Larsen's Journey: Over the back roads cross country trip Part 1

Judy and I planned on going to Ventura, CA for a Thompson family reunion, via traveling the back roads across the United Stated, avoiding the interstates. The first several days we only drove the interstates for a few miles. Other than that, it was the lonely back roads, the same roads we would have traveled when we were kids. For all you younger folks, the Interstate highway system was just being started when we were kids, so if you wanted to get anywhere, it was two lane roads and lots and lots of slow cars and trucks to pass. I was FaceBooking the first half of this trip so here are the photos to go along with it.

We traveled across Minnesota and South Dakota on Highway 212. It is a very little driven highway, so have plenty of gas and a good car. This is in South Dakota and as you can see, there aren't any other cars on the road. We could go for miles without seeing another car, and then there might be one or two. I always like to be in front but I didn't have very many cars to pass, maybe two or three per day.

Okay, so you say this is going to be very boring. But I say what is more boring: looking at the same four lanes of cement, missing all civilization on the Interstates or going on back roads, and slowing down every ten miles or so for a small town and seeing rural America. The scenery was actually very beautiful and changed a lot. And it is not as flat as I80 across Nebraska. It was harvest time in SD as you see the combine harvesting the crops.

We saw thousands of big two ton hay rolls. We spent the first night in Gillette, WY. We thought of going to Devil's Tower, but we had done that before with the kids.

Day two was spent in Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. We traveled past the famous Independence Rock, where those pioneers and others traveling west in wagons would stop and rest.

I was an independent guy, and there weren't any signs saying you can't, so I climbed to the top. All over that rock are autographs of those pioneers that stopped there to leave messages for family who came after. This is B. Snow Jun 10, 1853.

View from the top of the rock looking west towards the highway and rest area.

More engravings.

Looking towards the north where we came from.

The welcome sign.

That is me way up on top. Look hard. Can you see me? I said "Hi".

I am on the way down. You can't tell from this photo, but it is steeper than you think. It is not an easy stroll.

Proof I was not alone.

Once again we had empty highways.

Civilization? Wait, it's abandoned. No gas here.

They had these cute signs all across Wyoming, warning motorists of the dangers of the wildlife. Actually we saw herd after herd (thousands of 'em) of pronghorn antelope.

Rainbows in the sky.

Watch out! Vehicle ahead. I passed him.

We traveled into Utah to Bear Lake and then north to Idaho.

Welcome to Idaho. Bear Lake is a huge lake that you drove next to for miles until you got to Paris,Idaho.

This is the famous tabernacle in Paris and I thought that my great grandfather, Issac B. Bigelow, was perhaps married in it. But when I checked my records, I found that he was married six years someplace else in Paris before it was completed.

We continued traveling north to Downey, Idaho, where some good friends live. Ten miles south of there, the highway was just seal coated (tar and small rocks put on the road) and the speed limits were reduced. Local folks didn't slow down, even though I did, and I got two stone chips in the windshield on the rental car.

This is Dan Lewis and his family. He is an artist that has over 200 of his works in church magazines.

And this is Dick and Deanna Lewis, Dan's parents, who just built a house right next door. Dick did most of the work himself. We spent the night of day two in Pocatello, Idaho.

We spent most of the third day on the interstate, Idaho just doesn't have that many options, otherwise. This is the Snake River Gorge in Twin Falls.

This is the bridge going over the gorge.

We decided to spend some time here because we also visited with my sister Cindy.

To discourage climbing, sharp lava rock was cemented on top of the wall, keeping spectators away from the cliffs.

I don't know the significance of this. I don't know if these are dancing ladies or screaming banshees.

I wanted to get some pictures from the other side and started to cross the bridge. I saw this guy climbing over the railing. Was it a suicide?

Then he jumped. Was he going to go splat?

No. He was a base jumper. This is one of the few places it is legal to base jump.

Safe landing.

Here is an example of a jump. We saw jumpers with their chute already dangling over the bridge and we could not figure out why they would do that, because they would jump into their own chute. He shows you the trick.