordeal. What a small world. Small, but beautiful.
Usually when I camp at the KOA, I get a tent site. But if conditions are such that I really do not want to have to go through the routine of setting up the tent, I ask for and usually get one of their cozy, rustic, basic little cabins, which we got tonight. In the fashion of David Thoreau, I could probably live in one of these cozy cabins for her year myself, although I certainly would not produce a masterpiece like the he produced with Walden.
This saga reminded me of the time my Russian guide Sasha and I were exploring the Mutnovsky Volcano in the wilderness of Kamchatka in Russian. The weather was just foul....horizontal freezing rain. We trekked on and discovered a small, long-abandoned settlement a few miles away and took refuge there for three days in a dilapidated hut until conditions improved, and then trekked on. Admittedly, this saga was not like that, but it taught me that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, or at least a warm place to bed down.
I
signed up for two nights here at this lovely oasis, and may even decide to spend a third night here.Tomorrow I will try to get down to Craters of the Moon, not to camp there but to see what everyone raves about. Perhaps the next day, I will drive up to the Sawtooth Mountains to experience that spectacular range. Or, I just may decide to plan the rest of my trip from here. However, now that I see what the weather conditions are going north, and I'm finding that the camps are all closing. I made a decision tonight that from here on, our direction will be south, before turning the Defender east and heading home. Banff, Vancouver Island, and probably a good part of the West Coast Highway, will have to wait for On The Road 10,If there is to be such a road trip.
All in all, a potentially miserable day turned into a splendid one.
Ed and Donner are from our cozy KOA cabin in Arco Idaho.
