Crossing the Desert in the Hot Summer – Idaho, Nevada & California

We set out from our stay in Idaho, having waited out the heat as long as we could before heading across the desert to California. (Find our more about our stay in Arco in last week’s blog Appealing to our Science-Loving Hearts in Arco, Idaho here)

We drove about 2 hours south to Twin Falls to check out the Evel Knievel jump site on the Snake River and see waterfalls. We checked The Dyrt and found a free camping spot to drop the RV at for a couple of hours (Rickett’s RV Camp, Snake River Canyons Park, Twin Falls, ID). We’d have loved to stay if we had more time, but we didn’t.

Checking out the river and jump site was pretty interesting, especially when Luther decided to slide his way down the backside of the hill. Luckily, just a couple of scrapes and a bunch of laughs–and we caught it on camera! We walked a bit of the multi-use trail along the river–you can reach it from the visitor’s center, as well. From there, we went to try and find some waterfalls, but the first one required paid admission over by the dam, and by then, storms were rolling in and we wanted to get hitched up and across the river before the high winds got to us.

Since it was hot, we headed to Cactus Pete’s Casino and Saguaro RV Park, just over the border in Jackpot, Nevada. For $32 a night, we had electric, water and gray hookup, as well as use of the pool and hot tub, and of course casinos. We just hung out at the campsite since they were large with great mountain views and grassy spots for Luna to lounge in–it had been a while since she had lush grass and she was a happy pup!

Day 2 meant crossing the Nevada desert in the heat of summer. It was hot, but beautiful mountain views, rambling dust devils, and one roadside rest stop with giant crickets I was certain were going to overtake us, but they didn’t. We stopped just east of Reno to resupply before going into California and high prices and, with cooler weather overnight, we looked for free camping.

The parks we found didn’t allow overnight, nor did the Wal-Mart we shopped at. But Lowe’s was awesome enough to let us overnight since it was late in the day and we were headed out early in the morning (yes, we got permission–always!). We needed some supplies from there, so it worked out well!

Day 3, our last travel day. When leaving, the storm the night before had knocked out internet, so it took us a few tries to find a fueling station we could use, and we also saw one that had an outbuilding on fire–not sure what happened since it was the day after the storms.

Once on the road, our drive took us through Reno, over the mountains and Donner’s Pass (queue the cannibalism jokes combined with history chatter) and into California and our destination for the week. It was quite the site to be driving through the mountains with their desert landscape, then suddenly, we see trees again, and lots of them, as well as snow and glaciers on the peaks off in the distance.

BJ’s doing a solar install this week, so we are staying on a rice farm. It’s incredibly beautiful with the farmland and mountains around us–although the locals refer to them as hills. Whatever they are–it’s beautiful! We’ve even got a barn owl in the tree above our site that doesn’t seem happy we are here. He/she left us “gifts” on the steps after screeching at us and aggravating Luna the first night. Hopefully we can get some photos of it–noisy or not, it’s a beautiful creature!

While BJ works on the job, I am working on blogs (like this one) and reels, as well as some travel planning and…high school planning for Luther! The time has come for us to start lining up our curriculum and classes to start in September. We plan to continue unschooling and using FLVS Flex classes, and he plans to keep the blocked scheduling of 2-3 accelerated courses per semester. How is he going into high school already?! He’s even talking about jobs, cars, and life after high school (which still involves traveling with us, albeit in his own camper van!)

I’m also excited to catch up with a friend for dinner that is driving through the area.

We’ll see you back here next time! Check out the links below for places to stay and explore if your travels bring you this way!

Camping:
Snake River Canyons Park – Rickett’s RV Camp, Twin Falls, Idaho
Saguaro RV Park – Cactus Pete’s Casino, Jackpot, Nevada

Exploring:
Evel Knievel Jump Site, Snake River, Twin Falls, Idaho
Donner’s Pass, I-80 through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California

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