We're back from our second outing with the CT. This time out we put a bit more thought into our camping, where we wanted to go, what we needed to take along, and planned better for the weather, which turned out different than was predicted. We prepared for fairly cold weather at night (as previously described) and a possibility of rain on Sunday.
We left Boise Friday afternoon about 2pm and drove 95 miles to the Hagerman Valley (Idaho). Upon arrival the weather Friday was gorgeous, upper 60's/low 70's with clear sky. We set the CT up at a great camp spot (more about the camp spot and how we found it later in this post). Late Friday night/early Saturday morning the weather changed, dramatically. Clouds moved in and a slow drizzle began that went through the day Saturday, but that didn't stop us from getting out and touring the beautiful country side.
When we arrived Friday afternoon in Hagerman, ID. we parked the Jeep Cherokee with CT attached and went to a small antique store (RD Antiques) to look around. It was a neat little shop with some nice items, though mostly over priced. Christi found a few small items she wanted so we waited in line to pay for them as the lady who owned the stored chatted with people from California about their purchases and what they could see in the area. One subject that came up as we waited for the California folks to pay for their purchases was RV spots. The lady that owned the store knew the area exceptionally well and gave the CA. folks what seemed like good advice on where to stay. So when we got to the register to pay for what we'd chosen we asked the nice lady about public camping areas in the valley. She asked us what we were camping in and did we need water and electric. We told her about our CT conversion and told her no we wouldn't need water and electric. She proceeded to tell us about a great spot just outside of town, an Idaho Power (the State authorized power agency) boat launching ramp on the Snake River. She said there is parking there for boat launching but there is also ONE RV spot that is available at no cost. She drew us a simple map as to how to find it.
We left the store and followed her map and found a truly great camp site. It was 200 yards off the mighty Snake River and included a vault type toilet 100 yards from our camp site. The true beauty of this trip was that we were the only campers there the entire weekend. Three boat launchers showed up early Saturday morning, only one Saturday evening, and one on Sunday morning and all gone by dark of each day. Other than that we had the place to ourselves the entire weekend. I'd call that being beautifully lucky!
The first photo below shows the view from our camp site to the Snake River late Friday evening, with the public toilet facility in view
. The second photo shows the view looking east from our camp spot. The third and fourth photos show our CT setup at the camp site. The fifth photo shows one of a Thousand Springs waterfalls, which are remarkable in that they do not originate from a river above, rather the water comes out of the lava rock after it has traveled hundreds of miles below ground along the Snake River Plane Aquifer. It is called Thousand Springs because the water exits the lava rock in a thousand (approximate) places along the bluffs that feed to the Snake River below.
So a few more things we learned this trip... the bunk beds were a great idea. It drizzled all day Saturday during our day trips away from our CT base camp site. In the evening we had plenty of room inside to write in our travel journal, cook, and relax (I didn't make pre-made hamburgers for the trip like I planned so I cooked up a batch of Sloppy Joe's inside the CT on the Brunton two burner camp stove). The weather, thanks to the cloud cover and rain, wasn't as cold as expected so the propane tank heater you can see in the photos wasn't needed and was really just extra weight to haul along. We used our small electrical resistance heater with fan and it was more than adequate. We need to build some cabinets, shelving, and a fold up/down table to sit at (we took along a 2x4 foot collapsible/folding table but could have easily gotten away with something smaller).
Late Saturday night/Sunday morning it rained heavily, and rained heavily all day Sunday. When parked we experienced no leaks but driving the 95 miles home found a couple of leaks at the front end of the CT when we arrived, not serious but obvious. It appears water is coming in around some of the upper external parking/clearance lights so they will need to be checked and recaulked (our CT was bought used and is a 2001 model that has some miles on it).
What I also learned: The three most important accessories we have bought so far, in order of importance; the Honda EU2000i generator (because the following two are only good if we have it), the cheap ($150) Sears dorm refrigerator (stuff the ice box with pre-frozen reusable freezer packs and it acts like a cooler during travel or when parked and no power is going to it), and the cheap ($90) 800 Watt microwave oven (we can cook most anything in it... maybe not our first choice in cooking some foods but we can cook the necessities in it or heat water to wash faces/hands/dishes/etc.).
Don
by GPW » Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:18 pm 
