The easiest way to way to get to the crane’s out of Spokane would have been to go east on I 90 and go through Missoula, Billings, and drop down into Nebraska at Rapid City, South Dakota. Maybe even visit a familiar hot spring or two, and that route would have worked great except the day I was leaving a storm was brewing on the mountain passes along the route. All the predictions called for feet’s of snow, traffic delays, icy conditions, pestilence, and just general mayhem.
Not wanting to encounter any of that I decided that I would take 395 south through the Palouse, cut over to Idaho in one of my least favorite towns Lewiston, and just mosey along till I was done for the day.
It proved to be a great first day out, with some clouds, but mostly sun. I found a little RV park in Grangeville with hookups as I needed to give the vans batteries a good charge. At the park office I was greeted by a super friendly Shepard puppy, that would have given the hook ups away for a few more scratches around his ears, but his mom ordered him to his bed, and charged me $50.00. She also told me that snow was expected tomorrow. That’s good news I thought. I also discovered that my winterization of the van was a failure, because when I filled my water tank and turned on the pump, I discovered a small plastic filter on the pump had frozen and broken leaving the water to rust my skillet.
In the morning there was just a dusting of snow as was expected but the day was mostly sunny and getting through the capital of Boise was aa easy drive. For the evening, I pulled into a RV park in Mountain Home, and was not greeted by a dog, but was still charged $50.00 something dollars. The park did have a nice hot tub, and clean showers, and full hookups that I only used the electric, as I didn’t want to mess with a water or sewer hose in the morning.
The next morning, I was heading to Pocatello and I can’t
remember exactly where I noticed the vans outside thermometer locked of 32 and the foreboding dark cloud ahead. Soon the first flakes of winter wonder started falling. It wasn’t long until it was
a full-on blizzard of wet snow. Fortunately, the road was warm and it wasn’t really
sticking so I kept moving along only passing one snowplow on this leg of the
journey.
There was hardly any traffic so plodding along was fairly
easy, and things didn’t get dicey till I tried to exit the highway at Pocatello
and discovered that it was very slick on the off ramp. The van with a name
tried to dance a little sideways, and as I was wondering what to do, I noticed
that the light at the intersection I was approaching was green. Years of
driving in snow all came together at
that moment and I did the only thing I knew to do. Crank the wheel back and
point it in the direction you want to go, and floor it. The inner F350 of the
van with a name came alive as I pressed the accelerator, and she responded like
she was all wheel drive and chained up. I pulled into the filling station and
filled her up with Ethyl.
I called the local KOA from the filling station, and got no
answer, so I made a reservation online. The camp was only a couple miles out of
town so I carefully navigated that way. When I arrived, the place was dark and
hadn’t been plowed. The camps were downhill and I thought if I went down there,
I might never get out so I selected a spot right in front of the front door of
the little A frame office most KOA’s have.
It wasn’t long until a little lady came out and asked me
what I was doing there. I said I had a reservation and was off the road for the
day. She told me that they were closed because of the storm, and power outage
and she couldn’t accommodate me. I explained that the online reservation system
took my money, and if she would refund it, I will be on my way. After several minutes
of a meaningful exchange of thoughts and ideas she agreed that I could stay but
would have to move to the side of the little A frame cabin office.
I moved along side of the building and spent a comfortable night
with plenty of heat, and lights. I also checked the weather and learned that
more snow was expected by 7:00 am. Needless to say I left extremely early
around 4:30 and much to my surprise Pocatello doesn’t bronson, or dunleavy
their snow , as all the main roads, well the ones I was on were all clear of
snow and ice. The highway was dry so down the road I went.
Going into Utah I knew I would encounter snow going over the
infamous Wasatch Range, but on highway 89 there was little traffic, and I passed
my second plow of the trip. It was either plowing the very edge of the road or
edging the grass, anyway I went around.
Further along 89 there was snow on the highway and here I encountered , in the middle of nowhere, my first flashing highway sign that said “Chains Or Snow Tires Required When Flashing” I figured as much snow as I have been driving
in, I must have snow tires so on I went, over another 8000 ft pass and around
the massive summer resort of Bear Lake.
Crossing into Wyoming things got interesting. The road was covered in a salt, dirt, slush slurry that coated every imaginable surface under the van, wouldn’t blow off at the truck wash, and generally took two days to melt.
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