Day Three - Hanging in There

                                                        The bus at a fuel stop on the way

We pulled away from the Ely airfield a little after 7:00am and continued Northbound on Route 93. This was the route that took us pretty much all the way across the state of Nevada. Now we’re trying to see what we can do to help with the heat. The windows have a clamp system that lets them open from the bottom and then swing out and up. They are only supposed to be opened in case of an emergency. We figured we qualified so we kept trying to figure out how to open them just enough to get some air but not enough to be dangerous. It worked, kind of. The temperature was just a little better, only getting to 106 this day.

We were heading for Lewiston, Idaho but we knew that would be a real stretch. We wound up stopping after about 400 miles in Weiser, Idaho. Our route north took us through Twin Falls, Idaho which gave us our first look at the Snake River. The river travels along the north edge of town and through a striking canyon. 

We stopped at the scenic overlook and took lots of pictures. Leaving Twin Falls, we then took a detour that followed the river for about ten miles and enjoyed the peaceful views. We missed our turn back onto the interstate which gave us an excuse to go into a tiny town and turn around at a country store which happened to sell Tillamook Ice Cream. Our flavor of choice was vanilla with raspberry. Absolutely delicious!

                                                         Our parking spot in the barnyard

We pressed on through the heat and finally found our stop for the night. Once again, John had come through with a contact from his bluegrass music community and we were invited to spend the night at the farm of a family he had met. We had a lovely barbeque dinner on their patio with a view of ripening corn and fields of grain. We parked in their barnyard next to a pen with sheep and another with dogs. But there was no smell and it was very peaceful. One of the high points, after the wonderful hospitality, was that fact that they had a guest room set up above their garage with air conditioning, a full bath with shower and a couch I was able to crash on for the night.

                                                              Our neighbor for the night

                                                  The chicken coop and an old Chevy truck

                                                                          An old barn

                                              The view of the back yard out the kitchen door

The next morning John cooked breakfast for us all in their wonderful country kitchen. Sausage and gravy over homemade biscuits, scrambled home grown eggs, sausage patties and plenty of hot coffee. Friends had been invited over as well and the gathering looked and acted like a family reunion. What a great time!