. . . . Ricks Extra Long Summer . . . .: Beautiful smelly rain and shitty cold snow

I didn't sleep much on Monday night. It was the last night at home before I set off once again on another journey down into the USA and my continuing quest to visit all 50 states. I have been at home in Winnipeg, with Buffy for just about two whole months during which time I have been out in temperatures lower than the sole on a dwarfs running shoes. It has been freeeeeeeezing at times (with at least 8 eeee's) - down below minus 40 degrees and this morning it was as if mother nature has gotten out of bed on the wrong side after father nature had given her no more than 30 seconds of hide the pine cone last night. She was in a foul mood and it showed with a brisk wind taking the manageable minus 23 degrees down below minus 40 once again. But I was happy enough - I jumped on the early bus to the airport and looked out of the bus windows at all the poor souls making their way to work on a dark, frisky Tuesday morning, as I warmed my arse on the back seats of the bus on the way towards another state to be ticked off on my map of America.

The bus stop is under the snow!!

An easy journey followed - a quick flight to Denver (once we were allowed onto the plane, as it had been sitting on the tarmac overnight and by all accounts was freezing inside, so they had to get some ground power to heat the thing up before letting us on board!). A quick stop over there was followed by a sleepy flight to Boise, which was made all the more exciting by the pilot suddenly climbing about 10,000feet as we were about to land in Boise Idaho - he admitted he was too high to land in the first place and had to take avoiding action - the 2nd attempt was much better and we landed right on time!

I nearly forgot I had a bag to collect and then the airport authorities had a giggle by swapping the baggage carousel - we had to move to from carousel3 to 4, whilst the passengers there moved to carousel 3 - it was like some kind of weird barn dance as we all passed through each other without saying a word.

Then I jumped into my little hire car - which has the weirdest dash board I have ever seen and headed off towards the South East away from Boise (Pronounced Boy-see) towards the Idaho/Utah border. It was a nice drive as I took a road through some strange little nowhere towns with tiny libraries and rusty old vehicles sitting in fields. It started to rain and the smell of the water drops hitting the grass by the roads made my nose itch!! Its the first rain I have seen in months and I loved it. I am sick to the back teeth of snow by now and am really pleased that there isn't much of it down here at the moment. I enjoyed the rainy drive and eventually holed up for the night in a cheap hotel just about an hour north of Utah.

Tiny Library

Rusty vehicles

Beautiful smelly rain

Weird but cool dash!

Mother nature obviously had a laugh when she read the blog up to this point as over night she covered the world outside with about 4 inches of shitty white snow! It messed with my plans for the day as I was going to take some back roads and drive down to Salt Lake City, but even the freeway was in poor condition because of the weather as I drove south. I ended up stopping in the first little town I cam across in Utah, which just happened to be called 'Snowville' - you couldn't write this shit!

Really?

Entering Utah

Snowy Snowville!

After a quick look around Snowville I headed back north and towards Boise - I would have liked to look further into Utah, but couldn't risk getting stuck in the snow. It did mean I could stop on the way back to Boise and so I had lunch in Twin Falls. I had a look at the Canyon which runs through the town and has the Snake River at the bottom of it. It was a lovely view on a cold snowy day and I could see along the canyon to where there is a weird man made slope built next to the canyon itself - It turns out that this is where the infamous Evil Knievel attempted to jump the canyon on a rocket powered motorbike - he failed dismally as the rocket fired too early and ended up in the canyon itself. It was fun to see it though!

Potato

Me at Twin Falls Canyon

The hump on the right is where Evil Knievel did his failed jump

On my last morning in Idaho, I woke up to a cold frost! After clearing the windows on the rental car drove North West to my third United State of the trip - Oregon. My destination this time was a small town called Vale, where there is a 'Bates Motel', just like the one in the movie 'Psycho'. Only it has nothing to do with the movie and was just somewhere for me to visit on my short trip. Funnily enough on the way there I passed through Ontario. No, not Ontario Canada, but a little ole Wild West style town with the same name and on the way through I spotted a travel agents sign advertising trips to Honolulu - funnily enough my next destination!! haahaa!

In Oregon

huh...Canada? No!!


The tacky Bates motel

Ok..ill go tomorrow

After the drive to Oregon I spent the afternoon in Boise town itself - a look around the old Capitol Building, which is heated by a geothermal spring was followed by a climb up a hill just outside the city centre where the Boise Depot is located. This is the old defunct railway station, which has been restored and has the best views over the city itself - all the cay down Capitol Boulevard and beyond to the mountains in the distance. Its a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by and so that's what I did for a while, before heading home and getting some rest before my early start in the morning- I'm up at 3.30am for a 5,30 flight via San Francisco to Hawaii - I intend to be on the beach by teatime!!