Day 22 - Hmm...July gets off to a bumpy start

After a really nice and relaxing visit with the Gunters and McLaughlins, we left Pocatello this morning, with our final destination of a campground near Dinosaur National Monument on our itinerary.  Along the way we stopped at Soda Springs, an accidentally man-made geyser that was created back in the ‘30s when an attempt was made to use the hot springs for a pool on the site.  When the drill hit around the 300 foot mark, it created this geyser…..and it was decided that there were too many minerals in the water, so they scrapped the plans for the pool.  The cool thing about this geyser is that you can actually walk up to it while it is spurting out the water.  Joan did not want to check it out, so I had to go it alone.

After leaving there, we made our way to the Oregon Trail Museum, in Montpelier, Idaho.  Rick, Will and I had been there 11 years ago, and they do a great job of recreating what it would have been like to make the journey from Independence, MO to Oregon back in the 1850s.  Joan said she did not like it….but I think it was more that she did not like the idea of living the way they did back then (children had to walk up to 20 miles a day when they were on the trail headed west).

After the tour at the museum, we continued eastward….yes, eastward!  We have finally made the big right hand turn in our trip and are making our way back home!  The road between Montpelier and the next big town (Little America, Wyoming) is quite a drive.  We ended up pulling off the road and using Old Faithful (what I am now calling our 5 gallon gas jug).  

We were not on fumes yet, but it was a decent pull-off area, and those are hard to come by on a two-lane highway.  We made it to Little America….pull in the gas station…..and come to find out that one of our tires is in shreds!  






















Rick had checked the tires when we pulled off 20 miles earlier, so it must have happened sometime between using Old Faithful and Little America.  Long story short, it messed up the rim of the wheel and the wheel well, so that is a bummer.  Fortunately, there is a full spare on the trailer, so we are good to go for the time being.

This set us back a little on a venture, so we decided to pull into a campground near Flaming Gorge in Wyoming.  This is a beautiful area, and very popular with it being the holiday weekend.  Fortunately, we were able to find a spot for the night.

Will has been tending the fire so we can grill the pork chops.  Rick has been on the phone making reservations for us for the next two nights in Moab.  So overall, despite the setback, life is good.