Day 6, July 10, 2025 - Ontario to Fossil

 I left Ontario at 0700 local time. They're on Mountain time there. I headed west for John Day and the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, but first I had to buy gas. When I pulled in at the Cenex station, somebody came running out and asked if he could fill my tank for me Not needed - but reminder, this is Oregon,

I passes through a long flat area growing wheat, corn, potatoes, onions (for a change), and alfalfa. I expect to see a mixture of these in all the flat areas throughout the day's trip.

Here's a tidbit for you. The Butte Baptist Church has a drive in Sunday service. Somewhere a little bit west of Vale. I saw a big muley with a really nice rack out in the middle of a field. Now I'm coming to the town of Brogan, I thought that was kind of funny name as a brogan is a shoe.

Soon I'm climbing into my first pass of the day. It's called Brogan Hill; the elevation is 3981. It takes me into somewhat higher Valley. In this valley, I notice there are no fences. They've been taken out and the rusty barbed and woven wires rolled up here and there. Past little town of Ironside, ahead I see a cloud bank building up through a pass in the mountains. I think I'm going to be heading that way.

Now I'm coming to my second pass of the day, El Dorado Pass. it's at 4623 foot altitude, and the time zone has changed. it was 0818, local time, and now it's 0718 Pacific Time. I pass a little place called Burnt River; it wasn’t much of a town, but it does have a. football field, sans stands.

I'm still on us 26 and I'm coming to another pass. This one's called Blue Mountain Pass. Its altitude is 5109 it's pretty and wooded for a change. Then I come to Austin Summit at 4566 and finally, to Austin Junction. On the other side of that, there's Dixie Pass, elevation 5277. The John Day River valley below is very enticing:

 

 This carries me down towards Prairie City. I'm looking a little bit for a place to eat, but couldn't see any, and pressed on through. Neither did I find a place worth stopping at in John Day. So I headed on, Continuing west, of course, towards Dayville and eventually the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. But before I get to them, US-26 enters a big gorge. The river cuts through thick, thick, thick lava beds.

I turned north on OR-19 and headed up to the Sheep Rock unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. It has several sections to it, so I do a little hiking at one of them and take some pictures.

                    This is Cathedral Rock

Finally I return to go through the visitor center, which wasn't open yet when I got there. Then I press on, pick up US-26 again, and continue west to the town of Mitchell. I stopped there for some lunch at a little cafe on the edge of town called the Bridge Creek Cafe. There's only one other customer in there at the time, and she runs a local hostelry of sorts, so she was busy telling guest horror stories. I commiserated with her.

It was time for a two and a half hour round trip to the Painted Rocks section of the fossil beds. and, of course, I took some pictures there. a lot of pictures.

Ended up hiking over half a mile total. and it's a little warm, and it was hilly too. But it's really interesting colors there in pictures. I shared above.

Back into the gorge, I pick up OR-207, heading north. This road is mountainous with very few open areas. I finally crossed Butte Creek Pass elevation, 3789 - it was a very nasty one. I turn west on OR-19

to the town of Fossil without too much of a problem. I stopped, found my motel room. It's a cute little one, and with real friendly management, got a salad and some snacks, and brought them back to the room.

For the day, 285.3 miles, for the trip. 1,963.5

Tomorrow, it's on to Maupin via the Clarno unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

Day 5, Wednesday, July 9th - Idaho Falls to Ontario

 I left Idaho Falls on US-20, about quarter after six, local time, headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument. Along US-20, I passed the Idaho Falls Raceway. I kind of thought that was the highway was a raceway, the way people were driving on it bumper-to-bumper treating the 70 mph limit as the floor.

I found, is the usual center pivot wheat and alfalfa. And there was one other crop that I couldn't see exactly what it was. I then realized, this is Idaho. It's potatoes. This area is a long, relatively flat area. I passed a sign saying, elephant dinners. Okay, what's that about?

Why were all those people in such a hurry? I passed an energy plant, and most of the traffic took off that way and left the road almost empty. At the US-26 junction, another energy complex siphoned off what remained of the traffic.

This is part of the Oregon Trail, called Goodale’s Cut Off. Apparently this was one to avoid a little bit of hostility that was going on further south with the Shoshone. Arco bills itself as the world's first town powered completely by nuclear power. The park actually has a sail from a nuclear submarine, at an elevation of 5300 feet.

The next stop was the Monument, at about 0754 - six minutes before the visitor center opened. I went into the visitor center, got my maps and all and then spent the next almost two hours, driving around, taking a couple of short hikes, and taking pictures.

Showing the rift area, source of the volcanoes.

                        A spatter cone

            Down the throat of a spatter cone.

                A lava flow

                        Life within the lava

                I seem to like to get trees into the picture

                Not all trees survive

            Lichen spots on the lava flow.

I left the Monument about 10 o'clock, local time, I headed on US-20 West, continuing towards Cary. Somewhere right there, there's a little town called Picabo, as in Picabo Street, the skier. I cross the road headed for Sun Valley, Idaho, which is a major ski area not too far from Picabo. Makes you wonder.

After a bit, I got a really straight section of it, a flat and long, long valley. There's mountains to the left and right, but basically the road was straight and fast. The speed limit is 65 and everybody was doing pretty much over 70, although I tried to hold it back to 69.

Finally, I came went into a pass to get out of this flat area. And it was a long, long section of passes until I finally got back in the flats and stopped at Mountain Home, I pulled into a truck stop figuring they'd have a cafe because I hadn't had any breakfast and I hadn't had any lunch yet. The only thing that they had at that truck stop was at Arby's, and their chicken sandwich is not to be recommended.

Now I'm on I-84, headed eventually towards Ontario, Oregon. I-84 is a long road, 80 mile per hour speed limit, which most people seem to take as a minimum. The traffic inside Boise was pretty heavy. It was four lanes each way most of the time. But I finally got through all that.

Once I crossed the Snake River, I stopped a Welcome Center just outside Ontario, Oregon. I was able to check in early at my Holiday Inn Express. Supper was at a fancy restaurant about a block away, with the best (& most expensive) chicken of the trip.

For the day: 316.2 miles, for the trip 1678.1 miles.

Tomorrow is the John Day Fossil beds via a route with 7 passes to navigate.

Day 4, Tuesday, July 8 - Lander to Idaho Falls

 

The theme for the day is surpassing. I passed though 3 mountain passes today. The other theme is pictorial disaster - I'll get into that later.

I left Lander at 0645 local time with a temperature of 58 degrees chilly. US-287 North took me past the Shoshone Rose Casino. This is part of the Wind River Reservation, for the Shoshone and Arapaho

I passed eroded mountains from a previous uplift. These were the synclines and anticlines, where one side is tilted, kind of flat iron on one side. At seven o'clock in the morning, the road was pretty lonely, although that would not last.

Hit the junction with US-26 30 miles in as expected, and pressed on towards Moran junction. The road passes mountains of multiple shapes, as well as multiple colors. The Crowheart was area was a very nicely watered Valley. They do hay and alfalfa, and it's here. It's grazed and irrigated. I passed thick layers of red sandstones, some mixed with layers of other colors; I wonder if one of some of these multi-colored sandstones might be part of the Morrison Foundation, which is home of dinosaur fossils.

I passed Dubois (Duboys or Dubwaa depending on how you pronounce the name) – either way, it's on the Gateway Scenic Byway. I'm not sure which mountain range I'm going through right now, but I'm peaking  at the top of the Tegowee Pass; the Continental Divide here is at 9858 feet of altitude. 

 That was a good pass. I worked on down the road towards the Tetons. Took multiple pictures on my way down. 

                                                From the pass
 

And once I got down to the Tetons, I had a very nice little trip. Spent several hours out there taking the back roads, looking for the reflection pictures and all. Little did I know that when I got back to the motel room and checked the pictures that only about a dozen from my primary camera took and I didn't take everything with a small camera. That is a lesson that I will not forget the rest of the trip.

I had lunch at a Mexican restaurant called El Abuelito on the outside of Jackson, and headed on Wyoming 22 up into Teton. Pass. That's another great pass. It's even steeper, hence slower going, than the other passes.

I came out finally on the Idaho side into at the wide valley. Then ID-33 took me through Pine Creek Passs, elevation 6564. It's also involved with the Targhee National Forest. Now I'm in a verdant valley with wheat and alfalfa growing. Finally, I pick up US-26 following the Snake River. And reach Idaho Falls about 4:15. I find my motel room. Everything's wonderful in the motel room,

Setting up to the process the pictures is when I discovered that the disc failed on my primary camera. A trip to a nearby Walmart to buy a new one and the back-up I thought I had to get ready for tomorrow.

For the day, 297.4 miles. 1,361.8, for the trip.

Tomorrow I'll be taking US-20 to Craters of the Moon National Park and eventually ending up on an interstate highway, going through Boise, Idaho, and spending the night at Ontario, Oregon.

Day 3, Monday, July 7th - Scott's Bluff to Lander

 I left my motel at 630 local time and headed west on US-26, a four lane road. It was a pretty day. Just outside of town, I saw old farm equipment and old military equipment near the road. I got through Morrill before hitting road work. Finally, I got to Torrington, when they were starting to work on the road for the day.

This whole area is part of the North Platte Valley, with irrigated center pivot with corn, alfalfa and feed yards. Sniff, Sniff. It's also part of the California, Mormon historic route, and, of course, the Oregon Trail. I got to the town of Fort Laramie at about 730 in the morning and headed out to the fort itself. I took lots of pictures, talked with Lady, and you'll just see a lot more later.

                                        Barrack view

                            Barracks porch 

                Bldgs with cannon

                across parade ground

                Post hospital ruins

                                    Wash day

I left there little after nine o'clock, to head west again on US-26, when I ran into construction. I had a little bit of wait, but it wasn't too bad.

I stopped at Guernsey, Wyoming to take a look at the Register Cliffs area, where travelers recorded their passing by in the soft sandstone. I took quite a few pictures there.

Got there about 9:30 and left a little after 10:00. Soon as I left I ran into a lot of construction. Had to sit there waiting for the them to let us through. But that finally happened, so I continued on driving and following the Laramie River, which is running full of course, and pulled up at I-25 at the 91 mile marker at about 1030. I took I-25t north towards Casper. This is going to be about a 100 mile drive. It's hilly. Speed limit is 80 and I started off a little bit less, running it at 73.

This area is green. The ponds are all full - really kind of scenic throughout that area. I-25 here is new to me . It crosses a number of creeks: there was Cottonwood Creek, Horseshoe Creek, Elk Horn Creek, LaPrele Creek, Box Elder Creek and Deer Creek.

At Glendo, I passed ta BNSF train that was hauling quite a bit of military equipment southbound, no tanks though.

I crossed the North Platte River (again) around exit 126 and shortly after that at Douglas. And that won't be the last time for this section of the trip. When I got to Casper, I stopped for gas at a Sinclair, probably the best price I've had on the trip so far, and my best price I may have, and asked for some directions on how to find the WY-220 highway.

Well, I did find it. It's called Sand Creek Massacre Trail in certain areas. It starts off being four lane and it's a really pretty good, well traveled road. Then it after I'd been on it for quite a while, I saw the first layer of red rocks that I've seen so far on this trip. I expect I'll see a lot more before I'm done.

This is also the North Platte River valley. I went through a pass and then got into a wide valley where there was corn and alfalfa, all irrigated, growing. Then, another little range, another basin with has a lake. Can't tell if the lake was man made or natural, but I suspect it could have been either. It was a good road, with frequent passing lanes. As a two lane road, it has a 70 mile speed limit.

I reached Independence Rock about 1:10pm and stopped to take a couple of pictures. Successful emigrant parties that reached this point by early July were likely to reach their destination before winter. It's on the Sweetwater River, so they could continue to follow Sweetwater Valley for quite a while.

When I reached Muddy Gap junction about 75 miles out of Casper, I turned north on US-287, towards Lander. This is going to be another 80 Mile Run. Along that stretch I stopped and took a picture of Split Rock, a National Historic Place.

I saw my first antelope at some tanks around 276 miles in. And I saw my first snow cap peaks in the distance from Jeffrey City. I think that they're probably in the Wind River Range. Finally, I got to Sweetwater Junction, where I think the trails turn south towards South. Pass. It's about 6500 feet above sea level.

This is now the Chief Washakie Ttrail. He was a famous chief of the of the Arapaho. I got into Lander, then at almost three o'clock, checked into my room It's a real nice room on the end of the hallway on the first floor. That'll make it real easy to clear out and load the car tomorrow without having to use a cart or use stairs. I gave a big thumbs up for that.

For supper, I went over to the neighboring Safeway and got some carry out and brought it back here. More chicken, of course.

For the day, 341.6 miles, for the trip, 1,064.4 miles.

Tomorrow, I'm heading west on US-26 to the Grand Tetons and then across and spend the night at Idaho Falls.

Day 2, Sunday, July 6th - Hill City to Scott's Bluff

I left Hill City at 0655 this morning, heading north onUS-283 towards Norton. In Norton, I took a little side track in town, where this restored gas station is.

 

I crossed the north to the Solomon
River. There's cotton woods there and junipers. It looks like there
might be some oil in the area. Roads are good. The exposed rock is
kind of white. Going into Norton, I saw the Prairie Dog golf course.
I wonder if they have trouble with extra holes. I turned off onto
US-36 heading west towards Oberlin. A lot more of the same. The right
away was wide, so I wonder if that was a potential four lane on
highway or if it was just the old road was over there.   The highway
cuts showed a thick B soil horizon, with of kind of a yellowish soil
with a smaller black layer on top. 

Oberlin is the site of the last Indian raid into Kansas - they have a museum for that. I turn north on US-83 and pass a feed lot, and the odor stuck with me for a while.

I crossed into Nebraska at the 80 miles in for the day and head for McCook, Nebraska. Once I hit Nebraska, I saw more curves in the first 10 miles than I did in 200 miles in Kansas. At McCook, I cross the Republican River again. The traffic lights in McCook, which is a decent sized town, are synced so you sailed right on through.

Now on US-6, which had quite a bit of traffic compared to what I was used to the first day. Now we're running at the Frenchman Creek bottoms. At the little hamlet of Hamlet, I see the Coyote Machine shop. Just north of that there's a 1940s car on top of an oil tank, both rusting away.

Now the time zones changed and I've gained an hour. This area is hilly. It has lots of sunflowers, lots of shelter breaks on both sides of the houses. At Imperial I turned north west on NE-61. I believe this is the divide between the Republican River and the Platte River. I made a short stop at Grant for a comfort break and to record this.

It continued north on Nebraska, 61 to Ogallala, where I stopped for gas. The first station I went to didn't look like it was going to selling the prices advertised, so I gassed up at Walmart. Now I'm on US-26 and I'm going to be seeing a lot of that the rest of the trip. Ahead of me, I see what looks some clouds, and I can't tell if there's rain shafts coming out of them. I can't tell if it's virga or rain. Eventually I got a couple of drops, so maybe it was some of both.

The road is busy. It's part of the Oregon Trail, and on that part of it, it's got lots of up and downs. From the high ground, you can see to the right down into the North Platte valley, and you can see the erosion that occurs along there. This is part of the Western Trails Scenic Byway. I passed something called Windlass Hill. I guess I guess I should have stopped there, but I think that's one of the places where they had to winch the wagons up or down a hill that was too steep for the animals to hold them.

Little further on, I saw a sign for the Chubby Rhino bar in Oshkosh. There wasn't much in Oshkosh.

Now I'm going down into the valley and a good but busy road. I'm running parallel to the Union Pacific. This is a coal train route. There's big coal trains, full ones headed east and empty ones headed west. I was able to count the engines on one that had two pullers, three helpers in the middle and one pusher at the end. That's a long, heavy train of coal cars.

I went to Chimney Rock National Historic Site. 

 

Also saw the ones called Courthouse and Jail rock, but didn't stop at those. I don't think you could anyway. I had a late lunch, chicken enchiladas, at a local restaurant in Gering.

Finally got to Scotts Bluff National Monument about 1:30 and spent quite a bit of time walking around that, getting overheated while enjoying photography.

Now I'm firmly set at my Holiday Inn Express, and and now I'm deciding what to do so next step is working on pictures.

For the day 338.1 miles, for the trip 722.9 miles. Better mpg today, trip total up to 39.7

Tomorrow: Lander, WY via Fort Laramie and other scenic spots. 

Day 1, Saturday July 5th - Warrensburg to Hill City

 

I left at 0635 this morning, heading out on my usual roads towards us, 50 on us, 50, heading towards Kansas City. My first tidbit was just west of Pittsville, a skeleton driving a Jeep. I got to the state line okay, without much problem. Traffic wasn't bad at all. I picked up K 10 on the west side of town. 

K-10 was pretty. It was green and somewhat hilly, and part of it seemed to be a Kaw River Scenic Byway, or possibly the Kaw River, national waterway trail nearby. As I passed Eudora, the rain started sprinkling. Later on, it picked up quite a bit. Lawrence has a water ski club that uses one of those borrow pit lakes that you see along the roads.

I'm now on US-40, still active in this area. Along the way I saw an 1880s Township Hall, and it started raining, and it started raining and it started raining. I got off go to Lecompton. Took a picture of the sign with my cell phone because I discovered that my camera was dead. Well, couldn't use that, so I pressed on & picked up US-24 to Manhattan. 

First, I passed Topeka, where I saw the Dog Day Afternoon pet care. This area along 24 is flat because it's part of the Kaw Valley, the wide valley with hills to our to our north. St Mary's, Kansas. has a farmer market, and they have a St Mary's University. That's before Manhattan, still on the California & Oregon Trails. But there, as I got into the Topeka area and started pulling out. I noticed that I was in the Flint Hills as a four lane, very good road through the Manhattan area. Finally, there were bypasses, a lot of construction around Manhattan, and there were bypasses. Since then, 100 miles or so. Since then, it's all been pretty good roads, and I've now stopped at Clay Center for gas.

III left Clay Center about a little bit before 11 o'clock and was looking for a place to eat. Unfortunately, I didn't find one there. In the next few towns I went through, I didn't find a Mexican place that was open anyway. Finally, I stopped someplace and picked up a chicken sandwich at the Casey's. Well, it was chicken. Clay Center is a pretty town. The Republican River is right on the west side and it was running at bank full.

Now I'm getting into the Flint Hills as I leave this area. This area is four lane, and I passed a place called Central rose fireworks. The bypasses around Topeka were pretty good. Some of it was 2-lane. It wasn't hilly. After I get through, all this area is green. The only brown I saw was was the harvested wheat fields.

There's a silo tree approximately 10 miles east of Beloit, where all the buildings in towns seem to be made of yellow stone. Further on, at Glen Elder, I passed Wauconda lake. Further on, near Miltonvale, I passed a wind farm. This area is hilly. There is corn and beans, and then it's grasslands, depending on the nature of the ground & how close to a river it is, I suppose this is the Solomon River in this area. 

The road in this area is straight as straight can be. Actually it's a pretty darn lonely road most of the way after Clay Center. So I got to Cawker city looked for the "World's Largest Ball of Sisal Twine." I can't find it. There's no big signs for it. I think it's right close to downtown, but I didn't see the right spot, so I pressed on.

I stopped at Nicodemus about two o'clock. This is a National Historic Site, and it's a historic black settlement. They took up and moved from the South and bought their own land and formed their own town. Unfortunately, the railroad bypassed it, so the town kind of died on the vine a bit. People still live there, and now it's a National Historic Site, which just happened to be open today. I managed to tour a couple of the areas, but it was just brutally hot.

 

I left there about 2:30 and about 20 minutes later, I got to Hill City, checked into my nice motel, the Hilltopper motel. It's a single story, older motel but it's very nice. It has all the amenities, lots of power outlets, A/C, etc. The room is just a little small, but they've done a really nice job of update and keeping it current.

Supper at  Jalapeno's - chicken enchilada & chile relleno, very good Tomorrow, on to Scott’s Bluff, NE.

For the day and the trip: 385 miles. Gas mileage about 38.6 mpg, thanks to a brutal headwind.

Off to Oregon

This will be a major trip. I'm experimenting with dictating my notes, so here's the first installment - my plans and routes:

I'm about to start a big trip to the northwest on day one, which will be Saturday July 5^th. On Day 1, I'll take primarily U.S., K-10 and US-24 to Hill City, Kansas, with stops en route at Lecompton, Cawker City, home of the world’s largest ball of sisal twine, and Nicodemus National Historic Site.

On the second day, I'm heading for Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, & Scotts Bluff National Monument. Among the day’s stops will be Chimney Rock.

On the third day, Monday, July 7^th, I'll head across into Wyoming. I'll stop at Fort Laramie, National Historic Site, take various roads, including US-26 and WY-220 and end up for the night at Lander.

July 8th is a major sightseeing day. I'm going to continue on US-26 to visit Jackson Hole in the Tetons. Eventually, I'll cross the Idaho line and spend the night at Idaho Falls.

The fifth day, July 9^th, takes me to a major stop: Craters of the Moon National Monument. I’ll spend some time wandering around and taking pictures, etc. Eventually, I'll end up in Ontario, Oregon,

On Thursday, July 10^th, I’ll continue on US-26 to John Day, and the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and visit a lot of the sites there, taking pictures. I’ll spend the night in at an independent hotel in Fossil. FridayJuly 11^th will take me to Maupin, OR to visit a Truman relative. En route, I’ll visit another portion of the fossil sites, and then take something called Bake Oven road to Maupin, Oregon, where I will spend three nights in visiting.

My 10 day return trip starts on the 14^th. I’ll head for Klamath Falls, with a possible possible visit to Crater Lake or Newberry Volcanic, depending on whatroads remain to be cleared. That might also affect the next day, since I plan to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park, where some of the roads are still closed by snow; otherwise I intend to visit Lava Beds National Monument, then continue to Sparks, NV

On Wednesday, July 16^th, I'll take US-50, aka “The Loneliest Road in America,” across Nevada and spend that night at Ely. The next day, I'll visit Great Basin National Park and the Parowan petroglyphs in Utah, and end at Cedar City.

July 18^th, the fifth day of my return trip, I'll be wandering around some in rural Utah. I'll visit Cedar Breaks National Monument, and then go through Panguitch, take US-89 and various other roads. End up at Torrey, which is the gateway to Capitol Reef National Monument. And I hope to do some sightseeing that day.

The next day is going to be interesting. On the 19th Saturday, I'm going to Hanksville, with possibly some sightseeing in the area. UT-95, which is pretty lonely in itself leads to National Bridges National Monument. I’ll some time there and end up spending the night at Blanding. They do have an Edge of the Cedars Museum, so I might stop there.

The 20th is scheduled for looking at the countryside and ruins at Hovenweep National Monument, and visiting the Four Corners monument for the first time in dozens of trips to the southwest. I’ll spend a night in Cortez, where I've spent nights several times before.

On the eighth day, the 21^st, I'll go to Durango. Closer to Pagosa SPrings, I hope to stop at Chimney Rock National Monument (there's two of those, you know). Then on through Alamosa, by way of Wolf Creek, pass over the Great Divide and spend the night in La Junta.

The 22nd is a travel day. I haven’t decided o which rods I’l take – do I visit Ft. Larned, or possibly the Sand Creek Massacre site (to comment on th einfamous ‘glorify America’ sign ). In any case, I’ll spend the night at McPherson. And finally, on Wednesday, July 23 I'm going to get home, with plenty of time and laundry to do.

I will post comments and pictures as I go.