RETIRED ON WHEELS: TEXAS IN TIME FOR TURKEY Day 6 October 7, 2009 Arco, ID to Wells, NV

Prior to leaving Arco this morning we went over and took a picture of Numbers Hill. There is a tradition here where each high school graduation class paints their graduating year on the side of the hill. The tradition was started in the 1920’s and the lowest number we could find was 22.

We then left Arco and headed to the “Craters of the Moon” National Park and Preserve.

On the way I took this picture only because I thought it was a neat picture. It looks like someone is pulling the shades down on the mountains.

“Craters of the Moon” was only 18 miles down the road so it didn’t take us very long to get there. Upon arriving we found out that “Craters of the Moon” National Monument and Preserve is a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. It is 75 miles square and has been inactive for about 2000 years. However we learned that it was first active about 14,000 years ago and repeated its eruptions every 2000 years. I would say we were about due.

We were able to see a few of the many Volcanic Cones that frequent the park. I took pictures of 4 of them that were visible from the visitor’s center.

Paisley Cone

Inferno Cone

North Crater

Silent Cone

Since the Loop Road was closed we didn’t stay in the park for any length of time. We hit the road with no intentions as we were simply going to go as far as we could today.

We followed the lava beds for quite awhile as not all of the left over lava was in the park. After the lava was finished we entered into farm land and/or scrub land depending on the terrain. It was this way for most of the morning until all of a sudden we came upon the Snake River and the Snake River Canyon. It was quite a surprise to see the abrupt difference. The canyon is quite beautiful and of course we stopped for pictures.

It looks like there is a nice little golf course there as well.

While we were there we discovered there was a waterfall we didn’t know about so we took it in. It is called Shoshone Falls and is referred to as the Western Niagara. Unfortunately at this time of year the force of water is very low as there is a hydro-electric dam on the river. However the viewing platforms allow you to see where the water would flow at high water and I imagine it would be pretty spectacular.

We left Twin Falls in the late afternoon and headed for Nevada. I do believe we were about 1/10 of a mile into Nevada when we came upon the first casino. The town is called Jackpot and is pretty small with about 5 very small casinos. It is in a nice location with mountains, albeit small mountains, surrounding the town.