Castleton Tower

Camped for 2 nights at Castleton Tower.

Wyoming friend brought the Wyoming goods. Meat, hash browns, a proper grill, fresh eggs. He knows how to eat!

Check the Sweet Saab 9-5 Aero. This is a rare car, perfect for a euro climber (its owner is vacationing from Poland.)

Castleton’s Kor Inghals was a lot harder than I expected. 5.9 from the olden days when there was no 5.10. Didn’t help that its all off width with slippery calcite. Sheesh. I was a hurting unit the next day. Fortunately Ancient Art on fisher towers was pretty easy. The next, while my mind was willing my bones were in no condition to climb Castleton again. The bruises from all the horrible knee jams took more than a week to fade. I need to practice my off-widths!

Hobo Alert!

Welcome to the West, Part Deux

Arrive in Twin Falls at around 10pm in seriously sad shape. Sick to fucking death of driving. In pain. Whole body vibrating. Wanna collapse into bed. I might have trained for climbing but not for sitting still in a car all day, worried about all the vehicles that are passing me.

Next morning I pack up at 6:45 and drive to the front desk to turn in my key. I’ve scouted local eaterys, have an idea where I’ll go but decide to check the local knowledge.

Pimply kid at the counter suggests Shari’s. Oh, and Idaho Joe’s. And Perkins Family Restaurant. I can see the manager in the back doing paperwork. I ask: “how about Norm’s?” Kids, uh, oh yeah, Norm’s. Uh… I’ve never eaten there. Its really hard to find. Manager pops out of his office: “Norm’s is Fantastic, you should definitely go there.”

I tell him I’m not going to eat at a francise. Will Norm’s sell me a real twin falls style breakfast? “Heck yeah.”

Norm’s delivers. Highly recommended! Here are yelp reviews:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/norms-cafe-twin-falls

I filled up and felt fantastic. French toast, eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage – and a bunch of coffee. There’s a room in the back for the old timers. Cool as anything.

Walking around the neighborhood after breakfast, enjoying the morning light I find this fantastic tableau:

Somebody has a heart and a dream. Bitchin!

Several folks in Twin Falls have asked if I went to see the falls. Nope, I did see the sign though. Apparently its a can’t miss and on the way out of town.

I turn off the hwy back to the interstate and am on small roads:

Going to see the Twin Falls from Twin Falls

And then… I start to go past these horrible houses. I guess you get money and you wanna build something fancy? What are people thinking? Who are these space aliens? Are they locals gone bad? There’s not just a few, the place is littered with them.

Love the Adam’s Family Gate that doesn’t surround the property. Why?

You can’t legislate taste.

Is this willful? Are they trying to fuck up the world? Who the fuck builds an ugly house on the river? Sorry, it wasn’t what I was in the mood for that morning. Sorta makes me dream of that scene in “Operation Arrowhead”? Where there’s a nuke on the way to slc? Do the world a favor and turn this place and its shitty mansions into glass. The basalt will thank you.

Let me get this straight, you build your dream home in twin falls? Are these failed spec houses? Retirement opportunity?

Finally I arrive at an overview of Twin Falls. This is a great place for teaching geology, a breach in the basalt.

Maybe also a place for teaching sociology. Who is building the houses on the other side of the river?

Twin Falls wasn’t so special, but the perverse houses got my blood flowing. “This is Idaho, we mess it up on purpose to make a political statement.”?

The days drive was quite nice. Flat and fairly empty roads. Through Pocatello and onward through SLC, Provo and down to Moab.

The Norm’s breakfast treated me well and drove the rest of the day with power coming from my belly! That’s the power of a good breakfast.

Hitting the road out of Twin Falls Idaho.

Being Passed by another Big Vehicle (I’m slow).

The Honda in this picture was upset by the silver pickup, so repeatedly “Brake Checked” it. Establishing dominance? Yeah baby!

Cool light in Provo, but really not my sort of place. Interesting Billboards. “Land of Opportunity” for the land owners.

Pride!

Wind farms outside provo on the way to moab.

Down off the plateau.

West to Moab

Woo!

The last stretch to moab (where I take a left to Castle Valley).

Parked in Castle Valley

Setup and waiting for my friend to arrive.

Castleton Tower.

 

What its all about, The Drive P1.

Back of my head when I got the truck was that, finally, I had something I could drive into the Maze district in Utah. Primarily ground clearance and enough room for the fam-damily, but also reasonable fuel economy to get there.

Despite doubts from The Wife about the ability of the rig to reach Utah we purchase plane tickets so the family can meet me in SLC.

The Drive:

My usual MO on a long trip is to take side roads and sleep when I’m tired. I love sleeping in the country, waking in the desert in the pre-dawn then stopping at a small-town diner for a proper country breakfast.

This time the family + extended family pressured me to avoid this. The world is a dangerous place now, need a hotel, you’re too old for that, etc, etc. So I belatedly agree and book a $35/night room in Twin Falls, Id.

What I didn’t know is that Parent Teacher Meetings were scheduled for the morning of my departure and I wasn’t able to leave town until 10am. That’s 4hrs of driving time lost. Uh oh…

Heading out of Issaquah on I90, out of western Washington. Cascades, doug-firs and lots of moisture.

Truck has a great ride when full of stuff. Those heavy springs finally make sense.

Outside Cle-Elum, the start of eastern Washington. Dry and a long flat descent to the Columbia river.

Its a little spooky being the slowest vehicle on the road. 62mph seems like the best speed to drive which means I’m passed by pretty much everything.

Still in Eastern WA: A hundred-so miles out from Prosser.

Given my slow speed it actually makes sense to take the slowest route. I short cut outside of Prosser through the beautiful Horse Heaven Hills, the breadbasket of Washington.

Horse Heaven Hills – seriously beautiful country.

Round 2pm my neck gets a crick. My ass starts to hurt.

Descent to the Columbia and the Oregon border through Umatilla.

At Umatilla I get onto Hwy 84 and see a sign that makes the hair on my neck stand up: “Twin Falls – 384 miles”

Holy shit. 384 miles? Its 3pm and I’m cruising at 62mph…. uh… I’m not going to arrive until 9:30pm. I’m tired, I don’t want to drive that far!

Calcium Phosphate from the I90 pass is all over the truck. This stuff rusts metal like nobody’s business. Also makes it hard to see but protects from sun-burn?

Need to be careful being the slow vehicle. Everyone’s in a hurry, resents me (not that I blame them.) :

Example of the sort of vehicles that are passing me.

The hills outside of La Grande are pretty, its wet again, lovely country.

Grande Ronde River, outside of La Grande, OR. Eastern Oregon is big!

5:45pm, I’m still in Oregon. Dang it.

And 6:28pm, sun is starting to set. Not in Idaho yet. Back aching, foot on the dash, shoulders hurting lots! Cramping.

And then the sun sets. I’ve got 3hrs to go, in pain. Jeese I wish I could just stop and sleep! Lots of great remote places. But no… I paid my $35, Im going to sleep in Twin Falls. Stupid hotel.