A little drive in the country

When I drive to a new location, I usually like to arrive with a nearly full tank of gas in the motorhome.  I tried to do that as I moved here on Monday, but I just didn’t find any gas stations where I could easily get in and out with the rig and toad.  :(  So, on this morning’s agenda was the task of finding the nearest gas station so when I leave next week I can fill up.  The tank is nearing 1/4, which is way below where I like it to be.

Emma and I headed out through the booming community (not) of Marsing, ID, to find the junction with US 95.  I figured that this is the way I could leave next week, and take 95 north to US 20 instead of backtracking to I 84 to 20.  I’m glad I did.  First, there is a brand new, very large gas station at the intersection.  I should have no problems at all filling up.  Right after the intersection is some road construction, so I decided to check that out as well.  It was not good.  It was bad enough driving through it with the little car, but I don’t think I’ll be taking the motorhome through that mess!
While I was waiting for my lane of traffic to be able to maneuver through the torn up road, I snapped this pic of the surrounding countryside.  I’ve never seen so much hay in my life as I have in Idaho.

Since I won’t be taking this route later, I thought we’d make a big loop up to Fruitland and then head back around to Marsing.  As I headed north, I came upon an area with a crop that I had never seen before.  See if you can guess what this is growing here.
Those are all vines crawling up the wires.  To give you some perspective, the posts are telephone poles, so I’d guess these vines were close to twenty feet tall!  They also appeared to have tan colored fruits of some sort.  They definitely weren’t grapes.  I would have liked to get closer, but all fields are surrounded by deep irrigation ditches, and I could just picture myself tumbling into one as I tried to jump across.  :)  I’m just not as agile as I used to be.
There were acres upon acres of these towering plants growing neatly up the wire grids.  This one really had me stumped!  Of course, no person was to be found that I could ask what they were.  I also can’t imagine that much of anything would grow here without the irrigation ditches.  The Snake and Boise Rivers are certainly the life blood of the agricultural industry in this arid region.

As I drove along, I came upon a food processing plant, and turned in.  I got out and asked the security guard at the gate what these huge plants were.  Have you guessed?  They’re hops…  I said, “like for making beer?”, and she said, “that’s right.”  Well, I’m glad I stopped and got that mystery solved.  I never would have guessed hops.

On our return trip, I saw a brown sign that said Deer Flat Visitor’s Center 3.5 miles, so I turned down the road to see what it was.
It turned out to be Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge.  I hadn’t known there was a NWR within ten miles of where I was camped.  It was high noon when we got there, and my stomach was growling, so I only stopped briefly at the visitor’s center to get my NWR Passport Book stamped.  The temperature was getting close to 90, so I couldn’t leave Emma in the car for more than a minute.  I’ll definitely be returning here to take the 30 mile auto tour around the refuge, but I think I’ll do it early in the morning for a better chance at seeing some wildlife.  That’s also a better time of the day for photography than the middle of the day.  So, stay tuned…

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

P.S. The awning actually went out this afternoon, and so far, hasn’t retracted ten times.  :)
(Ha! Just as I typed this, it retracted on it’s own, and now it won’t go back out again    Rats!!)

Not your ordinary food post

There are a number of bloggers out there that seem to talk a lot about what they eat almost everyday.  I’m not one of them.  I think I may occasionally mention food, but only in passing.  Tonight, I’m going to totally talk about food, and the pleasant surprise I had this afternoon.
As I was heading back to the rig after going to Camping World to purchase one incredibly expensive folding ladder,  I happened upon the Saxton Fruit and Vegetable stand.  I hope you know that it seems like years since I’ve been able to find some home grown tomatoes.  I’ve just never been in the right place at the right time since I drove through the Yakima Valley of Washington in late August of 2006!
Oh boy!  What a find!
I chose two of the biggest ripest tomatoes to take home with me.  Yum!  Of course, I also got a couple of ears of fresh sweet corn, a peach, a sweet onion, and a cantaloupe that filled the car with it’s sweet aroma as I drove home.  Next time, I think I’ll also get some new potatoes.  This is Idaho, you know!  :)I thought this was an interesting way to display their 25 lb boxes of Red Haven Peaches.  In a former life, I would have been canning sliced peaches all day.  :)
This area in the Snake River Valley of Idaho is known as the banana belt.  The peach, pear, plum, and nectarine orchards are abundant.  A lot of grapes are also grown in the valley, and I’ve seen quite a few signs for vineyards along the roadsides.  I wonder if they make some kind of wine with the peaches?  I’ll have to look into that.

Once I got back to the rig with my bounty, Emma and I went for a walk in the 90* temps.  It was a hot day for a black dog!  One of the rules in this park is that you cannot walk your dog in the huge grassy yard in back along the river.  You can walk along the tree lined border of the field, however.  On a day like today, that’s a good idea anyway because at least there’s a little shade under the trees.
There are two kinds of plum trees that I found walking the border.  The purple one on the left is wild, and the one on the right is cultivated.  The plums on both trees are smaller than a ping pong ball.  Campers can pick as many plums as they like.  Emma and I tasted both kinds last evening on our walk, and I’m thinking they’re not quite ready yet.  Can you say puckered mouth?  :)

So now I’ve gotten a ‘totally food’ post out of the way.  Hope you enjoyed these culinary pictures.  Hmmm, a fresh tomato, some cantaloupe, and an ear of sweet corn sounds just about right for dinner tonight…

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy