HOME!

This is tortuous.    We are on CD #7.  Las Vegas is within our grasp, not that we want it, but at least it's a landmark telling us we are getting close to home.

All of a sudden, out in this desert, we come to some coulee walls, and a designation of the White River Narrows Archeological district.  It does look like a river flowed right through here.  Later I discover that this area is full of petroglyphs, some fifteen feet high.  The one here has large mammals, human footprints, and geometric lines that it is theorized symbolizes a kind of animal trap.  Who knew, out here in the flat desert we would come across a river bed and ancient art?

At last, we are on the outskirts of Las Vegas.  The temperature gauge hits 113 degrees!  The wind is ferocious!

We use the opportunity to make calls home while we have bars.  

Outside of Vegas, the dust swirls and the thoughts we had of staying someplace like Barstow for our last night on the road quickly evaporate (pun intended.) 

Even though we will drive more than twice as far today than any other day on the road, we are grateful to be driving into the night, knowing it will cool off.

 As we hit the outskirts of LA, I think of the song about the sun going down over Santa Monica Boulevard.  

In three more hours, we pull up at the house.  We've driven 12,974 miles, and it is day 110.  We are both in  some netherworld, thinking about where all we've been and what we've seen.  And how it feels to be home.

It will take some time to sort out our memories and thoughts about this marvelous adventure.  And how lucky we are to have made this once in a lifetime trip. 

  

Ely Nevada ?

We turned at the junction of 93, but nothing changed.  It was more of
the same. There are roads out here that lead off, and disappear, and I can only think of the Road to Nowhere.

There are cow crossing signs, but doesn't it look like these cows are really long horn steers, bigger and meaner? We never saw any cows or steers, but the sign is intimidating.

 And we came to the town of Ely.  There were four RV parks here, one closed, one abandoned, one a gravel spot behind a truck stop on the Shoshone Indian Reservation, and one with only one spot left.  It is the Wilderness Resort.   Give me a break!  Has it really come down to this? And all of the other RVs in this park look like they've been here a long time.  I think the spot we have is the only one for overnighters!

The town is literally papered with signs like this one, only the word "but" has another "t" on most of them. I was trying to recall if Harry Reid came from Ely, but then remembered that he is from Searchlight, on the outskirts of Las Vegas.

Also in Ely, as we stop for gas, we see this vehicle, coming in from the salt flats.  We had seen other vehicles pass us with what looked like snow on them, but then realized it was salt.  The driver said that they have to use a hose with no pressure behind it to slowly rinse the salt off, or it will just penetrate.  And, they clean it with solvent afterwards.

The only good thing about Ely was that we got a call from our youngest son.  He is on his way back to the States on September 2, a day early.  It can't come soon enough for him or us.  This call, like so many we have received from him, came just before we went out of range with our cell phones.  Five more minutes and it wouldn't have happened.  We have been so lucky to keep in touch with our family on this trip, despite the lack of communications systems almost everywhere we've been.

Idaho and Nevada as Far as the Eye can See

When we left Sun Valley, we were almost immediately in a combination farm land and lava beds, all at the same time.  The Craters of the Moon Lava beds skirt this road, and in between the lava flows are nice farms.

We drop down into Twin Falls, and are crossing this deep gorge of the Snake River before we even realize it is coming.  I feel like I am part of a buffalo jump where you don't see the edge of the cliff 'till its too late!

This sculpture, entitled "The Twins" is on the edge of this gorge  Isn't the natural view spectacular enough?

We follow route 93 and see this fire in the distance.  It is so hard to tell how far away, or how big, or is it on the highway?  When we get closer, we can see what is burning and it looks like a deliberate field burn.  But then we saw several fire trucks headed this way, so maybe not.

Then we enter Nevada.  And the scenery for the next 10 hours is much the same.  i guess it is pretty in its own way, but the temperature is climbing and the wind is blowing, and somehow, all you want to do is get through this area.  We listen to a tape for only the third time on the trip.  It is a ten CD reading of a book about FDR's first 100 days in office.  Somehow I feel that we will finish it before we ever get out of here.

Up ahead, we can see that the road kind of ends, and as we get closer, it appears that it becomes a small trail that disappears in the distance.  Even though the map and GPS are telling us otherwise, that there is a junction, we don't see the other roads.  What a relief to get to the T intersection and see that there is indeed an actual road.

Petit Lake

We are headed to Sun Valley, but we want to spend one more night in this beautiful country.  At the suggestion of our Alabama friend in Stanley, we turn off to go to Petit Lake.  The two mile road is narrow, dirty, bumpy and twisty.  But it is worth it!

Petit Lake is very quiet and blue, and the surrounding hills have a golden hue.  We wade in the water, and the lake is so calm, the ripples we create keep going.

A lone duck confidently paddles down the middle of the lake, creating a V path that sends tiny waves to both shores.

Small minnows dart around our legs and it feels welcoming.

And the evening is even more beautiful as the sun highlights the mountains.  The stars here were as numerous and brilliant as I've ever seen, the distance from an city and the clear skies made is practically impossible to stop looking and go to bed.

Sun Valley and Old Friends

We have only a few miles to go to reach Sun Valley.  We are planning on spending a couple of days with old friends from the "fish" days.  This couple we met at a seafood conference in Spain, and a quasi disastrous side trip to Morrocco in a November in the early 1980's.    Our mutual experiences with 14 hours bus rides through the wet rainy Morroccan countriside resulted in a friendship that has lasted over 30 years.

Sun Valley is another one of those communities created by a railroad tycoon looking for wealthy passengers.  Only this time, the tycoon was Averell Harriman and the year was 1936.  Harriman commissioned this European Count, Felix Schaffgotsch, to find a place that would rival the Austrian and Swiss Alps.  He stumbled on the mining town of Ketchum, Idaho, and Harriman bought 4300 acres there.  Within seven months,a grand lodge and a ski slope was ready for Hollywood celebrities and the rich and famous.  Among the frequent visitors were Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, June Allyson, Claudette Colbert, Bing Crosby - the list goes on.

About a third of the private airplanes parked at Hailey, 15 miles away.

The current population of Sun Valley is 1,427.  And nearby Ketchum is 3,003.  This is definitely a seen and be seen place, with more recent stars like Demi Moore, Clint Eastwood, Richard Dreyfus, Tom Hanks, Mats Wilander, Adam West -- all having homes here.

This was a favorite haunt of Ernest Hemingway, who loved the hunting and fishing.  He ended his life here and is buried in Sun Valley.

Top of original ski lift on the closest hill.  

The original mountain where the first ski lift was created was only 600 feet tall.  Today, the slopes are carved in Mt. Baldy.

I was surprised at the lack of trees on most of the hills,  I had envisioned this as a  pine forested area.

Chuck and John on Prospect Loop looking at Silver Mine remnants

Sun Valley Lodge

Every afternoon at five, there is a free showing of the movie Sun Valley Serenade, starring Sonja Henie, and featuring Glenn Miller and his orchestra.

 And I wish I could have heard this concert.  John Denver's music really personifies this area.














Our friends have owned a condo here since 1988, and Chuck owns a publication called Local Favorites that is distributed around the Valley, in hotel rooms, etc.  He publishes it once a year.  It is large and laminated and built to last. Paige does landscape design both here and in their home base area near Boston.

The area was known for its sheep and Basque herders and was the largest sheep grower in the U.S.

Indian Paint Brush

We took a hike on the Prospect Loop and enjoyed the scenery and wild flowers.

Can autumn be on its way?

Do I really see turning leaves?

A poor hot dog come along with his owner-hikers and promptly walked into this little pond to cool off.

 We drove around the area.  We also had several wonderful meals at the Trail Creek Cabin, Knob Hill Inn, and Cristinas.  But mostly we enjoyed seeing this couple that we hadn't seen for a long time.  Sun Valley isn't exactly on the beaten path, and we are glad we had the time to include a stop for a visit.