Day 32-July 7, 2013-To Buhl, ID
Yes, it’s gorgeous again, although warmer, up to 91 today but a nice breeze.
Drove 246 miles in 5-3/4 hours on.
Started the day on route 31 which is the Targhee Forest with huge pine trees and mountains, then routes 26 and 20 which are mostly big open range ranches and then farms, mostly wheat, gently swaying in the breeze and then corn and potatoes. The Snake River is always with us, every now and then a deep canyon with the river below. At Blackfoot, ID we see lava beds covered with what they call a “sagebrush sea” for as far as you can see, then back to farms again, still crops but now also cattle and sheep farms. At Twin Falls, ID we get off the interstate onto route 30 the “Thousand Springs Scenic Byway” and we see a lot of springs around. We finished the book on tape we were listening to “Moscow Rules” by Daniel Silva, a Russian/Israeli spy novel and all is well again with the world.
We got to Snyder Winery in Buhl, ID, 20 miles west of Twin Falls about 3:30. We’re staying here tonight through Harvest Hosts which is a group of wineries, ranches and farms across the country that will let us stay overnight for free. There’s no hook-ups but we’re parked under an immense shade tree and the breeze is wonderful. We can hear horses and cows close by and the birds in the vineyard and neighboring farms and one loud rooster. Buhl is an agricultural area and is known as the rainbow trout capital of the US because of all the hatcheries in the area not only for trout but also for catfish, salmon and tilapia. And potatoes, this is after all, Idaho. We did a wine tasting, bought some reds and read for a while. The winery closed at 5:00 so it got really quiet. The owners, Claudia and Russ Snyder invited us to make the winery our home for the night, walk around the gardens and enjoy the peace which we certainly did. The gardens were beautiful with the trickling sound of waterfalls, there was a huge fire pit, the vineyard was close by and we could see a cow farm in the distance. They had tables and chairs set up for events and an outdoor kitchen. We were sitting outside the campsite when the wind really picked up and it cooled down nicely. Two donkeys wandered near us from a neighboring farm and looked at us for quite a while, I don’t think they’re used to seeing people there. Saw lots of stars in the middle of the night, they didn’t come out well until then because it’s so light here even at 10PM.