For our second installment of touring The Potato State, we are focusing our exploration on the southern portion, which may lead us into neighboring states. As our previous tour focused mainly on the Panhandle, this venture will try to avoid towns seen previously and stretch our expectations of the more arid Snake River hugging towns and may find the mountains of Eastern Idaho too tempting to pass by. And finally, as much as we might voice an aversion to the capitol, traveling through the south without passing through the Boise MetroPlex was unavoidable.

Day One

The desert of Nevada is boring. We tried to have the kids find beauty in it. The first portion was to its true effect, dry and repeating patterns of barren hills, shrub-laden valleys, and ranches nested against the hillside. But further on, the snow came and transitioned The Silver State into an almost winter wonderland. As we had explored the Giants Tomb of Lovelock Caves on our previous tour, we were single focused to finish one long drive day poolside in Winnemucca.

Day Two

We woke with a snow covered vehicle, that took some time to thaw. And with Twin Falls our destination we did not figure many stops this day. Yet as in TNT fashion we stumbled across The Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko, full of exotic stuffed animals, many log cabins and a snow covered park that kids were shivering to play on. The rock formation of the borderland before entering Idaho was again a subject of discussion. Jackpot was true to form with its fine gas station bathroom. Entering Twin Falls revealed a nice farm town which seems to only thrive with much irrigation. After reaching our hotel, we ran out for dinner and swim trunks, that Dad forgot. Entering a run-of-the-mill shopping center we accidentally parked on the edge of a cliff revealing a breathtaking fall to Snake River and shocking exposition of a handful of base jumpers off the bridge.

Day Three

Setting off on day three we hardly left the river side. Taking the opportunity to drive down to Shoshone Falls in the dry season and walk about Dierkes Lake, envious of their summer swimming hole complete with diving board and surprising infestation of groundhogs. Driving by American Falls, the vehicle had been transformed into a restbed of weary travelers and a driver set on the day’s destination of Idaho Falls. Tired of chain restaurants we honed in on a local establishment who, true-to-form refused mask virtue-signaling and covered their walls with Air Force honoring imagery. Uncle Benny’s. Before the sunset, we set our sights on the the falls and riverworks surrounding a oddly placed Japanese Garden.

Day Four

A non-travel day, saw us venture over to Ammon for some shopping, take lunch at the Chinese Garden, explore the East Idaho Aquarium and scramble for dinner at the local O’Brady Family Restaurant. Did I mention it was snowing, hailing and raining the entire day? People kept apologizing for the weather, but it was to be expected and we wanted to see and experience a spring in Idaho.

Day Five

Which way do we go? Which way do we go? Thoughts of traveling up into the mountain town of Challis or driving down to Montpelier, lead to a late decision of heading to Wyoming, not for a night, but for the day. Heading east out of Idaho Falls, quickly found us in a gorgeous petite meadow called Conant Valley, winding around the swollen section of the Snake River known as the Palisades and crossing over to Wyoming at Alpine. Alphine disappointingly only offered takeout, with all the cafes closed to visitors. The saving graces was a five star gas station bathroom and a comically filled truck with a bed of huskies or wolves and a raccoon who owned the cab, roof and hood. Again the snow picked up in Thayne, but was on and off all day. The towns along the Salt River had homes and ranches nestled up against the mountains facing the river and range that defines the Idaho border. Tons of snow, but very comfy. Finally this road led us back into Idaho at Montpelier. A town famous for a Butch Cassidy bank robbery, features well-standing brick buildings erected at the end of the 19th century. Through out this trip we have found lock museums and visitor centers, but open thrift stores. A church turned thrift store was found in Montpelier with the choir loft home to 50% off items. After driving through Soda Springs and not seeing anything worth getting out for, one or two children cried out, “what is that orange stuff?”, not knowing what they spoke of, the driver continued. Five minutes down the road another child informed the driver of a famous orange geyser in the town. So not to be tied to a schedule we flipped a three point turn on a two lane highway and head back in search of said geyser. We had in fact driven right passed. And upon returning at the top of the hour, it erupted coating our rental in sulfur. We dragged into Pocatello, home of Idaho State University and like most cities in Idaho these days, new tract homes popping on every hillside. We headed into town for some spaghetti and meatballs at Buddy’s Italian Restaurant that has been serving them up for more than 60 years.

Day Six

Because of our Wyoming detour of the day before, we now much traverse the entire state, but in true TNT fashion, we snaked this thing. Heading up around Craters of the Moon and down through the most desolate and unusable land on route 26. Lava tubes and sage brush make growing crops or grazing cattle nearly impossible save cleared acreage, that must have taken generations to make usable. Strong and self-resilient communities dotted 26 every 45 minutes or so. We had lunch at Pickles in Gooding, a maskless town with the classical brick and stone buildings and community that refuses to change. When we hit Interstate 84 we thought we would be back in civilization, but 84 turned out to be the new (i)5 and was place up on the mesas about all the riverbed towns, leaving little to entertain the eyes, so most in the vehicle rested them. We took the opportunity granted us by a full kitchen to give restaurants a break and have a good old home cooked meal in Meridian.

Day Seven

We awoke in Meridian and fell asleep in Meridian. A day of little driving gave us opportunity to relax and do things as a family that we would enjoy in any location. A slow start allowed for writing and drawing memories from the previous days, attend church via live stream and walk over to a park for a round of disc golf. The full kitchen made easy the preparation of a proper home cooked meals, for the second day in a row.

Day Eight

We started the day by swimming up stream to catch a couple towns we missed in Part I; Eagle, Emmitt, Weiser, Payette, Fruitland, and Parma; all are ag based towns settled beside a river, with grasslands, and rolling hills surrounding them. We had a picnic lunch at a park in Weiser, met a local that summed up his community by saying, “if the government says to do, we don’t do it”. With a destination of Winnemucca ahead, we than took the most direct route, cutting through the corner of Oregon, capturing the feeling of remote ranching; no internet, no cell towers, no garbage service, no neighbors, no problem. Pulling into Winnemucca about dinner time (we gained an hour with time travel), settling into the hotel we were informed the fiber was cut to the town, but that seeming like not a problem all. Of course running out for gas and dinner, with the internet down; cell towers, mapping services, gas station pumps, atms, and restaurant credit card machines do not work. Good thing a well prepared traveler does not pull into any town with less than a half a tank of gas, carrying cash and has food and water to last a meal or two in a pinch. We ended up enjoying salad, pizza, calzones, and pasta at Winnemucca Pizzeria, paying cash.

Day Nine

We set off from Winnemucca in the late morning and made quite record time, only stopping once in Sparks for Chipotle. It was our first truly fast food stop of the trip, but Chipotle is simple, clean food that tries to used non-gmo, local food when possible. Dinning out was fueled with gift cards from Crypto.com, sign up and we both get $25. Now breakfast was included in all the rooms, but for lunches and dinners that we did not make ourselves we spend an average of $65 per meal. The average hotel stay cost us $149, but with incentives and rewards it brought it down to $87 per night. All of our rooms were booked with Travala.com, book your next stay through them and we also will both score $25. See, our latest tour was not just enjoyable, but rewarding too. Our engine run time was just over 42 hours and we traveled 2,150 miles. Our total gas bill was just over $400, and the Ford Expedition cost us about $1,250.