The day started early with breakfast then email and business meetings. At about 9:15AM PDT, we departed Wells for points North. As we entered Idaho we returned to Mountain time. Our destination was Twin Falls, Idaho, where we planned to see several sites. The first was Herrett Center at the College of Southern Idaho. It would be a great place to microwave some leftovers for lunch, then learn about culture and dinosaurs and such.
However, the good ship OWG hit some very rough waters just before arriving at the center and finding parking. Khan swayed violently and material stored above the kitchen sink went flying across the RV. The Instant Pot fell and broke the glass top of the inductive cooktop, and the TV broke free of its retaining fixture. It was quite a mess.
There are several theories that have been raised on what caused this. One is that there was a very large speed bump that only rises once every 10 years or so like Brigadoon. Another was a sudden and un-recorded earthquake. One surely preposterous idea was that Tom jumped the curb taking a turn too tight.
At any rate, we think we may one day find the missing fixture retaining the TV (we had extra bungee cords from one of our previous Walmart trips.) Tom adjusted the latch on the compartment with the instant pot, and we think instant pot – and maybe the inductive cooker – may still work. Later on when we arrived at our campground Tom cleaned the bits of glass off the floor.
The Herrett Center museum was small but nice. They had an exhibit on migration of very early man throughout North America. It used the term “BP” to describe ages thousands of years before. When we asked as we were leaving what that meant, we learned it meant Before Present Day, and they gave us a pre-printed sheet explaining that. I guess they wanted people to ask…
Next stop was Perrine Coulee Falls. This was one of several locations along the river that Tom has selected for us to see. We discovered that there was a pretty good place to park Khan and Polo, and excellent access to the Snake River Canyon Rim Trail . We decided to hop on our bikes despite the fact that they had not been charged in three months and see the other sites beyond the Perrine Coulee Falls from the trail.
The first major site was Centennial Waterfront Park , sight of the Perrine Memorial Bridge . We discovered that they plan to unveil the world’s largest US flag tomorrow – the nice man who stopped by told us it weighed 600 pounds, the stars were 6 feet tall, and – this year- Twin Fall bought their own for $125,000 or so and would not have to borrow one from Salt Lake City as they had previous 9/11s. Then we learned that the Perrine Memorial bridge is the only place in the US where you can base jump any time of the day or night without a permit. We then watched several skydivers do just that.
Avid readers may recall the last time our intrepid OWGs went bike riding did not end well. Scott was surprised and somewhat annoyed that dirt from the last trip did not seem to want to fall off his tires. Two and a half miles into the ride he discovered they were not pieces of dirt, they were thorns. And at that point the front tire was flat and the back one was on the way – riding without removing the thorns had driven a few into the inner tube.
While Scott found a tree to escape the harsh midday sun, Tom rode his bike back to Khan and Polo, unhitched Polo, and drove back to rescue Scott who had just finished removing the easier thorns. We loaded Scott’s bike into Polo and went to see the rest of the sights by Jeep.
The next site was the Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon Jump Site – where Evel Knievel attempted to jump 1600 feet across the Snake River Canyon in a steam-power rocket. He failed when in parachute deployed early. Read about it – pretty cool ramp still there – built of rock and gravel.
Then to Shoshone Falls Scenic Attraction – run by the town of Twin Falls. For most people – even Twin Falls residents – the entry fee is $5. However, noticing our advanced age (we must have aged since the last museum stop) the nice lady inquired if we had a National Park Senior Pass, Well yes, Scott did – but were we confused since these only let you into National Parks. Well, the nice lady said – we honor them anyway. She gave us a nice brochure and a smile – we’ll have nice thoughts about Twin Falls forever.
Then back to hook up Khan and Polo, cross the Perrine Bridge, and on to our campground – Heyburn Riverside Park – run by Heyburn, ID and almost full. By far the nicest and friendly manager. A quick dinner of BBQ chicken and Tom wants to try fixing Scott’s bike with the fix-a-flat we bought before the unsuccessful attempt to go to the hot springs last trip (that was very well documented.) Turns out there were dozens more thorns to be removed. Turns out the can would not screw onto the valve stem on the rear wheel. Turns out the front wheel did not set correctly on the rim the first time. Tom “MacGyver” Glebas got through each of these challenges and we blew up both tires for a test run. Scott completed a reasonable trip around the local camp trails and confirmed that – maybe- the fix worked. We left both bikes charging and we’ll find out in the morning.
Then blogging and bed as with most days.