My Journey

Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
Lots of cut wood for the stone fireplace, but then it's time for travel South.

Yeh, I’d probably head south too. We just had another blast of winter here, and a friend who lives well off the grid, said her generator was out of gas, wood box empty and batteries low all at the same time.

I sure prefer living ON the grid with all the amenities, even a natural gas wood style stove that lights by bumping the thermostat. Great on a cold night with a movie or good book.


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Foy

Explorer
.....even a natural gas wood style stove that lights by bumping the thermostat....


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What those of us living in the Blue Ridge during the early 1970s--and relying on woodstoves--used to (longingly) refer to as "knob heat", since all you had to do was turn the knob.

Good-looking area there in Idaho, Jerry. Hoping things work out the way you want them to.

Foy
 
Ace, JD, & Foy.....yes, I would definitely head south. What I've noticed about myself is that I enjoy the beginning and end of winters, but I'm not interested in living through an entire winter in the Rockies. The neighbors nearby, from where I'm camped, told me about this guy that bought nearby. He purchased a beautiful chunk of land on the Salmon River, built a +/- 1,700 square foot log cabin, and spent over $200,000 landscaping it.....

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They said that he didn't last through the first winter and subsequently put the place up for sale. He couldn't sell it because he invested way too much in the landscaping.....he can't come close to getting his money back.....

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From what I can see it's amazing with a man made pond and a magnificent stone bridge crossing the stream that flows into the Salmon River. I won't be making that mistake.....

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Next we were driving clear across the state of Idaho, almost into Washington, to visit the woman, and her husband, that I purchased Tanner from. We've stayed in touch seen July, 2017 when I purchased Tanner and I often send her pictures of Tanner.....she reciprocates with pictures of her dogs and her litters of puppies.....

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It's such a treat to hang out on her property.....I mean it's like the perfect world.....out in the country, not many people and lots of Golden Retrievers.....there were eleven dogs there the day I visited plus my two dogs.....

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She saved a puppy for me from her last litter.....his name was Junior.....

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Now how could I possibly leave without that puppy.....

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I spent the entire afternoon hanging out here. She had a cookout for us.....funny, actually eating at a kitchen table in someone's house.....struck me as odd.....wasn't sure what to think.....it'd been a long time.....

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Well, I did leave that day without Junior.....and yes it was fairly difficult to do so. Just yesterday she told me that Junior was moving to Utah this weekend.....he has a new home.....
 
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Grenadiers

Adventurer
We have a similar dilemma, living on a lake in NW Wisconsin, hard to leave in the summer! Fishing, pontoon, just bought a side by side for the extensive ATV trails around here. Moving from Prescott, AZ to here forces us to travel. Dang!
 

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Ace.....you can't (actually maybe you can) imagine how difficult it was to leave without Junior. The other puppies in the pictures are puppies that she recently purchased from a friend. I believe that she now has eight Golden Retrievers which live in her house. She doesn't kennel her dogs.....

ITTOG.....I am crazy but I'm hoping in a good way.....

Grenadiers.....that lake looks great. Right about now I envy you for your problem.....

tikirob.....her dogs really are beautiful. And what I've found that I like about her is that her dogs are her family. Yes she breeds them but I just can't get myself to call her a breeder (the word has negative connotations for me). Anyhow, she doesn't have a website but she has Facebook. I don't have Facebook so I've never seen it. I could get her Facebook information if you're interested. Possibly you saw that another XP member got one of her puppies (Juniors brother) a few weeks ago.....

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So I'd driven across Idaho from east to west, visited a few friends that I've made during my travels, so now I decided to turn around and cross Idaho once again.....west to east. The difference this time is that I would take my time.....no schedule and no visits planned.....we took the back roads.....no interstate this time thankfully.....

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Somewhere out of Caldwell, Idaho we headed northeast and drove along the wild and scenic Payette River.....

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Sometimes I hear that Idaho is the Montana that's yet to be discovered. And I think that quite a few people in Idaho hope that continues to be the case although plenty of people that live there will tell you that Idaho already has been discovered. Anyhow, taking this back road drive across Idaho certainly showed me the similarities between the two states.....the drive is incredible.....

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So I'll just share a few more pictures of the drive across Idaho.....

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The last time we cleansed ourselves was way back when we were in the Utah hot springs so we were now ready for another good soaking. Our next stop would be at the Kirkham Hot Springs along Highway 21.....

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For me a visit to a hot springs is so much more than just a soaking for my old joints and bones.....it's an opportunity to shed a few weeks worth of dust, dirt and grit from my body.....

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So my excitement when I arrive at a hot springs is impossible to hide.....in a matter of minutes I'm in my swim suit cleansing my dirty body.....

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The beauty of Kirkham Hot Springs is that you literally can park within a few feet of one of the hot steaming pools. I took the next picture of my rig which is parked in our campsite from one of those hot steaming pools.....

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The next picture was taken at 6:00 a.m. the following day while soaking with a light, cool drizzle coming from overhead.....

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If you feel energetic you can walk three hundred feet and soak underneath the steaming hot waterfalls.....

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The place had not officially opened yet when we arrived.....too early in the season to start charging so thanks to the BLM for a free nights stay and a whole lot of soaking.....

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The following day we were back on the road exploring the magnificent state of Idaho.....

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Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
Yes I sure can understand. I had three Golden’s over the years. This was Kyla just after a near drowning. She was my last Golden.
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tikirob

New member
Would love to get her FB page. We lost our travel buddy last year, and the wife saw those pictures of Junior yesterday and fell in love!
 
Ace.....great dog.....

tikirob.....I'll get you that link and PM it to you.....

JD.....that entire area is simply amazing. I'm thinking of spending the fall season around and in the River of No Return Wilderness Area.....

Furbucket.....that dog would have some stories to tell......



The following morning, after a few more soakings in the hot springs and a wilderness hike, we were back on the highway pushing east. The road climbed high and eventually we reached snow levels. We passed through several major avalanches where huge stands of trees were obliterated and obviously ended their slide on the highway.....

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We stopped near the summit only to get a picture of the snow depths.....

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Then the highways summit.....

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We passed into the Challis National Forest and began the slow descent down the mountain range.....continuing east.....

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The plan here was to hike a little on a forest service road but intermittent snow and bitter cold dampened my interests on that idea.....we drove on.....

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Further down and further east, the weather settled down and we hiked into the forest where there were no trails. Bushwacking is a true love of mine.....

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I noticed this little monument as I was departing the truck. The road crews parked their snow clearing equipment on it (apparently) and all around it. This monument got no respect.....

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Eventually we connected with the Salmon River Scenic Highway.....

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And now we drove north following the meanders of the Salmon River.....

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