Bruneau Dunes State Park, ID

Bruneau Dunes State Park, Idaho

Wednesday, June 11, 2014, Bruneau Dunes State Park, ID - 266.8 miles, 10,122.0 For the Trip
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A new state for the trip - Idaho. I won't be here too long, at least this time; I'm heading to Utah tomorrow. A long drive, but an interesting State Park. Bruneau Dunes State Park has a public observatory, which would have been nice, but it is only open on weekends. They also have sand dunes, so I had to take some photos. They are available at today's lakeshoreImages page.

I'm in site 80, which is electric & water for $16.66 per night (until the weekend & for over 62). And, the showers are free. What a deal!

Speaking (well, typing) of showers, the bathroom at the Wildhorse Casino was interesting. 100 sites, one combined toilet & shower, and one additional shower. They did say they were doing renovations, but there is only one bathroom building so there can't be too many more stalls when the project is finished. On top of that, while there was a shower curtain that kept the drying area floor dry, there were no benches, one hook, no soap dishes, in fact, nothing but the floor to put things on. On the other hand, the water was nice & hot...

Back to Bruneau Dunes SP - Definitely worth a visit, particularly on the weekend when the observatory is open, but even during the week a nice stop over. Two campgrounds, the Broken Wheel  with lots of shade that was mostly reserved, and the other (Eagle Cove) more open, both as to shade & available sites. Some 50 amp sites are available at the Broken Wheel Campground.

Dinner was Orange Chicken & Rice. It was really too hot for the meal, but it was the only one I was ready to make.

Until Tomorrow -

Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Mission, OR

Barn Along US 97

Tuesday, June 10, 2014, Wildhorse Resort & Casino - 203.7 miles, 9,855.2 For the Trip

It was a cold night, at least for what I've been used to over the past couple of weeks - down to 38°F. I turned on the furnace & set the thermostat to 60°F around 7:00 AM (it was 49°F in the trailer), then went back to sleep for an hour. Lots of traffic noise throughout the night, however I managed to sleep through most of it.

I drove US 97 to Ellensburg, then took the Umtanum Valley drive through the non existent town of Wymer. Lots of Forest Service campgrounds in the river valley and a pretty drive, but I wanted to get a bit further for the day. After a bit on I 82 & I 84, the plan was to stop for the night at a small campground in Echo, OR, but it was full, at least as far as I could tell - no one came out to point out an empty site, and it was hard to tell even where the sites were. In any case, I continued on to the Wildhorse Resort & Casino near Mission, OR. I suspect I will be traveling I 84 most of the way to Utah since it is the most direct route, and I want to get to the southeastern part of Utah as soon as possible.

Along the way I took a few more photos of the barn along US 97, and another one on the way out of Echo, OR. Other than those, the only other photo is the site photo. Photos on today's LakeshoreImages page.

Since I stopped for a late lunch, dinner will be cheese & crackers.

Until Tomorrow -

Mineral Springs Forest Service Campground

Site 9, Mineral Springs Campground Along US 97, WA

Monday, June 9, 2014, Mineral Springs Forest Service Campground - 179.2 miles, 9651.5 For the Trip

No problems crossing the border, although I did have to pull over to have an agriculture inspection along with a bunch of RVs. The plan was to stay at the Wenatchee River County Campground, but when I arrived, the office was closed, with a sign that it wouldn't open for an hour. So, I continued on down US 97 & stopped for the day at Mineral Springs Forest Service Campground, a few miles north of where US 97 branches off to the left & WA 970 goes west to I 90. Can't complain about the price - $8.50 for the night with the Senior Pass card. No hookups, but a nice shady spot (although close enough to US 97 that there is traffic noise).

While I had a slow connection when I pulled into the campground, it went away just after I read my mail, so I won't be able to post this until I hat civilization.

No photos today other than the usual site one. Dinner will be a chicken patty & snap peas.

Until Tomorrow -

Nk'Mip Campground, Osoyoos, BC, Day 3 & The Escape Rally

The Group Photo (From Behind)

Saturday, June 7, 2014, Nk'Mip Campground, Osoyoos, BC, Day 3 - 0 miles, 9472.3 For the Trip

My project today was to make a blueberry pie. I had to give up two of my 18 oz boxes of blueberries because they weren't Canadian, but I found the there are less than 8 oz of blueberries in a cup. So with the 4 18 oz boxes, I had enough to make two pies, with a few left over for snacking. I added a note to the recipe that it takes 2 18 oz boxes to make a pie so I'll pick up the right amount next time.

I set up the toaster oven on the picnic table to avoid heating up the trailer. The pies came out OK, however I really prefer the pie pans I have at home to the ones I carry in the trailer. For some reason, the crust sticks to these. Oh well, I'll try to remember to flour them for the next batch. In any case, they tasted pretty good and both disappeared by the end of dinner.

The beer exchange was a bit different than those I've been to before - rather than exchanging directly from the beer cartons, everyone put their beer on a table, and on the word "Go" (well, minor exchanges were occurring before) everyone dove in and filled their carton. It worked well, and gave people a chance to look over the labels before committing themselves to a trade. Probably would be tough to do at a campground without tables...

Tammy had us arrive at the pot luck early and announced that they would be taking a group photo from a helicopter with all of us standing outside the hall. Of course I had to take a photograph of the group waving at the helicopter (that small dot in the sky of the photo above)!

While I added a few images at today's lakeshoreImages page, all are at the Escape Rally page as well as more on a new Page 2 that includes the beer exchange, the pot luck dinner & more.

Dinner was the Pot Luck, and everything was great! After dinner I spent a little time helping clean up, than headed back to the trailer to post the photos.

Until Tomorrow -

Nk'Mip Campground, Osoyoos, BC, Day 2 & the Observatory B&B

Jack Newton at His Observatory B&B

Friday, June 6, 2014, Nk'Mip Campground, Osoyoos, BC, Day 2 - 0 miles, 9472.3 For the Trip

While I'll post an update later, I have to post about one of the highlights of my trip - a visit to the Observatory Bed & Breakfast. One of the members of the Escape Forum knew I was interested, and invited me and a few others for a visit with the owners, Jack & Alice Newton. An amazing place with great views of the lake, valley &, of course, skies. It was a bit cloudy, but we got a chance for some great views of Jupiter, the moon, rings of Saturn, binary stars, etc. Jack gave a wonderful talk about the birth of the universe, and provided a wealth of information. We all felt it was the highlight of our various trips. If you are looking for a place to stay in Osoyoos and don't have a RV (or, even if you do) a night or two at the Observatory B&B can't be beat!  More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Sorry about the quality of some of the photos, but they were taken at very high ISOs under very low light levels.

More to come -