IDAHO 78 IDAHO 78
ALFALFA
JOCE...BEER DRINKER
FIXED PRINKLERS
ALFALFA
JOCE...BEER DRINKER
FIXED PRINKLERSRan out of water again today...second time this week. Must figure a way to carry more water when SAM is not walking too.
Cannot walk SAM in this region for 2 reasons. (1) Idaho 78 has NO berm. There is no place to get SAM off the roadway for oncoming traffic. (2) I used lots of adhesive-backed VELCRO in SAM's costruction. The high heat turns the adhesive into liquid jello. I cannot keep her together long enough for a walk...So, she stays in the trailer for the time being.
As instructed by Sheriff Jim, I went to the appointed cross roads...only, I arried 30 minutes early. I found my own parking out of the way and walked toward Idaho 78...did not get there before a car pulled over uninvited and offered me a ride. Yippie. Took me all the way back to Grand View where I left off the day before.
Spent the next 4-1/2 hours walking to the tiny town of Bruneau. I was attacked twice before I got there.
Not 1000 feet from my starting point, two Doberman tore thru a barbed wire fence and charged me, crossing the road in front of a big truck who slammed on his brakes. One dog turned tail. The other came straight at me, fire in his eyes and foam oozing from his mouth.
I stopped dead, turned toward him, pointed my right Index finger at his nose and yelled..."STOP". He stopped 3 feet from me, eyes rivited into mine...Don't even think of it...growwwwl...I turn and take a couple steps...he charges and snaps at my left leg. I don't move...I point both hand index fingers at his eyes _ he is now 2 feet away - don't come any closer. I walk slowly backward towards the other side of the road...a big truck comes roaring up distracting him...I spot a 2 - foot club-like dried up old branch and turn on him as he takes another lunge at my leg...the stick comes within a foot of his nose...he stops, frothing at the mouth an muttering under his breath...Not another inch...Go...Get off the road...He stares at me...He stares at my new weapon...and backs up a couple steps.
I back up a couple steps too. He stares Gggrrr...I take a couple more steps back...here comes another big truck...it passes between us...I turn and walk quickly away. The dog follows after me on the other side of the Highway. I keep walking for another 1000 feet or so. I stop and glancing over my shoulder, watch him turn into a side street, looking over his shoulder at me. I keep walking, stick in hand
The stick is now a regular piece of walking equipment...might need for that rattler still waiting for me somewhere up the line.
Idaho 78 runs through a large number of Ranches...all supplied with apparently unlimited water. Water pops up from underground, is sprayed into the air, caught in a cauldron and runs away through pipes or little (about 2 feet wide & 2 feet deep "v" shaped) canals. Farmers have 2-meter long pipes which they use to siphon water from the canals into the neatly cultivated rows of crops. Crops are Corn, Sugar Beets, Alfalfa, Potatoes, Onions, and a few I, for the moment, forget. The larger fields use "rolling" sprinklers and Fixed massive wheeled sprinklers spraying water in a large circle.
As I walk by these endless irrigation systems, I, many times a day, stop, kneel, dip my Australian Bush Hat into the water & dump the entire load over my head, down my neck, through my shorts/trousers and into my shoes. It works for about 10 minutes. The blistering Sun dries everything out that quickly...I keep a sharp lookout for the next suitable water source.
Along with these waterways come thousands of gnats and other biting insects. They soon swarm around my head...not a few have flown into my nose & ended up in my lungs.
Betty (of Ed & Betty & Lee), said I would encounter these little guys and insisted I accept her bee net she used to protect her head doing gardening. It fits perfectly over my Aussie Hat and I don't have to remove it when I dip water. It does get a bit hot in there, but is far preferred to being eaten alive by wee insects. After dipping my hat, each mesh opening creates miniture crystal as the Sun shines thru...I gotta be careful because it distorts what is coming down the highway at me..always plusses and minusses.
18 miles, it is from Grand View to Bruneau. I completed it by noon, then took an hour out for two bottles of POWERADE, a beer, a good portion of Betty's (Murphy- Betty) coleslaw, and sat back in the Van reclined seat and rested a bit.
Then, I decided I was wasting time...the road to Hammatt lay waiting 50 feet away. It was now getting extremely HOT again. I asked, and was told that the hill before me was 4 miles long and the Snake River was another mile beyond that...DO NOT cross the bridge to Mountain Home...stay on Idaho 78 to the right...
I start out. The hill before me turned a curve after 1/8th mile and there rising into the totally blue sky was at least 7 degree macadam, Sagebrush (& snakes) lining both sides. I continued my usual 4 mph pace. Reached the top...a small plateau...I'm certain I could see Boise 60 miles to the NorthEast. Then, a sharp left turn and dropping out of the sky before me was the other half of that hill...this one MUCH steeper, but down down down.
Walking down is dangerous...shin splints can happen in an instant. Each step must be measured and guided. I make it to the right turn at the bottom, the Snake River in the distance with a wee bridge - looks like a toy -. A few sprinklers are throwing water in the high wind onto the highway. I walk to the wet spot and wait for the rotating jet of water to reach out to me...as it arrives, I walk along under it getting as soaked as I can...I get good and soaked...and continue for the bridge. I'm totally dry within 5 minutes...high heat...high wind...
At the bridge, I take a couple pictures and turn around, facing that 3-mile at-least 8 degree hill begging me to just try to climb in the intense heat. I stop at a home near the bridge, ask for "cold" water and receive "warm" water with a suspicious odor and taste. I dump the water when out of sight. I take off my backpack and remove the quart bottle of frozen water - to keep my spine cool, if possible -. It is nearly melted but not quite. I fill one drinking bottle, return the spine cooler, put the backpack back on and start up the hill.
In the restaurant, where I ordered a Chef Salad and BLT, the firemen came in, took one look at me and exclaimed...OMG, did you get a ride up that hill...(they had passed me in their fire trucks as I started up)...Nope, walked every step, which I did at my usual 4 mph. How old are you?...you walked how many miles today?...you are heading for WHERE?...
And so it goes. I give them my Blog address...shaking their heads, they leave
"HI GUYS...TOLD YOU I WOULD PUT YOU IN PRINT"
I finish my salad and sandwich, and tell Sheriff Jim thankyou for all his help and food.
I then drive to Hammatt. It is late; after 7 pm. I park in the empty field next to the drive-thru coffee shop. I begin this blog...mimi computer shuts me dowan because of low battery. It is getting dark anyway, so I crawl into my sleeping bag and have a uncomfortable night.
So, this writing is one day late...it all happened yesterday. Completed 28 miles in almost unbearable heat up/over and back the steepest hills I have yet walked. I used some new muscles yesterday and I paid for them today...see next blog
Cannot walk SAM in this region for 2 reasons. (1) Idaho 78 has NO berm. There is no place to get SAM off the roadway for oncoming traffic. (2) I used lots of adhesive-backed VELCRO in SAM's costruction. The high heat turns the adhesive into liquid jello. I cannot keep her together long enough for a walk...So, she stays in the trailer for the time being.
As instructed by Sheriff Jim, I went to the appointed cross roads...only, I arried 30 minutes early. I found my own parking out of the way and walked toward Idaho 78...did not get there before a car pulled over uninvited and offered me a ride. Yippie. Took me all the way back to Grand View where I left off the day before.
Spent the next 4-1/2 hours walking to the tiny town of Bruneau. I was attacked twice before I got there.
Not 1000 feet from my starting point, two Doberman tore thru a barbed wire fence and charged me, crossing the road in front of a big truck who slammed on his brakes. One dog turned tail. The other came straight at me, fire in his eyes and foam oozing from his mouth.
I stopped dead, turned toward him, pointed my right Index finger at his nose and yelled..."STOP". He stopped 3 feet from me, eyes rivited into mine...Don't even think of it...growwwwl...I turn and take a couple steps...he charges and snaps at my left leg. I don't move...I point both hand index fingers at his eyes _ he is now 2 feet away - don't come any closer. I walk slowly backward towards the other side of the road...a big truck comes roaring up distracting him...I spot a 2 - foot club-like dried up old branch and turn on him as he takes another lunge at my leg...the stick comes within a foot of his nose...he stops, frothing at the mouth an muttering under his breath...Not another inch...Go...Get off the road...He stares at me...He stares at my new weapon...and backs up a couple steps.
I back up a couple steps too. He stares Gggrrr...I take a couple more steps back...here comes another big truck...it passes between us...I turn and walk quickly away. The dog follows after me on the other side of the Highway. I keep walking for another 1000 feet or so. I stop and glancing over my shoulder, watch him turn into a side street, looking over his shoulder at me. I keep walking, stick in hand
The stick is now a regular piece of walking equipment...might need for that rattler still waiting for me somewhere up the line.
Idaho 78 runs through a large number of Ranches...all supplied with apparently unlimited water. Water pops up from underground, is sprayed into the air, caught in a cauldron and runs away through pipes or little (about 2 feet wide & 2 feet deep "v" shaped) canals. Farmers have 2-meter long pipes which they use to siphon water from the canals into the neatly cultivated rows of crops. Crops are Corn, Sugar Beets, Alfalfa, Potatoes, Onions, and a few I, for the moment, forget. The larger fields use "rolling" sprinklers and Fixed massive wheeled sprinklers spraying water in a large circle.
As I walk by these endless irrigation systems, I, many times a day, stop, kneel, dip my Australian Bush Hat into the water & dump the entire load over my head, down my neck, through my shorts/trousers and into my shoes. It works for about 10 minutes. The blistering Sun dries everything out that quickly...I keep a sharp lookout for the next suitable water source.
Along with these waterways come thousands of gnats and other biting insects. They soon swarm around my head...not a few have flown into my nose & ended up in my lungs.
Betty (of Ed & Betty & Lee), said I would encounter these little guys and insisted I accept her bee net she used to protect her head doing gardening. It fits perfectly over my Aussie Hat and I don't have to remove it when I dip water. It does get a bit hot in there, but is far preferred to being eaten alive by wee insects. After dipping my hat, each mesh opening creates miniture crystal as the Sun shines thru...I gotta be careful because it distorts what is coming down the highway at me..always plusses and minusses.
18 miles, it is from Grand View to Bruneau. I completed it by noon, then took an hour out for two bottles of POWERADE, a beer, a good portion of Betty's (Murphy- Betty) coleslaw, and sat back in the Van reclined seat and rested a bit.
Then, I decided I was wasting time...the road to Hammatt lay waiting 50 feet away. It was now getting extremely HOT again. I asked, and was told that the hill before me was 4 miles long and the Snake River was another mile beyond that...DO NOT cross the bridge to Mountain Home...stay on Idaho 78 to the right...
I start out. The hill before me turned a curve after 1/8th mile and there rising into the totally blue sky was at least 7 degree macadam, Sagebrush (& snakes) lining both sides. I continued my usual 4 mph pace. Reached the top...a small plateau...I'm certain I could see Boise 60 miles to the NorthEast. Then, a sharp left turn and dropping out of the sky before me was the other half of that hill...this one MUCH steeper, but down down down.
Walking down is dangerous...shin splints can happen in an instant. Each step must be measured and guided. I make it to the right turn at the bottom, the Snake River in the distance with a wee bridge - looks like a toy -. A few sprinklers are throwing water in the high wind onto the highway. I walk to the wet spot and wait for the rotating jet of water to reach out to me...as it arrives, I walk along under it getting as soaked as I can...I get good and soaked...and continue for the bridge. I'm totally dry within 5 minutes...high heat...high wind...
At the bridge, I take a couple pictures and turn around, facing that 3-mile at-least 8 degree hill begging me to just try to climb in the intense heat. I stop at a home near the bridge, ask for "cold" water and receive "warm" water with a suspicious odor and taste. I dump the water when out of sight. I take off my backpack and remove the quart bottle of frozen water - to keep my spine cool, if possible -. It is nearly melted but not quite. I fill one drinking bottle, return the spine cooler, put the backpack back on and start up the hill.
In the restaurant, where I ordered a Chef Salad and BLT, the firemen came in, took one look at me and exclaimed...OMG, did you get a ride up that hill...(they had passed me in their fire trucks as I started up)...Nope, walked every step, which I did at my usual 4 mph. How old are you?...you walked how many miles today?...you are heading for WHERE?...
And so it goes. I give them my Blog address...shaking their heads, they leave
"HI GUYS...TOLD YOU I WOULD PUT YOU IN PRINT"
I finish my salad and sandwich, and tell Sheriff Jim thankyou for all his help and food.
I then drive to Hammatt. It is late; after 7 pm. I park in the empty field next to the drive-thru coffee shop. I begin this blog...mimi computer shuts me dowan because of low battery. It is getting dark anyway, so I crawl into my sleeping bag and have a uncomfortable night.
So, this writing is one day late...it all happened yesterday. Completed 28 miles in almost unbearable heat up/over and back the steepest hills I have yet walked. I used some new muscles yesterday and I paid for them today...see next blog
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