Sun Valley, ID to Eastern Oregon

The Harriman bike and x-country ski trail near Sun Valley, ID

Sunday, June 18 - Time to do chores again so a short drive into Ketchum (the actual town at Sun Valley) for breakfast at the Kneedary and then on to Laundromutt for laundry.  Yes the laundry we found was both a laundromat and a dog groomer.  But being Father's day, Sunday, the groomer had the day off and it was a mutt-less laundry experience.

Then back to the RV for a 26 mile out and back ride along the Big Wood river which included about 16 miles off road path (The Harriman trail).  Some of the trail was closed due to the river being out of its banks.  Snow melt runoff is very high here in Idaho (along with most of the Rockies) with signs of flooding (sandbags, trail damage, etc).   One more night at this beautiful camp spot and then time to move on.

Bully Creek Reservoir 

Monday, June 19 - We packed up the RV and rolled about 125 miles toward Boise, ID.  A stop in Nampa, just outside of Boise, allowed us to finish our list of chores (groceries, gas and propane).  Then we headed across the Oregon state line to Vale, OR and Bully Creek Reservoir County Park.  We picked a camping place with electricity since have left the cooler temps of the mountains behind and will be at a much lower elevation and will need to run the air-conditioner.   While we had a shady spot at the camp ground the temps were in the high 80's and had to run the air-conditioner.

One of the down sides of the Bully Creek Campground was reports of arsenic in the water.  We had read about this in one of the campsite reviews before coming, so we had used one of the many free waste dump and water sites scattered throughout Idaho at the city park in Fairfield.  Beth had picked up a handy book that listed all of the free sites in Idaho a few days ago.  This is a state wide program funded by the RV registration fees in Idaho and free to all RV travelers in the state.

The row of turbines used to generate electricity
at the geothermal power plant.  The large pipe carries the
hot water from the underground source

Tuesday, June 20 - Our morning started with a 13 mile out and back bike ride down the dirt road outside of our campsite.  We had planned on a longer ride but ran into private land in one direction and a creek flowing over the road in the other.  Not wanting to get wet and muddy, we cut the ride short.  Along the way we passed a geothermal electric plant which was relatively new (Nov. 2012 according to a Google search).  It is not a huge power plant but produces enough electricity for 24,000 homes, only takes 12 people to operate and has nearly zero emissions.  The EPA helped secure the funding for it (prior administration) and it has a Canadian private investor.  You can read more about it here

We are currently camped in an Oregon State Park outside of John Day.  Again we are thankful for electricity as the air-conditioning is a welcome relief from the heat.  We rode through this area on our cross country bike trip 4 years ago and wanted to come back and see some of the parks and monuments here before we move on to Bend, OR later this week.