25 July 08 - 21:59
Traveling to White Bird
We began the day by going to Peterson's Stampede in Nampa, Idaho, to get our power steering leak fixed. They looked at it and said “Yes, it's seeping but it's not dripping”. It seems they have to submit a photo of the puddle to Dodge to get authorization to make the repair under warranty. Apparently, we are supposed to keep driving until we run out of power steering fluid—then they will fix whatever damage that causes. Since we are in the mountains now, that idea makes me very nervous. We can't even check and fill the fluid ourselves since the owner's manual says the Sprinter's power steering is a closed system. There's something wrong with this picture so I'll keep working on a way to get this fixed without waiting for a total failure.
We stopped at a Flying J restaurant where we had the oddest sandwich for lunch. It was a basic hamburger with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles on it except it also had cheddar cheese and barbecued pork on top. It was very tasty! We also ordered lemon meringue pie but the cook had made carrot cake instead. That made us happy as we like that as well. We each ate half the hamburger, fries, and carrot cake and were pleasantly full.
Driving up a grade today we had another odd experience. When the sign said “Keep right except to pass” we got to go left! The farm truck in front of us went right and we got to pass someone going up a hill!
Looking out the window at some of the ranch roads in these hills made me glad we don't have to drive them. They look like slalom courses. I did OK driving through the cones at my driving class but that was on relatively flat land. Having to make those tight curves while negotiating a grade on dirt roads is not my idea of fun. I know, I know. Some of you off-roaders are salivating right now. I'll stay out of your way while you play.
The small town of Council, Idaho, advertised public restrooms so we decided to stop and check them out. The sign next to them read, “No dogs during activities.” Makes you wonder what they had in mind doesn't it?
Another interesting sign made me think that company had a good PR department. It was a timber harvesting company whose name was “Evergreen Forests”.
As we drove alongside the Salmon River I saw a boat dock. It looked like those in Minnesota that have cables that let you run them out in the spring and bring them in in the fall before the water freezes. It was, however, way up on the side of a hill. Cantilevered out over the river. I doubt they actually launch boats from up there; I think they use it as a viewing deck.
They do use things in interesting ways around here—must be that pioneer “can do” attitude. For instance I saw a bridge across a creek that was actually a railroad flat car balanced between the two banks. It still had reporting marks but I couldn't read them from my position. It was painted BN green, though.
We ate supper parked beside the Salmon River while watching a group of people trying to figure out how to control their river rafts. One of them finally was able to turn theirs so the left side wasn't the leading edge. Unfortunately, he turned it far enough that the right side was now the leading edge. It was fun to watch but I'm no longer interested in doing those types of activities. I did get a little exercise, though, turning my body in ways that were somehow supposed to help them.
Finally, we reached White Bird and drove down the hill into the town to Dave's brother's house. We have no phone or Internet signal here so I will post this whenever we get out of the valley.
TTYL,
Linda
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