Leaving for St
Louis Monday
August 12, 2002 6pm.
So my goal is to St
Louis for the Busses by the Arch which is now Busses
Nowhere Near the Arch. It is held in Mark
Twain State Park
in Hannibal MO. My friends Bill and Kathyrn Bowman are the
hosts of this event. I went there in
1995 but I flew and had to borrow a split window bus from them to camp in. Bill has an engine in my barn that was just
calling to me for a ride to St Louis. So the weekend of August 12th a
bunch of local WetWestians camped at my Westfalia Acres and decided that the
best place for the engine was in the front seat. I am driving a 1978 Riviera
bus that lives on borrowed time but so far got me to Alaska
and back last year and around the northwest this winter. Her name is Patch as you can see by her
quilted patch on the rear side panel.
Cheaper than body work and certainly more personal. I have remodeled the interior after last
year’s trip and eliminated the large cabinet behind the driver’s seat and also
the front passenger seat. So now I use
bins. In the front seat they provide a
perfect perch for Westfalia the Yorkshire Terrier and Jetta the all black
cat. Behind the driver’s seat they are
normally stacked only 2 deep. But since
the guys decided the engine should ride shotgun they are stacked 4 deep on the
ride east. The engine is safely wearing
its seatbelt, and has a bin turned upside down as a makeshift perch for the
pets. Under the back seat is full of
small bins and the pop top has hanging nets.
The upper bed cushion has been removed for storage of flat items like
quilting material and towels and sheets and tablecloths. Also the sun and rain umbrellas and the tarp
poles. So otherwise the floor and bed
area are empty except for the baby sewing machine, latte maker and loveseat and
chair and bedding. (really not as much as it sounds like) Bullet the 45 pound dog has plenty of room to
hang out on the backseat for her ride.
So after everyone contributed a little help over the weekend my bus was
ready for departure. Of course I had a
few more stops at WetWestians to tidy up a few loose ends but we were leaving
town. So by 6pm Monday couldn’t find anything else to worry about or
load up. (of course didn’t even shut the
back door when we left just walked away.
The realtor called and wondered if that was my intention!) Kevin Albrecht from Florida
was caravanning with me after staying an extra day to help tidy up loose
ends. So off we went into the
sunset. Stopped for a few minor errands
and gas. Missed the mall in Salem
so we ate at the Portland rest
area. After leaving there he radioed
that there were strange noises coming from his transmission. We kept driving and listening. Then he said it was really bad so we got off
at the first downtown Portland exit
and sure enough two cups of oil leaked out from behind the passenger rear
wheel. Not a good sign. So AAA was called and off to Always V-Dub for
the night he went. I continued into the
night to my girlfriend’s house in Olympia
where thanks to David Jaffe I was able
to give her a computer for her birthday and we visited till the wee hours. She
is a night nurse so waiting for me till 2 am
was not a big deal. I left her in time
to get into Dash Point
State park and miss the overnight
fee and camped there till Wednesday morning.
Got a shady spot and missed the heat of the day.
The problem arose the
Wednesday morning when I went to leave and Jetta and Bullet and I had gone for
an early walk. A big dog and its owners
came jogging by on the trail and Jetta panicked. When we got back to the bus she jumped out
and ran across the road to another campsite and then into the very thick
brush. I followed but not fast enough to
catch the leash. In the end I spent 7
hours waiting and calling to no avail.
By 3 that afternoon I semi donated her to the park. She had been a wild cat originally so she had
skills. I had missed my day trip with
Liz Arbaugh to a quilting book store. We
had dinner and after dinner came back to the campground. Sure enough she answered me on the first
call. Arghhhhh. Oh such are cats……..
Well since we were
all back together off we went to the Arbaugh’s for a few days. Liz and I ran errands on Thursday including
finding the molds for my dormobile vents so I will be back in vent making
business when I get home. Friday we went
to the APNQ quilt show at the Seattle
Center. Very excellent workmanship but not
necessarily my cup of tea. In fact I
thought the Best of Show was hideous.
The next picture is of a totally flat quilt that both Liz and I thought
was very nicely colored and made. The
willow tree looks like you could crawl under it.
So after another
wonderful dinner, (I am beginning to feel like a bear going into hibernation
with everyone feeding me before my trip!)
and a few more minor bus adjustments by Steve and Kevin we decided the
latte machine was too powerful for my inverter and I would have to find a real
source of electricity to get my once a day fix.
Saturday morning I headed for the Olalla Bluegrass Festival and another
day with WetWestie friends. The music
was good the crowd was small. The
vendors were all inside the grassy ball field.
The sun was omnipresent and umbrellas were everywhere and not for the
rain. It was good to see Trish and
Dale’s new bus and I tried to convince Dale that a lovely 3-D flower patch
would look great on it but I don’t think I convinced him. We went back and had a pleasant afternoon
improving our social skills at Hobie’s and another potluck dinner.
So Sunday morning
after a pancake breakfast off I went across Washington
state around My Rainier on Hwy. 410 to Yakima
and then on 82 to Tri Cities. By 6 pm I finally pulled into the thriving
megatropolis of Union home of our faithful and fearless
leaders, Jim and Lisa Arnott. So once
again I had my list of issues and over the course of 2 days I learned how to
make a web page, (with my new irfanview software I figured out how to resize
from Liz). I have my dual battery relay
wired, and I need to use straight 40 wt oil so it doesn’t get so hot and thin
and loose pressure across the great divide.
Tuesday August 20th morning I finally leave for Hell’s
Canyon.
Made it to Joseph for
lunch along the shores of Wallowa Lake
and watched the thunder clouds roll in across the Blue Mountains. By the end of lunch it was big fat rain drops
and everybody left. Went back to Joseph
for gas and headed south on the Wallowa
Mountain road to the south end of
Hell’s Canyon. Spent the night in a
lovely dispersed camping site along Steep Creek just before the junction with
Fall Creek. The pets could finally be
loose a bit. The scenery on the way down was changing. There had been a fire and you could see all
the new growth growing up through the burned and dead trees
.
Going to Hell’s
Canyon I really didn’t know what to expect or how much you could see. As it turned out I was close to the junction
and followed no one anywhere. I was
beginning to see only mountain tops and striated rocks. On the way up the electric company road all
of a sudden I came around a corner and there was the gorge. Hard to accurately portray big things in
pictures though. Continued up to the dam
and the visitor’s center. Lots of
expansive views. The picture with the
bus is actually Hell’s Creek for which the whole thing is named. The inside of that canyon only get sun in the
very middle of the day.
Downstream from the
dam
Hell’s creek
7 picture panorama
Upon leaving Hell’s
Canyon I changed time zones and entered Idaho. It was the beginning of 2 days of 40 mile an hour
driving. Along the North Fork of the Payette River and then the South Fork over
to the Salmon River eventually east of Stanley.
The scenery and the rushing river were always right there. The Middle
fork is very gushing and kind of unsettling.
It would be a wild ride down.
There are lots of river rafting companies the whole way. It appears the middle and end of August are
no longer prime vacation times.
Everywhere I went there were no other people hardly and the roads were
empty and certainly NO semi trucks. That
night I stayed along the Middle fork just north of Banks Idaho. The river completely drowned out the noise of
traffic going up the hill and if a train went by I never heard it even though I
was only 20 feet from the RR tracks.
Thursday I got up and started following the South fork and stopped at
Lowman Ranger station to ask about Hot Springs
and they had a nicely prepared description and mile marker hand out all
ready. So I started my 7 HS day
tour. First stop was Kirkham HS almost
the best one. It is at the end of a
campground and the water flows over the cliff and falls on you like a warm
shower while you sit in the hot pools.
It actually gets as hot as 160 degrees so mixing water with the river is
a good thing. Next was Bonneville HS. I walked in but didn’t partake. They had a little house with a claw foot tub
then more natural pools down next to the river.
Sacagawea was 3rd and down a washboard road 5 miles toward
Sawtooth Lodge. Again the scenery was
spectacular sitting down at the river looking up at the imposing mountains all
around. My lunch stop and nap time. Had a jolt though when I opened my eyes, my
bus had moved! Or so I thought from
where I was. But it was really just
another one the same color with the top down parked 30 feet in front of mine
but a little disconcerting just the same.
We were the only ones there. Had
such a good time that I veered off my path already and headed north to Stanley
and got another handout on 3 more hotsprings to the north instead of my path to
the south. The first one right out of
town is literally 5 feet from the ‘highway’ a 6 foot round hot tub perched on
the rocks. Now I am on the Salmon
River. Stanley
professes only 100 inhabitants but they sure expect tourists as they are prepared
for 5000 with amenities it seems.
Fishing, hunting, skiing, rafting and especially fly fishing. My second HS on the Salmon was very
undeveloped and small, only got my toes wet.
Then went to Sunbeam HS which has a bath house built by the CCC and a very
hot gushing torrent coming out of a pipe under the highway into the river, with
little arranged pools. Had a nice soak
and visited with other travelers.
Sunbeam has been a boom and bust location. It has the only dam ever put on the Salmon
River but it didn’t last too long.
It was an earthen dam and changed the habitat so much they let it erode
and wash out. Deciding I hadn’t made
nearly enough mileage for the day and I was going the wrong way anyhow….. I
headed for Challis. I stayed at Challis
Hot Spring Park and it was wonderful.
The hot springs come out of
the ground up through gravel bottom swimming pools. One an Olympic length pool at about 87
degrees and the indoor hot pool at about 104 degrees. Both have been there
since the 20’s probably. The springs are
in the same family that developed them in the late 1800’s. The prices are very reasonable. The park is
clean not crowded together and right on the Salmon River. Everything is heated with spring water. The
toilets are warm since the natural ‘well water’ is warm as is the tap
water. Not good for drinking but it got
to 27 degrees that night so morning bathroom was cozy. Got up and did my aerobics and cleaned house
before hitting the road.
Cambridge
Idaho Taxi Kirkham Hot
Springs
View up from
Sacagawea Hot Springs
Sunbeam Dam
Challis
Park
Well it was finally
time to get back on the path and join the Oregon Trail
which was my goal. To travel along their
path in reverse. So off to Craters of
the Moon National
Monument.
On the way was a sign and I had been stopping at every historic sign so
far on the way, so up a washboard road 2 miles I went to see the Mt Borah
earthquake fault. You could see on the
hill where it had literally dropped its face and follow along and see the
displacement of the ground. It was a 9
foot spread or better and just followed the fault line. I am not sure if the picture does it justice
but Mt Borah is the highest point in Idaho.
(according to the sign anyway.) At
Craters it was an all black area. Very
few trees or bushes. Sometimes some lichen.
The wind was blowing. You had to
be careful leaning over a hole to look in that you didn’t fall in. I did the interior drive and a few of the
walks. In the Devil’s Orchard I was able
to get a framed view of my bus in the parking lot totally by accident but
definitely by design!
Mt Borah Devil’s
Orchard
Caught up with Trail
signs at Fort Hall south of Craters.
Decided to keep driving and almost went too far. Found myself on little roads with
construction signs making it difficult to figure out where my campground was
and eventually landed at Montpelier Canyon Campground. A little eerie since there were no people but
there were trailers. Probably the
construction workers plus the county fair was going on in town 5 miles down the
road. Woke in the morning with the full
moon setting to the west and the sun rising to the east. Made it worthwhile. Have now been at above
5000 feet elevation continually for 3 days.
Headed eastward into Wyoming. Stopped at Fossil
Butte National Monument. Cool fossils and full size alligators
complete bodies of fish so they can see what was in their stomachs! Lunched at Lombard’s
ferry on the Green River. Crossed the Continental Divide at 3:30 Saturday.
Elevation 7550 feet. Stayed
outside Jeffery City
on BLM land. Didn’t bother with the
campground it was 8 miles down the washboard road. Not for me!
On Sunday morning
headed for Split Rock and Independence Rock.
Walked all around the big rock.
Not too many names left that are visible. Arrived in Caspar and inquired about a
pool. Was a nice outdoor pool opening in
an hour so I visited and had lunch on the grass then was able to do my 2nd
aerobics. (seemed like a good idea when I left home but not really as many
opportunities as I thought!) Continued
to Douglas Wyoming home of the Jackalope and groceries then finished the night
at Glendo State park
where I never saw another person. I was
beginning to think nobody camped. It
didn’t matter whether I was boondocking or in a campground there were no
people… Glendo is very similar to Baker
Lake. Big reservoir and the
water goes down you can actually camp on the lake shore then. I saw some water skiing across the lake.
First time I heard the cicadas too and boy were they loud. It was like they were screaming.
The Jackalope Glendo
Lake
The Guernsey Wagon
ruts were Monday’s first attraction. The
wagons actually wore these ruts into the stone hillside. Then went to Scottsbluff for a slide show and
driving tour. It was all of a sudden a
lot warmer and with no trees the 1.5 mile hike didn’t have as much appeal as I
originally thought. I had taken the dogs
to look at more ruts and Westy lay down under a sign and didn’t want to move on
the way back and that was a quarter mile walk!
So we ate in the shade on the grass.
Continued onto Chimney Rock.
Without a lot of trees and signs back then all the special formations
had descriptive names and big significance in how far you had traveled or had
to go. Was headed for Ogalalla for the
night. When I got to town the wind really
had kicked up and I wondered if I would blow into Kansas! As I went across the dam to the park I
thought at least my pop top would blow off and when I got camped the front 2
clips had come undone! Big lightening
and thunderstorm that night and rain but by morning you could hardly tell.
In the morning my travail began as my
alternator light refused to go out. I
passed my one hour mark and decided to seek advice. First toured Buffalo Bill’s
barn outside North Platte then
found a Napa store and I installed
a new voltage regulator no difference. Also no new alternator available, and no
vw shop around so charged up both batteries stopped using the refer and drove
off. Made it to Kearney
and the alternator light went out. But
after starting again it stayed on forever.
Stayed at Fort Kearney
that night and toured the Fort the next morning. Could have done it earlier but didn’t know
the time had changed again. I wouldn’t
know till the next day!! Guess it was a good vacation. Stopped for gas in the charming little town
of Nelson. Got gas at a real gas station. They pumped
because they wanted to. Charged my $1 to charge my battery. Neat old buildings and seemed like a nice
farming community. I drove off into Kansas
and kept going to Hiawatha. Having
purchased a battery charger I plugged my batt into the side of the Texaco for
the night.
The next morning I
figured out what time it really was and went to the end of the Trails
Center in Independence
MO.
They let me plug in also to the side of the building so that got my
charged a little more. I had 2 batteries
and never actually needed to go to the 2nd one. I drove to Columbia
on the interstate. What I awful road and
lots of trucks. Up until that point I
had only driven from Douglas to Glendo on the interstate
so it was a shock and not a good one. At
the truck stop in Columbia I
charged up again filled up with gas and made it to St.
Charles by 6pm.
So actually I was right on schedule. We packed a few things and on Friday at 10am left for Mark
Twain Lake
by Hannibal MO
for the Busses By the Arch event that has turned into Busses Nowhere Near the
Arch. BNNTA. This event is basically hosted by Bill Bowman
and his wife Kathyrn who put in a lot of personal hours over the years to
provide a good venue and make sure everything runs smoothly. A great time was had by all. There were about 85 busses camped for 3
days. Old busses mid life crisis busses
and sporty eurovans all intermingled.
Rust buckets and show cars.
Drinkers and abstainers, old and young. Everybody’s focus was camping in
your VW. What was ‘PC’ was BS and people
were themselves with no insults taken or meant.
There was a 35 bus curise to Cameron
Cave across the street from Mark
Twain Cave. The actual caves that he stayed in and wrote
about in his stories. It is a ‘dry’ cave
and has 260 passages. Good thing we had
a guide! Small groups and the tour was
about an hour. I crawled through the
bear’s den a small hole and passage leading to another room. There were no lights other than our
lanterns. When we turned them out it was
truly pitch black. Back at camp I got
the award for farthest driven. 3215
miles. Very simple awards, people’s
choice for each generation and display.
Some of the regional clubs set up a display around their area. The DBG from Wisconsin
were hands down the winners with their Christmas display. Included in the display was a dormobile so of
course they got my vote. Sunday had an
inset event BNNTA aka Beading Nowhere Near the Arch. Kathyrn taught us how to make a particular
kind of bracelet and we completed it before dinner or we didn’t get to
eat. (no not really but most of us
did) So we truly had a multi faceted
event. Many repairs were done on cars
some for necessity and some for entertainment purposes but everyone drove away
on Monday under their own power. Me I
bump started.
Part of the cave tour
groups. Driver’s
meeting at the Pavillion.
My
view going into the park following the 59 double door event bus. Patch
in her spot. Dan Soiney and Bill
top:
Bill, Kathyrn, Jim Kirk
bottom:
Tom J., Bullet, Westy Susan &Jetta
Susan and the Huck
kids Bill and Kathyrn Susan
and Katie
Wednesday I got my
new alternator and it started fine. Today it won’t start. Tough I am leaving before
dark if I have to pull the damn thing!
Tuesday I went to see
the Arch in St. Louis. Remarkable how when you look at it it looks
like a ribbon just hanging there. It is
triangular and so you don’t see the ‘sides’ when you look at a face so it doesn’t
look real. Riding up the arch inside the
legs was a bit confined but to watch the movie as they spread the legs to
insert the last piece or to see them carry the pieces up the outside of each
leg on it’s own track system. Yesterday
I toured historic St Charles. They had a quilt store I just couldn’t quite
walk by and then there was the Bead store but the town is right on the Missouri
river with red cobblestones and accurate buildings. Most of the buildings are occupied by small
shops or nice restaurants and bakeries.
St Charles was the first capitol of MO. Then they moved to Jefferson
City. But they have accurately preserved and protected
the properties. My hosts since my
arrival in St Louis have been the
Bowman’s. They are long time VW friends
and super people who just let me stay till everything was fixed and took
excellent care of my for a week. My own VW spa.
Pat Hoffman Repair guru and Bill
THE END OF EAST
