Charles Waters Campground - Florence, MT. Land of the Butterflies

As we continue north on Highway 93, we cross into Montana. There are interesting signs along the way. One of the signs we passed was this one at a turnout in the road not far north of Ellis.

Another was one of the 45th Parallel signs. The sign is south of Salmon, between Tendoy and Baker. It says: 45th Parallel Halfway between the equator and the north pole. Unfortunately, we weren't expecting it, so we didn't get a picture as we drove by.

We are on our way towards the Coeur d'Alene area but will make a few more stops before getting there. Our next stop is Charles Waters Campground, where we will spend just one evening. The campground is a USFS campground, which means no hookups, but it also costs us a grand total of $10, so we'll manage. 

What we found so remarkable about this place was the sheer number of white butterflies that were all over this area. I think they are called Large Marbles (Euchloe Ausonides), but that is just a guess. They were there by the thousands, mostly up in the pine trees. Wendy spent a decent amount of time chasing them around in order to get a good picture of them, but they never seemed to land within range... that is until she put her phone down. Her husband found this very amusing... her, not so much.

I (Wendy) did finally get some pictures of the butterflies. The best picture was of the non-white butterfly that landed on my foot. Another one actually landed in the palm of my hand (as Tom said when I didn't have my phone...yes, he was amused).

Tank found himself a bushy cool spot to hide in

Royal Gorge Resort - Ellis ID

Wow, we're actually up to date! Yes, we are technically in Ellis, Idaho. We believe the town consists of a post office. I found something on Sperling's website that the population is 30 (definitely not around the post office), but I couldn't find statistics on it anywhere else.

Our entire drive up from Stanley Idaho followed the Salmon River thru some drop dead gorgeous country.

The Salmon River happens to flow North (which seems odd to me) in this area of Idaho and heads west, thru the Bitterroot Forest, and north again, until it joins the Snake river at the border of Idaho and northeastern Oregon.

We're staying at the Royal Gorge Resort. It's a small, quaint family owned RV park with cabins that sits right on the Salmon river. The owners Beverly and Greg are very nice folks and were happy to chat with us and tell us about the area and its history.

The sky is very blue here.

The Salmon River here runs deep and fast, so even Tank's swimming has to be carefully monitored. And, yes, he has now sampled water from the Salmon River. He's going to have to start his own blog on his water tastings of the lakes and rivers in various states and countries.

We were told about a natural hot springs just a short walk downriver, so one afternoon we went exploring and found it. The water was indeed HOT!

While we were here Greg was nice enough to give us some lettuce, spinach and zucchini freshly picked from their garden.

Stanley ID

We set off without a definitive landing point. We haven't been able to plan ahead because there is no cell service, ergo, no internet at Mountain View Campground. As we drive along Hwy 21, we notice signs like this:


We think they are mileage markers for the snow plows but are not sure. Anyone have any answers for us?















Along the way, we finally get cell service and manage to get a couple of days at the Elk Mountain RV Resort. From there, we can check out dispersed camping and availability at the first come, first serve campgrounds near Ketchum.

We have an early dinner at the restaurant at the park, the Elk Mountain Pot Belly Cafe. I have the ribeye, and Tom has the BBQ ribs,. The food is very good.  

After dinner, we go out to check-out Redfish Lake. We've been told beautiful and a "must see," and, if possible, a good place to camp. Well, it's not possible. All the campgrounds are packed to the gills (redfish, gills...get it!).  

We continue on to check out dispersed camping near Ketchum. We didn't have any particular spots in mind. What we've seen in Idaho is pretty much if it's open, level, and off the road, it's a camping spot. 

The Sawtooth Mountains are a beautiful mountain range, but there's a haze settling on them. The further south we go, the thicker the haze gets. The smoke from the Southern Idaho and California fires are blowing in.

We visit Stanley Lake the next day. The lake is spectacular and clear, like almost all the Idaho water we've seen.

...and the trees are a vibrant green even in the summer.

We even got in a little adventure getting to and leaving the beach. 

Mountain View Campground - Lowman ID

It's been hot in Idaho. We were at elevation in McCall, and we certainly don't want to head back to the heat! Our plan was to head to Coeur d'Alene, but we have been given more time on this trip, so instead we head east towards Stanley and Ketchum. We've heard it's beautiful up there, so we need to see for ourselves.

Tom has a stroke of luck and finds us a couple of days at the Mountain View Campground in Lowman ID, about halfway between McCall and Stanley. Mountain View is a beautiful campground at about 3800' elevation and is nestled right on the south fork of the Payette River.

Many of the sites here have river access, including ours! As Tom would say, "It doesn't get much better than this!"

Our wading pool and private beach

We're dry camping here (no water, electricity, or sewer hook-ups), so we have to be somewhat careful with our battery usage. Tom gets out his solar panels and keeps us charged up, but no air conditioning while we're here. Also, there's no cell service or wifi.

So we just get to spend our time chilling (and believe me the water is COLD!) by the river.

Tank is in doggie heaven and is wet almost the whole time!

McCall ID

On the road again, we head north towards cooler temperatures. Our goal is Ponderosa State Park in McCall, about 110 miles north of Boise. Ponderosa is a small state park with the Payette Lake as its western border. As we drive north, we start to climb, and the scenery goes from rather dry and arid to mountainous and forested. We stop for lunch at a wide spot just off the road overlooking the Payette river.

After awhile, the mountains open up to valleys, and the farther north we head, the greener the grass gets. It's actually starting to look like Wyoming.

Eventually, we make it to our campsite in Ponderosa State Park. The campsite is spacious, smells like forest and has full hook-ups. What a find!

The park has a beautiful lakefront.

Our first bike ride on one of the park's numerous bike/hike trails ended with a flat tire and the day in town getting it repaired. Well, actually, it didn't take that long to repair, but I made Tom take me to the Christmas House. We did make up the missed bike ride the next day by going to the lake access at the far end of the park. Only minor hills, but too much for me! (Also going through the forest got me the first mosquito bites since Oregon!)

Sadly, we were only able to get 2 days at Ponderosa, but we like McCall so much that we find another place to stay, Northfork Lodge & Cabins. Don't let the name fool you, this is a lovely RV park on the west side of town near the airport. (I didn't really hear the airplanes, but there was an occasional noisy helicopter!)

Across the road from our site, the bluff overlooks the Payette River, and there's a hiking/bike path nearby that takes you to a bridge across the Payette.

While we are in McCall,  Tom manages to find pickleball (what a surprise)! He, of course, makes friends, and they want him to return. I, in the meantime, have decided that I love McCall/Donnelly and want to live here, so I spend my time looking at real estate listings. I make Tom take me to check out a couple of the listings, including the Tamarak Ski Resort. Apparently, the resort was in full building mode and fell on hard times during the 2008 housing recession, but is making an effort to find new buyers now.

We haven't (yet) found the right house, so we'll just have to keep looking. We spend our last day in McCall on the patio area of the resort listening to music from a music festival wafting across the river. Not a bad way to end a stay.

Back in Boise

Well, we're headed back to Boise and not even time for breakfast this morning. Bummer! We stop at a Flying J for gas, and surprise! They have a fully manned Cinnabun inside! Didn't know they had a berry cinnamon roll. Well, things are looking up. :)

It's been very tight living in the rv without the space the slides provide, so very much looking forward to having the slides and jacks fixed.

The day before we take the RV in, we choose the closest RV park to the repair facility we can find, Mountain View. Space at Mountain View is a very tight, and its sandwiched between the freeway and the airport, but it's clean and the manager is super nice. The other benefit is that it's close to the Mount Everest Momo Cafe where we go for dinner.

We have the Mixed Momo, which is two vegetable, two chicken, two pork and two yak momos (steamed dumplings). I think the yak is my favorite. Then we have Lamb Chau Chau, which is Tibetian style noodles pan fried with lamb and vegetables, and chicken tikka masala, which is roasted boneless chicken breast sauteed in light tomato and onion sauce with cashews. Boy, was it good!

The next day is RV repair day, and we're excited. It's been awhile since the jacks and slides have worked. While the work is being done, we have nowhere to go because we have Tank. It's supposed to be hovering around 100 degrees, so we can't leave Tank in the car for any period of time.

Boise and surrounding cities have done a great job creating a very well conceived green belt with a number of parks, bike/pedestrian paths, and the Boise river running thru it. We decide to head to Anne Morrison Park which is right in downtown Boise and a short distance from Boise State. We find some big shade trees and a great spot on the water for Tank to take a dip and cool off.

The next stop will be Hi Valley RV Park in Eagle, ID, a suburb of northern Boise. When we pick up the RV, yay, we have working jacks! However, the hydraulics won't switch from the jacks to the slides, so the slides are not working. This is going to require ordering another part and waiting for it to come in. On the plus side, Hi Valley has electricity to run our air conditioning as temperatures head towards triple digits, and their WIFI is very good.

The part arrives and after another day in the park; this time at Julia Davis Park, we are ready to head out. BUT NO, the jacks are still retracting too slowly, so we arrange to leave the rv at the repair shop overnight to see if they can recreate the problem. One nice thing, is that we have a hotel room for this fix, so we don't have to sit outside waiting for it to get done. Yay! Air conditioning!

The repair shop can see the problem, and there's a potential fix, but it's not critical. During all these visits, Tom has also identified where the leak under the sink and in the storage is coming from, so we are finally able to get that leak fixed! So we're as functional as we're going to get, and we're finally ready to head on to our next location!

Twin Falls 93 RV Park - Twin Falls/Filer ID

Our next stop is Twin Falls 93 RV Park in Filer, ID, almost 190 miles west. This is about a 3 hour drive. I'm concerned about Tom sitting for such a long period, so I'm about to do something that I've been dreading...I'm going to drive the RV.

I pull the RV out of the park and drive the 4 miles down to Hwy 26. Since I don't feel comfortable judging the left turn onto the highway, Tom takes over and gets us through Idaho Falls. Now, I'm up again...but I've got 4 miles under my belt, right? So I'm an old pro now, right? I do take the Beast for the next 50 miles or so and get all the way through Pocatello (actually one of the busier stretches) without incident. We've still got about 120 miles to go, but I'm done.

We stop at our school bus taco stop in Heyburn for lunch. Tom actually goes to Carl's across the street, but I opt for more steak tacos.

We make it to Twin Falls and spend a couple of uneventful days there.

It's getting pretty hot and smoke from the fires are in the air, so I don't even make Tom take me to Costco in Twin Falls.

Chicken Salad and Chilled White Wine for Dinner

Juniper Campground - Ririe ID

We're finally on our way back to Boise to get the RV repaired! However, we decide to take a few days to get back to make sure it's an easier trip for both Tom's leg and the RV (especially since we're driving with the bedroom slide extended about six inches). For our first stop, we're lucky enough to get a couple of nights at the Juniper Campground, a county run campground at the Ririe Reservior.

The campground is only about 20 miles east of Idaho Falls, so we took the time to head into town for some supplies and to find a locksmith and replace a worn out key, (apparently the RV keys are not common and are not ones that your typical hardware store can copy...we tried). On the way back, we noticed an osprey nest on a pole right next to the road. 

Juniper is a beautiful campground with full hook-ups and a lot of pull-through sites. We got a nice site right on the end with lots of space. 

We were there for two nights. On Friday, the place got packed to the gills, so I'm somewhat glad to be moving on tomorrow.