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.

 My sister Cindy and her son Jeff working at Target.

Before we left, we needed to see the Twin Falls temple, which you can see from the bridge.

Twin Falls Temple. And then we continued on to Burns, Oregon to spend the night.  More to come....

partially updated

Okay. It has been several months since I have blogged. I am working feverishly on getting caught up. The previous six posts are new and I only have about a dozen or more to go.  They will be there soon. I am post dating them so they don't all appear on the same day.

Fillmore, ND Ghost Town Centennial

Fillmore, North Dakota had it's centennial celebration in early July.  It is a Ghost Town that no one lives in. Correction, one Peterson moved back because his farm house flooded so the population is really one.

There was a large parade with 139 entries and hundreds of people watching.  Here is our float with Jerry, Judy and Silvia.  I drove the ATV.

The parade started and this tractor snuck in front of me.  All the floats were supposed to be together and he was supposed to go with the other tractors and farm equipment.

He was supposed to be in this bunch.

Uncle Sam was even there.

The parade was so long that  it weaved through those entries that were just starting in the parade. The red Mustang was entry 100.

They even had a demolition derby.  Now these cars look pretty beat up, but that is how they look before the crashing starts. The pink car is almost unrecognizable as a car. Watch it loose a back wheel and then watch the love tapping that goes on by just kissing the stalled car.

More smashing going on in the second heat.

The third heat has a white car that is loosing it wheel.

And the winner is car 111.

Fillmore, North Dakota is 100 years old

An official North Dakota ghost town had it's 100th birthday and hundreds of people came to celebrate.

The sign in the old church that greeted us.

This is all that is left of the once bustling town of Fillmore, ND. Once it had seveal grainaries and the train stopped here to collect all the wheat.

Setting up the giant food tent.  The horse trailers were to keep non paying people out of the evening concerts.

2nd Avenue. This is the street Grampa Marcus Thompson lived on, right behind the photographer.

The photographer turned arround and this is where Marcus's house used to be.

This is some of the noon time local talent and yes it was polka music.

What is left of the church bell tower.

This is what the church looked like in Fillmore's hay day.

Some food vendors showed up because Fillmore doesn't have any fast food places.  This is Kate's Kitchen. Kate is Judy's cousin. Good food - a bit more expensive than the compitition but you also got more stuff.

Judy and Sylvia being interviewed on camera.

Marcus owned a bar in Fillmore and he had tokins good for 25 cents.

More local talent - Balderdash.

This is a shot of Marcus's lot.  This is where Jerry and I parked during the festivities.

The Fillmore Cemetery sign.  Lots of Judy's relatives are burried here. 

The church bell tower was removed and placed in the cemetery as a memorial.  You can still ding the big bell, which Jerry did.

Fillmore was sooooo big that there were three exits on the dirt road leading past town, each one block apart..

The entire town of Fillmore from way before the first exit.

Even more local talent - the Lute-Krauts. They also played german polka music.

The the big concert happened the second evening with the Johnny Holms Band.  They are a really good pop (50's 60's and beyond) band and they weren't cheap. There were over 1200 people who attended.

Johnny Holms worked the crowd, including Bishoff with the beard.

Demolition Derby was Sunday afternoon - the last big hurrah.

Looks more vicious that it actually was. The cars began the derby already banged up.

The pink tiger lost a drive wheel and was out of the competition.

Here is the winner - number 111.

Some of the muster seed fields in North Dakota

This truck advertised the Fillmore event but there were no more signs showing the way - about ten miles of dirt road.  You had to be from the area to find your way there or follow someone.

The Twins had birthdays too.

Logan and Liam celebrated their birthdays just before the Fourth of July.

We had a birthday dinner with corn on the cob.  Everyone wanted to help shuck the corn.  Here is Kellan cleaning the "hairs" off the cob.  He was a great helper.

Look at the fantastic job Logan did on his cob! Looks like he can't wait to eat it.

Mairin is sticking with simpler foods.

One birthday boy with his giant piece of chocolate birthday cake, chanting I want to eat!!!

Yum. This is delicious.

Logan is the neat eater with his birthday cupcake.  He is helping mom by cleaning the frosting off the candles.

 Kellan on the other hand, takes fistfuls and shoves them in his mouth.

Kiss me!!!  I dare you.

How did Mairin turn out to also be a neat eater?  Cutie pie!