Day 6 - Eagle, Idaho

Another glorious day - but very cold this morning - 23degF [-5degC for my European readers]. Today I tried to avoid the interstate as much as possible - first driving to Idaho Falls across the Tetons; the road rises to over 6,000 feet [1,881 m] with a magnificent view over Jackson - I would have taken a photo but it was directly into the sun!

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Into Idaho, through widely-dispersed small farming settlements, like Butte City [pop. 76]. Swan Valley is beautiful - the grain is almost all harvested, but the fields are not ploughed yet, so the overall impression is golden. As the road rises again, the colour changes to sage scrubland, with the brown mountains in the background. There is no snow here, though I'm sure it will come soon. This is high country, and the road passes by the Idaho National Laboratory - it's not immediately obvious quite what happens here but it's 30 miles in any direction from anywhere ... but there was a crowd of kids playing soccer on a dirt road about a mile from the main gate!

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The road also passes through the Craters of the Moon national park - a 25-mile wide lavafield. It is like a black scar on the landscape, but the sagebrush is beginning to make inroads into it, and creeps across this apparently inhospitable growing medium. Life will find a way ... Down into Silver Creek just past Picabo, and there are silver birches growing along the river for about 2 miles; their leaves have turned a gorgeous copper, glinting in the sun.

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Just before the road started going downhill into Mountain Home, I caught sight of this forest fire down in the valley. For about 30 miles before it had looked like a cloud, but unfortunately not. There are many historical sites all the way along US20, from gold mines to Goodale's Cutoff to EBR-1. The hardships that the early pioneers and settlers must have endured are unimaginable today, in our world of electronics, nuclear energy and instant gratification.

Now staying at the Hilton Garden (rewards again) in Eagle, with a lovely view of the river from my room!

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Funny sign of the day: no actual signs today (there are very few advertising billboards through Wyoming and Idaho), but heard on the radio - "Come and enjoy the Idaho Potato Cookout at the Idaho Fall Festival!"