While driving around, we saw a familiar sign. It wasn’t familiar
in Idaho, but a familiar name from California was on the sign. Carved into
a big rock was the name of a upscale housing tract: "Half Moon Bay."
Of course I had to get a picture of that.
Half Moon Bay in Idaho |
As we left the Treasure Valley our route took us through the charming
town of Eagle, Idaho. From there we drove over a mountain ridge to find ourselves
in another arid mountain valley. We started our trip without any drinking
water, so one of the first things I wanted to do was find a place to buy some
bottles of water.
As we drove through the town of Horseshoe Bend, I saw a gas station/food
market on the north side of town. This looked like a good place to find a
supply of water. When I went into the store, I was presented with a very interesting
checkout counter. The body of a bright red, 1957 Buick automobile, was supporting
the counter holding the cash registers. The headlights and parking lights
were shining brightly. The top of the car body had been removed so the counter
top was resting on the hood and trunk of the car. The inside seating area
of the automobile had been removed to allow the people, working in the store,
to get behind the registers.
I asked about the car and a young woman behind the counter said the car
belonged to her father. When the new food mart was being built, her father
had the old Buick customized to become the checkout counter of the new store.
It is a most interesting sight to see. With a six-pack of bottled water in
hand, I returned to our car and headed back up the road.
It wasn’t very long until the landscape changed from an arid desert
environment to pine forested mountains as we entered the Boise National Forest.
The highway followed a canyon formed by the Payette River.
The Payette River rushing toward the
valley below |
The road crossed from one side of the river to the other several times
on our journey. Most of the time the river was a raging torrent rushing down
the canyon over rocks forming rapids and small waterfalls. Occasionally quiet,
smooth expanses of water would appear on the river.
There was a railroad track that also followed the river up the canyon.
The tracks usually were on the other side of the river from the highway. Occasionally
the tracks would be on the same side of the river as the highway. At one point
I saw a very interesting looking railroad tunnel on the other side of the
river, but there was no place to park to get a picture. When I did find a
parking area, we were on the other side of the tunnel, unfortunately the tunnel
wasn’t visible form this vantage point. However, I did get a picture
of some flowers that seemed to be everywhere along our route.
Flowers like these seemed to grow all
along the Payette River |
The swirling waters of the river attracted a lot of people who were intent
on finding one way or another to float down the wild river. We saw many people
kayaking on the river. There were a several inflated boats being used and
a few pontoon rowboats. Some of the rapids were sure to get the adrenaline
flowing in a person's body as they zoomed down the stream. The calm areas
of the river are spaced at good intervals to give a chance to relax a while
before going down the next stretch of rapids.
As the highway rose toward our destination, we saw many vehicles parked
in any available wide place next to the roadway. Most of the cars, trucks,
and SUVs had empty kayak roof racks. Along the whole route we must have seen
several hundred kayaks both on the water and on vehicles heading for the water.
Along with the kayaks there were buses carrying loads of people who were going
to ride inflated boats down the river. Several places along our way we saw
the places where companies provided parking for the float ride customers.
There seemed to be two methods of running an inflated boat trip. People
were either bussed upstream where they were put into the water to ride back
to where their cars were parked. Other companies would put their customers
in the river right next to the customer parking lot. After zipping down the
river, the people would fine a bus waiting down river to return them to their
cars. This gave us plenty to watch as we traveled up into the mountains.
Before arriving at the town of Cascade, the narrow river canyon opened
up into Long Valley. It was here that the railroad tracks veered off to the
west and disappeared from our view. On the south side of town we saw a campground
where the highway crossed the Payette River at a right angle.
I pulled in to the campground to take a drive-through to see what was
available here. There were several campsites situated right along the river.
The view from any of these campsites was very nice. A boat launch ramp is
available for those who want to try their luck on the river.
Looking across the Long Valley toward
the Payette River |
From the campground it was a very short drive into the town of Cascade.
This town is the other half of the business name of " Boise-Cascade."
I saw a sign with directions to Cascade Lake and campground, so I turned off
the highway to take a look.
A campground next to Cascade Lake |
We came over a rise in the road and suddenly a pretty mountain lake came
in to view. I drove down the hill to a public campground next to the lake.
The campsites were very simple with only a picnic table and a grass area to
park a motorhome or pitch a tent. There were no hookups, but the view from
the campground was worth roughing it a little.
Looking across the lake I took a few pictures. There were a few white
clouds surrounded by a lot of blue sky. The wind had come up creating a choppy
surface on the lake with white capped waves. I watched a man try several times
to get his pontoon boat on its trailer. The wind was coming from the side
of his boat. This caused the boat to be blown out of alignment with the trailer
rails. He finally was able to compensate for the wind and gun the engine enough
to get on the trailer.
Retrieving a pontoon boat in a strong
cross wind |
The time was later than we had planned, so we decided to not continue
on to McCall. When we left the lake and returned to town, I was about to get
back on the highway to head back to Boise. I saw a humorous sculpture on a
trailer in front of a small business. The sculpture was of a comical looking
cowboy catching a very large, colorful fish. The fish was wearing very cool
sunglasses. A sign on the side of the trailer said, "Howdy's Gas and
Grub." On the back end of the trailer a sign proclaimed, "Home of
World’s Largest Sucker Fish ... 8.16 Pounds."
That is a very big and very cool fish |
After getting a picture of the previously mention sculpture, I pulled
out on the highway and had traveled less than a block when I saw another interesting
business. I had to get a picture, so I pulled over. The name of the business
was, "Tackle Tom’s ... World Headquarters ... Hot lures!" I
thought of my friend Tom, from our RV club, he is an avid fisherman.
As I think about it, this might be a nice business. The owner can go fishing
and deduct the cost of the trip as a business expense. "Let me see, where
would I like to go fishing this time, maybe a fishing trip to Alaska would
be nice. Gotta check out those new hot lures." Enough of this fantasizing.
Now it truly was time to get on our way back to our motorhome.
The picture says it all |
To get back to Boise we retraced our route and saw much of what we had
observed on the way up the mountain highway. We were now traveling with the
flow of the Payette River as we descended down the river canyon. We could
now observe people kayaking down the river for a little longer than when we
were driving against the flow of the river.
Heading home back the way we came |
Our return trip to our motorhome seemed to be a fairly short ride. It
was good to get back to our "Home away from home" after a fun day
in the country.
