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Immediately after the Southwest Roadrunner’s Leisure Travel Van rally in Reno, Nevada, in 2022, we started our LTV caravan tour of Idaho. Our itinerary for this year’s caravan tour started in Reno with a 4-hour drive to Wells, Nevada. This caravan had 12 Leisure Travel Vans, including ours.
Our itinerary for the tour of Idaho was planned to be a 17-night/18-day adventure. We will visit Hagerman/Twin Falls; Glenns Ferry/Three Islands State Park; Boise; Cascade; McCall; Lewiston/Hells Gate State Park; Lake Coeur d’Alene/Heyburn State Park; Hamilton, Montana; Stanley/Sawtooth Mountains; Arco/Craters of the Moon National Monument; and American Falls, Idaho.
Our first stop in southern Idaho was at the Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls and Hagerman, Idaho. The water was low for this time of year but still beautiful.
From the Road in Southeastern Idaho
Cascade, Idaho
We lost the latch in the door to our LTV while we were in Reno just before we left for this trip. Not a show stopper, the deadbolt still worked, so we continued on with our caravan tour of Idaho as planned.
However, on the highway between Twin Falls and Hagerman, Idaho, the house door started rattling and shaking as we descended the road to the point that I thought we might lose the door. So I strapped the door in place with a strong tie-down strap that Tai, another LTV owner on the tour, had given me. After talking to Leisure Travel Vans in Canada and calling around to local RV dealers in the area as we traveled, I found out that the entire door lock would have to be replaced, and no one had one available.
I finally found the lock I needed on Amazon and arranged for it to be shipped to McCall, Idaho, to the RV park we would be staying at a few days later. But in Boise, after texting a picture to various repair shops, I found a dealer about 10 miles from the Hi Valley RV Park where we were staying that had the lock assembly in stock. On our way to our next Cascade stop, we bought the lock assembly and canceled the Amazon order, thinking, “A bird in hand is better than two in the bush.”
One of the benefits of traveling with other LTV owners is that when things don’t go as planned, some people can help solve the many challenges that can occur while we are on the road. On our Alaska caravan in 2018, one of our solar panels on the roof caught on fire. Ten LTV owners also in our caravan came running to help us with this problem.
McCall, Idaho
The lodge at McCall was a great place for us to meet, especially when it was raining. We also held our Memorial Day-covered dish dinner there.
Of the 11 couples that joined us on this year’s caravan tour, six couples were with us on last year’s tour of southern Arizona. The Southern Arizona tour lasted 12 nights and covered southern Arizona south of Tucson.
Hells Gate State Park, Lewiston, Idaho
Hells Gate State Park is located just outside Lewiston, Idaho. Situated on the Snake River and the Clearwater Rivers, Lewiston is right on the border of Washington State. We rode our bikes over the bridge to Washington. We also saw wild turkeys at our campsite.
Heyburn State Park, Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Hamilton, Montana
To travel to the Sawtooth Mountains from the Lake Coeur d’Alene area, we had to take Interstate 90 east through Montana. There were mountains in our way that we had to go around since our LTVs don’t have wings. (Wendy Uncles provided photos in Montana.)
Custer City, Idaho – Ghost Town
We took a side trip to see a ghost town called Custer City. It’s the ruins of an abandoned mining town from the 1800’s. There are volunteers there dressed in the clothing worn by the long-gone residents of the town who will answer any questions about the people who once lived here.
If you ever drive through the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, I highly recommend stopping here at Custer City. It requires driving on a dirt road for a few miles, but worth it. There are a lot of sad stories here at Custer, stories of how the people lived in this harsh environment and also how they died. Most died from the extreme harsh winters, the town was completely isolated and cut off from the outside world for several months each year. It’s amazing what people are willing to do, especially in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, hoping to make it rich.
Driving the road to Custer will also take you back in time to an area that still bears the scars from over 200 years ago when the miners used large water cannons to blast away the sides of the mountains looking for gold. You can see large piles of gravel on each side of the road from these water cannons.
Stanley, Idaho – Sawtooth Mountains
Some of our group went to a local restaurant in Stanley. The food and fellowship was wonderful. The RV park was within a couple of miles of the restaurant.
Arco, Idaho – Craters of the Moon National Monument
On our way to Craters of the Moon National Monument, we stopped at Arco, where the first nuclear reactor was built. Craters of the Moon is all about the volcanic activity here in Idaho. It’s an interesting place that reminded me a lot of Big Island, Hawaii.
No tour of Idaho would be complete without a stop at the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho. Of course, the baked potato samples were delicious. After the museum, we walked across the street to sample the local ice cream shop.
American Falls, Idaho.
After our 18-day trip through Idaho ended, the next day, MaryAnn and I continued traveling with two other LTV owners to the Grand Teton National Park and beyond. Our summer road trip adventure of 2022 was just getting started.
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