Day 54 - We Gotta Go To Idaho
Trip Start
May 19, 2008
1
56
161
Trip End
Nov 08, 2008
McCammon,
Idaho,
United States
Friday, July 11, 2008
Wanting to avoid Salt Lake City for many reasons, not least of which Neil had read that there was a lot of trouble in the area at the moment with drive-by shootings and the like, we took a wide arc out east to Heber City then north onto Interstate 80. It's a very beautiful area with mountains and lakes and reservoirs and a lot of wealth. After a few miles on I-80, we headed back north-east on the I-84 and what an experience that was. First of all it was down to one very narrow lane due to roadworks and the wind was blowing us all over the place
Brigham City
. Then in the second lot of roadworks (one lane again), we were tail-gated by a HUGE truck (photo is an example not the actual offender, Mel too shook-up to take pictures), who sat 4-5 feet off our rear bumper at 50 mph, in a 55 mph zone, flashing his lights and continually sounding his horn. As the inside lane was coned off, we had nowhere to go, and after four or five miles of this Mel made our first and hopefully last 911 call. Unfortunately they had no patrol vehicles in the area, but the operator took all the details and stayed on the line until we reached an exit and were able to get off the freeway. A very scary experience!After a stop in a rest area for lunch just a few miles further on, we got off the freeway as soon as possible and got back on the "A" roads and even the "B" roads. Anything to avoid the freeway. We prefer to stay off the freeway anyway, as they all look the same and are rather boring. Our "A" and "B" roads offer a lot more to see.
We very briefly passed the edge of the Great Salt Lake, but as we couldn't see very far and it's so vast we just couldn't get a feel for the size of it.
Late afternoon we crossed into the state of Idaho
Just like the Spanish, any excuse for a party!
. It's quit bizarre that although it's also very green like most of Utah, the hills and lower mountains here are green-green as opposed to green on top of red rock. Our campsite is just outside a place called McCammon, about 50 miles north of the state line and it's good enough. Literally, it's called Goodenough Creek. It's very basic but it's a free one, so it really is good enough for us for one night. Bit of an interesting road up to it though. A two mile gravel road followed by about another mile of dirt track. Chip is trying out a new colour - Sahara beige, complete with brown bumpers!Miles travelled: 239
Total miles travelled: 3475
Days on road: 34
States visited: 7
National Parks visited: 6
