Today marks my 50th day on the road with my little rig. Of course, I have far surpassed any amount spent away from home for me since I was a kid and spent a summer in Virginia, and even then I am not sure it was for this length of time. Other than the one night in Cascade Canyon, I have yet to miss a night in the camper.
I made the short jaunt down from Jackson into Idaho this morning, stopping briefly in Idaho Falls for a walk in the lineal park adjacent to the falls near historic downtown Idaho Falls. These falls are interesting in that they do not cut across the Snake River in the traditional sense, nor are they horseshoe shaped like Niagra. The falls actually run right down the middle of the river so that the water flowing down river near the left hand shore travels further along before crashing over the falls than the water on the right hand side. The city has also added a dam running the length of the falls and has harnessed the river for hydro-electric purposes. This takes away somewhat from the picturesque falls, but they are still beautiful just the same.
I did hit a stretch of road today that my little Durango just loved. It runs along side the Snake River with very little elevation change. The road bed was covered in a fairly new top coat of asphalt and it was such a smooth run that you could hardly tell the trailer was back there. The Durango ran hard and fast and smooth and it was actually a joy to drive for a change. No one passed me for well over an hour . . .
Now let me tell you about Arco ID. Where you say?!? Arco is on the map, but barely. There are two campgrounds, a handful of rundown hotels, a half dozen gas stations, maybe ten restaurants and one grocery store. Everywhere you look it is dry, dusty and weed choked, except for the irrigated potato fields, the KOA and of course, the local ball field. Arco is at least 30 miles or more from a town of any size and about 75 miles from Idaho Falls.
I did the photo tour, which really did not take more than 10 minutes. There are just a couple of unique features about Arco. Arco is the very first city in the WORLD to be powered by atomic energy. The very first!!! The power was provided by the first nuclear power plant just southwest of here. Another unique feature that I never expected to see in the middle of the Idaho desert is the Sail (conning tower) from the nuclear submarine USS Hawkbill SSN-666 nicknamed ‘The Devil Boat’. The final unique feature here in Arco is ‘Number Hill’. Number Hill is a nearby butte that over looks the town, where the graduating classes of the Butte County High School has added their ‘year’ to the hillside starting with the class of 1920. Beats the old turn a goat lose in the courtyard and leaves a lasting legacy to boot.
Sail from SSN-666 and ‘Number Hill’