Lucy Explores The Great West

[HankO]

I believe Evil Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon in a "Rocket Bike" years ago, probably pretty close to where you crossed.

[rmkrum]

Yup. His parachute deployed in launch, and it was a spectacular non-event after all the hype. He was one of a kind...


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[moosetags]

Originally Posted by amaier7771

Head north to Blackfoot to see the Potato Museum!! Just did that last week.....

Thank you for the tip.

It has been raining here in Pocatello this morning, so we are going to lay over here another night. We think that we will take a run up to Blackfoot and the the Potato Museum.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by HankO

I believe Evil Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon in a "Rocket Bike" years ago, probably pretty close to where you crossed.

Here are several more pictures of Snake River Canyon that we took yesterday. It is a very impressive geological site, especially considering that its south rim is occupied by a major shopping center.

Brian

[amaier7771]

Brian, if it still raining when you get back from Balckfoot, the Natural History museum at the University there in Pocatello was a pretty interesting "indoors" thing we did last week.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by amaier7771

Brian, if it still raining when you get back from Balckfoot, the Natural History museum at the University there in Pocatello was a pretty interesting "indoors" thing we did last week.

Thanks for the tip. We'll keep that in mind.

Brian

[Gene]

Be sure to buy a Marilyn Monroe poster at the Potato Museum—then you can have the same avatar I have. Our poster is on the side of the Airstream bedroom wardrobe and Marilyn overlooks us every night, protecting us from evil. And don't miss the potato masher collection!

West of you is Craters of the Moon NM. We thought it kind of interesting and the lava tubes are cool to walk through.

Gene

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Gene

Be sure to buy a Marilyn Monroe poster at the Potato Museum—then you can have the same avatar I have. Our poster is on the side of the Airstream bedroom wardrobe and Marilyn overlooks us every night, protecting us from evil. And don't miss the potato masher collection!

West of you is Craters of the Moon NM. We thought it kind of interesting and the lava tubes are cool to walk through.

Gene

Hi Gene,

We saw the Marilyn Potato poster in the Museum Gift Shop. SuEllyn didn't think that we needed one. We did see the potato masher collection. It was a Boy Scout's Eagle Project. We also looked at the potato peeler collection.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy is still camped in at the Fairgrounds in Pocatello, Idaho. It was raining here this morning, and we decided to lay over here for another day.

We hung in Lucy until the rain quit. This afternoon we took a drive up to Blackfoot, Idaho to visit the National Potato Museum. We also toured the town of Blackfoot.

The Potato Museum is housed in the 1912 Blackfoot Railroad Depot. The museum was quite interesting. We both learned a lot about potatoes that we didn't know.

The 1929 Nuart Theatre in Downtown Blackfoot is one of the better preserved theatres that we have seen. Even the original ticket booth is pristine.

On the way back to Pocatello, we stopped along the highway, we stopped to watch some potato harvesting. This is the height of the potato harvest time. Potato trucks are everywhere. We watched a potato combine pick and load a fifty foot semi trailer on the move in less than three minutes.

We got back to Lucy shortly before dark just in time to watch a spectacular sunset. We got settled in for the night as the temperature was dropping. It is supposed to get down to 37 degrees tonight.

Today's pictures include:

- Nulart Theatre
- Theatre ticket booth.
- Downtown Blackfoot.
- 1912 Blackfoot RR Depot.
- Anitique potato equipment.
- SuEllyn posing with the "big Potato".
- Potato truck loading.
- Potato loading.
- Rainbow over Pocatello.
- Sunset at campground.

Brian

[KJRitchie]

Have you cooked any nice bakers in the oven yet?

Kelvin

[Pams72]

I'm a grain Inspector and I was in Idaho Falls about 15 years ago helping out with the wheat harvest. I would see the potato trucks driving by our office one after another all day long.
At the time I thought the trucks were full of rocks I asked the Inspector who ran our office there, "where are all the rocks coming from and what are they doing with them?" She started laughing and said "those aren't rocks they're potatoes, remember where you are" I just said "oh yeah Idaho spuds". I will never forget that.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Have you cooked any nice bakers in the oven yet?

Kelvin

Not yet. We still need to master Lucy's convection/microwave oven.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Pams72

I'm a grain Inspector and I was in Idaho Falls about 15 years ago helping out with the wheat harvest. I would see the potato trucks driving by our office one after another all day long.
At the time I thought the trucks were full of rocks I asked the Inspector who ran our office there, "where are all the rocks coming from and what are they doing with them?" She started laughing and said "those aren't rocks they're potatoes, remember where you are" I just said "oh yeah Idaho spuds". I will never forget that.

Great story! Thank you.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp this morning at the campground in Pocatello. We headed north on US 91 through Blackfoot, Firth, and Shelley. At Idaho Falls, we continued on US 20 through Rigby, and on to Thornton. At Thornton we got Lucy set up at a very nice campsite.

As we were able to make camp early, we decided to head out and see some of the sights. We drove up through Rexburg, Ashton, and on to Mesa Falls. There is a lower Mesa Falls and an Upper Mesa Falls which are about a mile apart. These very picturesque water falls are on Henry's Fork of the Snake River. Seeing these natural wonders were well worth the drive into the back country.

We made it back to Lucy just as darkness fell. We had dinner in Lucy and got settled in for the night. It's supposed to go down into the 30's tonight.

Today's pictures include:

- Virgina Theatre, Shelly, Idaho.
- Campground in Thornton, Idaho.
- Rush hour on Idaho 47.
- Snowcapped Tetons in the distance.
- Lower Mesa Falls.
- Upper Mesa Falls.
- 1912 Big Falls Inn at Upper Mesa Falls.
- Art Deco Filling Station in Ashton, Idaho.
- Frostop Drive-in, Ashton, Idaho.
- The 1924 Rankin Motel in Ashton, Idaho.

Brian

[HankO]

Brian,
If you're coming toward Island Park, consider camping at Henry's Lake State Park. Full hookups 30 bucks night and close to West Yellowstone. Campsites are right on Henry's Lake. Its beautiful there right now with the leaves changing and the snow on Sawtell Peak.

Hank

[Gene]

There was a young bull moose near US 50 just east of Grand Jct. yesterday. He had wandered off Grand Mesa and may have been heading for the KOA hoping you were there (he didn't know you had stayed at the other end of town). They tranquilized him and took him back to Grand Mesa.

The Nuart is very well preserved; great photos and of the sunset too. If you come through Delta, Colo., 40 miles east of Grand Jct., the Egyptian Theater is well preserved inside and out. I don't know if you can get inside when movies aren't playing, but it would be worth seeing. Local lore is that theater is where they started giving away dishes during the Great Depression to lure customers and then the idea spread around the country. The theater was restored, maybe in the 1990's, and the owners have kept it in good shape and even have a digital projector, a rarity in small theaters. When film can no longer be gotten, the cost of a digital projector will close a lot of small town theaters.

Gene

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, we must have passed at least 50 Moose Crossing signs in the last week or so and never saw a single one.

[moosetags]

Lucy is still camped in Thornton, Idaho, near Rexburg. We got out early this morning and drove down to Shelley, Idaho. We attended their 86th Annual Spud Day which celebrated the Potato, the hinge pin of the local economy.

We arrived in Shelley in time for the parade. The parade was a small town gem. We stayed around for the town festival and partook of the revelry. We stayed until mid afternoon.

We then went up to Idaho Falls, the big town in the area. We went to see the Falls and the downtown area.

We went by Wal-Mart for supplies, and got Fred a tank full of Diesel. We came back to Lucy and started breaking camp as we are heading over to Wyoming tomorrow.

We have settled in for the night.

Today's pictures include:

- Toyota FJ-40 like the new one I had in 1981.
- Potato Queen.
- Fire trucks in the parade.
- New potato hauling truck in the parade.
- Giant shopping cart float in the parade.
- Idaho Falls.
- Idaho Falls City Hall.
- The 1917 Hotel Idaho.
- Centre Theatre in Downtown Idaho Falls.
- The 1930 Kress Building in Downtown Idaho Falls.

Pictures are failing to upload again tonight. I'll try again in the morning.

Brian

[moosetags]

Here are the pictures that wouldn't load last night.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp this morning in Thornton, Idaho. We headed out toward Jackson, Wyoming on back roads. We followed Idaho 33 to the Wyoming State line where the road became Wyoming 22. We crossed the mountains at Teton Pass. This roadway is loaded with 15 mph hairpin turns and 10% grades. Fred and the girls handled everything fine and we arrived in Jackson early this afternoon.

We got Lucy settled into a campsite in Jackson. We headed out into the mountains to do some exploring. We did some touring in the National Elk Refuge. We saw some beautiful scenery there and a couple of Pronghorn Antelope.

We were later driving on the Moose-Wilson road when we came upon a large cow Moose with her calf. They were both grazing in the shallow water along the road way. We got to watch them for quite a while, and got some good photos of them.

It was already dark when we got back to Lucy.

Today's Pictures include:

- Campground in Thornton, Idaho.
- Tetons from Idaho 33.
- Potato storage building.
- Tetons growing closer.
- Tetons from the Elk Refuge.
- Scenery in the Elk Refuge.
- Snowcapped peak over the hills.
- Three shots of Moose Cow and Calf.

Brian