Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington...to the Pacific!

Hi Friends and Family,

This country is huge.  That is one of the key lessons / impressions we were hoping to instill in Elliott and Sasha as we tried to have them look up from their tablets.

We've made it as far west as we ever thought of going - to the beaches on the Pacific coast of Oregon!

From Wendover / West Wendover Utah / Nevada (where Lee had a lengthy discussion with the owner of a pawn shop near the casinos) we headed North through the Nevada scrub land and into Idaho.

Idaho was beautiful in it's own way - like every state we've seen.  Shortly after crossing from Nevada into Idaho their was irrigation everywhere and things got a lot greener.  We stopped at Twin Falls and visited a fantastic park, with falls on the Snake River, and then headed out to "Balanced Rock" where the kids stretched their legs.  They loved climbing.

After a night in a state park along the pioneers "Oregon Trail", we headed to Boise for laundry and bus repair. As we entered Idaho, a small fuel leak on the cylinder #1 injector return line appeared.   No one (ok, just the 3 different shops I was recommended to visit) in Boise was willing to help me with the repair, while A-C and the kids did laundry. (The kids were on the free WiFi: A-C did all of the work.)  Lee ended up buying fuel line at an O'Reilly's Auto parts and planned for pulling the passenger wheel to access the injector.  The leak seems to still be small enough to not impact the mileage (still about 15 mpg, even into the west winds and uphills), so I am not messing with it yet.

From Boise we pressed west in Oregon and along scenic Route 26 to Mt. Hood.  We got really tired and slept along the road.  The moonless sky and the stars were amazing.

We stopped at the Timberline lodge - an historic and truly great hotel where the outdoor shot of "The Shining" were filmed.  We enjoyed watching the snow boarders roll into the ski area and head up onto the snow of Mt. Hood.  Heading north to and then along the Columbia river, we saw some great waterfalls and then when all the way west to Astoria, OR (having passed through a bit of SW Washington).  We played in the sand and Pacific waters at Shipwreck beach in Fort Stevens State Park.

It's all about heading back east from here...