Part 9 May 7-May 18 Day 58-Day 69

Day 58 Saturday May 7
Rock hounding and sightseeing today. We headed North on 287 from Rawlins then to 73. We drove to Jeffers City and headed North for 4 miles on a dirt road. Looked for black jade and agates. Found some agates but no jade. Left there and headed back East on 73 to Agate Flats road where we were also suppose to find black jade and agates. We found agates and maybe one piece of jade. Will have to get the polisher out to find out. Both of these places are way out in the middle of no where. The “town” of Jeffers City maybe had a few people living there. Very windy all day but the temperature got to 73.

Day 59 Sunday May 8 Happy Mother’s Day
Today we went rock hounding, well actually, fossiling. We went to Wamshutter on I-80 and headed south and then south west. The basin, part of the Red Desert, is loaded with gas wells. We found the first place we were looking for and got some nice agatized toritella, real name, goniobasis. It is the black, highly prized stuff. It appears that shells fell to the bottom of the water and were then bound together with silica. The second place we went to was a couple miles further up in the plateau. There was fossilized, agatized algae and has very pretty pattern to it. Windy again today and lots of pronghorns too. The grasses seem to be getting green. I cooked dinner for Judy for mothers day.

Day 60 Monday May 9
We decided to take a day off, sort of. We did laundry and mailed four boxes of rocks back home. We did some grocery shopping too. Got really windy in the afternoon and the weather station recorded a 45 mph gust with steady winds in the 20’s. Lots of gusts in the 30 mph range.

Day 61 Tuesday May 10
We got up to snow snifters which gradually faded away. We decided to try to find the elusive black jade again. North of Rawlins is the Granite Mountains. It is there the jade is found in areas where there is also schist. These two interact resulting is jade, mica, calcite, and other materials. On the way to the area called Horse Creek, we stopped at a Mormon site on the Oregon/Mormon trail called Rattlesnake Pass and Devil’s Gate. It is here that Mormons who left for the West too late in the year had to be rescued by the church in Salt Lake City in November. Out of 600 people, about 120 died from freezing and hunger. It is about 5 miles from another landmark called Independence Rock. It is called that because if you are not there by Independence Day the rest of the trip West to California or Oregon could by subject to severe weather. We easily found the rock hounding site and did not find any jade. There were nice pieces of quartz, agate, mica and very shiny schist. A fun day. On the way back we went through a rain/hail thunderstorm. Still windy today.

Day 62 Wednesday May 11
Woke up to snow and blowing wind. Got about half and inch so we decided to wait a few hours hoping it will stop. Well about 11 am it stopped snowing and the roads were clear of snow and it warmed up to 34 degrees. So off we went heading West on I-80 to Evanston, WY. There were a few snow showers and rain showers on the way but nothing serious. We spent the night in Evanston at Phillips RV park space 17. Had homemade Mexican burritos for dinner. Warmer here and not suppose to freeze tonight. And a pretty sunset.

Day 63 Thursday May 12
Left Evanston and headed West on I-80, then onto I-84 West. Drove to Eden spending the night in Anderson Camp taking space 69. Nice and warm with temperature at 74 degrees.

Day 64 Friday May 13
We left Eden and headed West again on I-80. We drove to exit 27 to spend the night only to find out the campground was full, a first on this trip. Heading down the road to exit 17, found Sand Hollow RV park and got space 11. The older couple had just bought the place 7 weeks ago. They are very nice. After setting up a Phaeton motor home parked next to us. The couple was from Issaquah, WA and have a house on Hood Canal across from Union. We ended up talking for hours, finally stopping at 7 pm so we each could eat dinner. The computer got a bug and will not let me open AOL. Drats.

Day 65 Saturday May 14
Went rock hounding today to find some Owyhee (pronounced like Hawaii starting with an O). We drove way back into the mountains and put Goldie through her paces going on some rough and steep and rutted roads. We found the site and got some good agate and jasper. After eating lunch we saw some thunderstorms forming and decided it was better to leave than get stuck on the slippery and rutted road. On the way home we stopped in Caldwell, ID to stock up on groceries the last time.

Day 66 Sunday May 15
We decided to go try rock hounding to Graveyard Point. It was raining a little and when we got to the end of the pavement the road was not passable so we tried to go a different way and it was worse./ Plan B was to go to Succor Creek and look for agates. Succor Creek road was graveled but it was still raining a little. After going a ways the road was getting muddy and slippery. We turned around, ate lunch and then headed back. The road was in worse condition since several cars had come down it. We stopped a few places along the road and found a few agates. Goldie did well in the mud and got a bath at the local car wash.

Day 67 Monday May 16
Well we left Idaho and headed West on I-84 and drove to Pendleton, OR. We spent the night at Lookout RV park space 36. We went to the Pendleton Woolen mill and looked around. We had a problem with Goldie in that it would not go into 2WD. The local Jeep dealer said that we could make it home with no problem and it might take several days to get parts. So we decided to take a chance.

Day 68 Tuesday May 17
We left Pendleton and headed West again on I-84. About 22 miles out of town the Jeep suddenly went to the left pulling the motor home into the left lane. I immediately got to the edge of the freeway and stopped. The right front tire was torn to shreds. Called the Safeco help line and a wrecker came and took us to Hermiston, OR to a dealer. They checked the Jeep over and could find nothing wrong and could not explain why we had the problem. They did not have the tire we needed so they put on the spare. I had the front end aligned and the guy spent quite a long time getting it set. There were no bent or broken parts. I hate it when things are not explained. We left Hermiston late and drove to Boardman Marine and RV park at space 36 for the night. Went out for Mexican dinner.

Day 69 Wednesday May 18
We drove from Boardman, OR, continuing on I-84 to I-205 then on to I-5 North. Made it to Shelton and home with no further incidents. Friend Bill came over and helped us back the motor home down the drive way. Great Trip