On July 8th we headed south from Twin Falls, Idaho, ending in Ogden, Utah for a total of 210 miles, plus another 30 miles missing a turn and having to back track. Once again, we were amazed at the agriculture in southern Idaho, not just the vast acreage under irrigation, but the wide variety of crops. Today we saw sugar beets, barley, wheat, corn, and LOTS of potatoes. We also passed the McCain Potato processing plant.
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| Idaho Potato Field |
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| McCain Potato Processing Plant in Idaho |
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| Oakley Bank |
One of the drawbacks of staying off the interstate is missing a turn now and then. We kept going on Idaho Rt.27, when suddenly it ended in a small town called Oakley, where I saw the smallest local bank that I've ever seen.
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| Idaho Crossroads |
While Kerry had his nose in his phone looking at maps, I asked a guy walking down the street what happened to Rt 27. (Men hate to ask anyone for directions.) He pointed back the way we came 'That's it.' he said. I asked, 'What street is this that we are on?' He replied 'Just Main Street, I guess.' I asked, 'Where does it go?' He shrugged and smiled and said 'Nowhere.' Then he asked 'Well, where do you want to go?' I replied 'Utah'. (I didn't know our exact destination at the time). He said, 'Well just go back the way you came and get on the interstate, or you could turn onto 500, then turn right at the stop sign and keep going.' (oh, my...) I thanked him and we turned around and headed back the way we came, found 500, turned and followed it about five miles to the stop sign where 500 ended and was crossed by route 77, which Kerry found on his phone map. Route 77 would take us into Utah (eventually).
After another hour, we were very tired, hot and sweaty and needed a rest stop. At the next VERY small town, there was a place called 'Bake Central' We parked and went inside. It was a little lunch place with three tables, and also a small convenience store. We ordered and took a seat at the one remaining table. At the other two tables, farm hands were discussing some problems they were having getting the irrigation system to work. As we were eating our lunch, a young girl, about 7 or 8 years old came up to us and said 'Hi! Do you live in Idaho?' I replied, 'No, we are from Pennsylvania.' She looked up at the wall where a big map of the United States was displayed, stuck with dozens of straight pins. She ran off, then came back and handed me a pin. 'Put this in the map where you live.' I stood up on my chair and placed my pin slightly north of Lancaster, PA. She smiled and said 'Have a nice day!' and ran off. There was another map of the world with pins all over it, with a couple dozen in Europe. I was amazed that so many people from all over had managed to find this little place.
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| Bake Central Map |
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| Jesus Guards the Candy Rack |
They also had this picture of Jesus over the candy rack. I wondered if that discouraged the local kids from stealing the candy!
Fortified with our lunch, we headed back out and finally met up with I-84 in Utah. We pulled into a McD's, got hydrated, and took advantage of the free wireless. Kerry found an great deal for a Comfort Suites in Ogden, and it was even better than we expected. The lobby was beautiful, it had a very nice room, free breakfast, great pool and hot tub, and most surprisingly a free happy hour! I NEVER thought I would see that in Utah of all places! From 6 to 7 pm we could drink as much as we wanted, plus they had really good homemade salsa and tortilla chips. We each had three drinks in the allotted time, had dinner, and enjoyed the hot tub.
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| Free drinks in Utah |
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