Travelogues
2008 Rocky Mountains Trip

Sunday, September 7

 

Yesterday was all about getting as far north as possible on the first day of the trip. They were miles we had driven ten times before and provided no surprises. Today was the beginning of the adventure of driving. We crossed three passes and the Continental Divide as we continued north on I-15.

We were on the road by 7:00 and crossed our first pass before 9:00. We re-fueled at Nephi our favorite first-night stopover place pre-motorhome. Now, we have to push just to make it to Beaver.

Each time we drive through Provo and Orem, we marvel at the beautiful green lawns of the homes along I-15. They are the deepest green, manicured lawns that we see on any trip. We made a brief stop at Cabela's to shore up our cold-weather supplies and had left Utah behind us as noon approached.

Idaho was lush green alfalfa fields, newly harvested wheat fields, and cattle pastures as we continued up the valley that always seemed to have mountains on both sides. Pocatello was our lunch stop. We have to remember that Pocatello is no place to stop for fast food. If we're going to stop in Pocatello, we need to stick to the Applebees where we ate when we stayed at the Best Western in Pocatello. Our lunch at the Dairy Queen was very sad.

The most troubling part of today's drive was the large number of white crosses along the road in Idaho. Even though the road was mostly straight and had very little traffic, there seemed to be white crosses every couple miles to denote traffic fatalities. One spot had six crosses to mark the spot where six lives were ended and many more were affected by the tragedy.

We reached Countryside RV outside of Dillon, MT, just before sunset. Although the clouds seemed to warn of an approaching storm, the sunset was beautiful. Although there aren't any shade trees in the campground, the rest of the campground is very nice. The new owners (3 months) are very nice and told us about all the great things to do in the area. The scenery is exceptional with mountains on three sides and the highway right out front goes to Bannack, which is a preserved ghost town from the area's gold rush days.