Out of Jackson Hole, my first uninvited stayover was in a park in Idaho Falls. I rolled into town a bit late, and trying to be discrete waited until dusk to lay down. I didn't pitch a tent in a bid to avoid attention, curled up in a folded tarp right behind the bathhouse, and went to sleep. About 10:30 pm the parks staff came by to lock the bathrooms, and passed within a couple of feet of me without seeing me! I held my breath, and sure enough they left without saying a thing to/about me. I was pretty proud of my camoflage.
Of course, we all know pride comes before a fall. About 2:30 am, the sprinklers kicked in. One was pointed directly into the tarp between folds. Several others sprayed all about, and another was directed at the bike. I jumped up and - thinking quickly - started putting waterbottles over the pop-up sprinklers to try to cap them. By the time I realized I didnt' have enough bottles, I was fairly wet. Being somewhat chilly outside (the desert really does get cold at night), I went to take shelter behind the privacy screen in front of the bathroom - but more sprinklers were directed in there! Apparently, Idaho Falls is the most hobo-proof town around - I'm certain the arrangement of sprinklers was intended to scare off the likes of me!
Now that I'd given up on the park, I decided to head towards the church where I was going to services in the morning, and just wait for daylight on the front steps. Of course, dressed in my all-black rain gear with my hobo-beard and miserable, wet expression, I was quite a sight for the police who picked me up immediately. After they asked me 'Do you have permission to be here,' I decided to wander the city, and enjoy the nightlife (AKA 4 am burritos and 6 am at the laundromat).
Next day after church, I started into the real desert, out near Idaho National Labs. There I found EBR-1, the world's first nuclear reactor.These things on the right which were sitting in the parking lot are experimental NUCLEAR AIRPLANE ENGINES. The U.S. was planning on putting nuclear reactors in airplanes for strategic bombing. Can you imagine? Apparently, they were progressed far enough that the next step was to actually strap one into an airplane!
Inside, you can tour around the reactor, and see some neat little bits of history, like the first plutonium-powered lightbulb (EBR = Experimental Breeder Reactor, for you nuclear engineers - it was producing more fuel than it used).
I wound up staying at EBR-1 for two nights - on trying to leave the first day, I was repeatedly knocked off the road by strong gusts of wind. So instead of ruining my day and my bike, I stayed around and harassed the tour guides and made radioactivity jokes- their favorite thing.
When I finally escape, I headed on to Craters of the Moon national park. From the surface, it's not much to see - it looks like a plowed field, as far as I could tell (the cloud over there is smoke from a crop fire).
The closer you get into it, the neater it is. There's different varieties of rocks, but this one is called A'a (pronounced AH-AH), it's Hawaiian name, which means "rough on the feet."
I ran into some Canadians, a father and son exploring the U.S. by car. They've been having quite the adventure, and apparently they'd heard of me from the EBR-1 tour guides. I imagine it was something like "Watch out for that guy on the bike. You won't be able to get rid of him." The Canucks and I went spelunking, then had delicious "stoop" (stew/soup?).
Other than that, it's been pedal pedal pedal, trying to make up for lost time. On the bright side, today is another 100 mile day, and tomorrow I should hit Oregon! The coast is close enough I can smell it...
dude! i'm in alamagordo, nm! that in itself is not significant, but i wanted to point out that you are now further west than i am. also, i know it is probably too far south, but crater lake np in oregon is in my top five things this trip. happy trails!
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