VW ADVENTURES

October 28, 2008
by Julia
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DAY TWO DAWNS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

DAY TWO DAWNS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL
Since today’s class reunion events start with a brunch, we relax with a later rise this morning. It is another beautiful summer day in Southern Idaho and we enjoy the drive across Magic Valley into Buhl with less traffic and no road blocks today. Downtown Buhl is quiet and looks abandoned after the crowds of the parade yesterday. The brunch is at a café downtown that isn’t normally open this time of day. Local class members have prepared delicious home cooked casseroles, fresh fruit and pastries. There are a few new faces. Classmates who opted for family holiday obligations yesterday are joining us for brunch today. A few others are not attending the brunch as they have opted for golf, farm chores, or other activities this morning. Once again, we linger, enjoying visiting and reconnecting, and much more relaxed this morning having made our initial recognitions yesterday. Finally everyone heads off in various directions until the banquet at the country club this evening. We wander out onto the street and investigate the current downtown profile. On the corner of Main and Broadway we are curious about the little memory ‘Park’ –Legacy Corner– that has been built in honor of the town’s centennial celebration. Reading familiar and forgotten names on the brick wall bring back many memories. The huge sculpture on the side of the building is impressive.

October 24, 2008
by Julia
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A LONG LAZY AFERNOON and another SURPRISE

A LONG LAZY AFERNOON and another SURPRISE
When we complete the parade circuit, Jim and Tommy are right where we left them and eager to move on, (they’ve seen enough of the parade and are ready for something to eat!). We head for the traditional class reunion picnic. This year it is being hosted at a classmates’ lovely home in Melon Valley. More challenges of finding our way around with parade traffic and drawing on memory of how to get through town and then to Melon Valley. Thank goodness we are tailing Jim and Linda who lead us to the picnic with only one ‘U’ turn! The weather is still on the hot side—but cool grass, shade trees and the canopies that Arnie and his wife, Trish, have set up make a comfortable setting for the afternoon which stretches out long and lazy as we reconnect and reminisce with old friends.
The afternoon is late and we are just about talked out. Many local classmates are leaving to attend to chores (this is farm country!) Some still have family gatherings to get to, including us. We have arranged to stop for a visit with a relative of Julia’s.
We find Annie Lou is looking great and quite spry at 85. She celebrated her birthday last March with husband Jack and all four of her children gathered from various parts of the country for the big event. We enjoy the lingering evening light and fragrant smell of freshly irrigated fields of corn and alfalfa while catching up on family news.
With the sun easing into its slow setting on the horizon (it seems to take a long time this far north compared to our brief but brilliant sunsets in Havasu), We are feeling satisfied and mellow after an exciting day and choose to drive back to the hotel rather than watch fireworks in Buhl. With these lingering twilights, the fireworks won’t start for some time. Besides, we are spoiled by the fireworks with hours of grand finales we get to see in Havasu when the Pyrotechnic Trade Show is in town.
As we approach Twin Falls on Pole Line road, we notice cars on the side roads, and gathering in parking lots and realize the Twin Falls fireworks must be on this side of town. Closer to the hotel, there are crowds of people walking and the hotel parking lot is filling up. We manage to find a spot to park in. With this good of view, we might as well enjoy the warm evening and see what we can of the fireworks from the hotel parking lot. We set up the chairs and bring out some snacks for a little ‘tailgait’ supper while waiting for the big show. Another surprise! We are dazzled by a patriotic display of brilliant fireworks with a spectacular grand finale that surpasses anything we have ever seen! And to top it all off – we just have to pack up our chairs and head inside to bed!

October 20, 2008
by Julia
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SAGE BRUSH DAYS FOURTH of JULY PARADE

Today is the Fourth of July and the first day of Julia’s class reunion events. The town of Buhl, Idaho, is a typical little farming community town, with a traditional parade and evening fireworks for the Fourth of July holiday, except that, a long time ago, Buhl gave the parade a theme: Sage Brush Days– and goes all out decorating with sage brush and expanding the celebration to include a rodeo and numerous other fun events. This year, we learn there had been a fish fry that sounded like great fun with lots of locals in attendance. We wish we had known about it when we were making our travel plans so we could have been able to arrive a day earlier and enjoy even more reunions!

The Sage Brush Days Parade has grown in size and reputation. People from all over Magic Valley schedule the parade as part of their celebration of the Fourth of July and local families gather for reunions…. It is a reason to be in Buhl!

Today, Julia is enjoying a nostalgic ride in the parade with her classmates, having been in the high school marching band and on several floats for different organizations over the years. [ insert: parade and town pics] Childhood friend Linda and her husband, Jim, meet us at the hotel to help guide us into Buhl and the parade staging area. Linda has directions but those go out the window when we encounter a road block on the highway, pushing all the traffic onto the side roads because of the parade. Jim is doing a great job getting us through town on some back streets that Julia doesn’t remember ever being on! We finally get to the general area where her class is supposed to be gathering. After walking a couple of blocks without recognizing anyone, Linda and Julia head off in search of the class ‘float’ while Jim and Tommy set up chairs, preparing to be spectators from the bus. A short distance the opposite direction, we find familiar faces and the recognition and name connections begin!

The parade trip is fun with Kathleen trying to lead us in cheers and our fight song which some of us never knew the words to anyway since we always played it in band instead of singing it! A few classmates are snagged out of the crowds of spectators as we travel along the parade route. All but one is coaxed onto the float. We suspect there are others ‘hiding’ in the crowd so we don’t get them.

October 14, 2008
by Julia
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PLEASANT SURPRISES!

We are impressed to find several health food stores listed in the phone book, one of which is quite close to the hotel and open late enough for us to visit today. Before returning to the hotel, we refuel the bus and WOW! 23.96 MPG this time – that’s a record for us! Back at the hotel we enjoy a refreshing shower and change of clothes before going for dinner. Finding something appropriate for us to eat is always a challenge in a new location. Tommy checks the internet and finds a couple possibilities…a Thai restaurant and a Sushi restaurant – more unexpected surprises for us in Twin Falls! We drive around trying to remember the sequence of streets and addresses and manage to locate both restaurants–side by side! For some reason their addresses didn’t indicate that they were that close together. Neither building is exceptionally inviting. We opt for Sushi Ya…. It is a good choice. Stepping inside, we are once again pleasantly surprised and impressed by the ambiance. This is a classy little place! The food and service are excellent and the portions a good size. This one goes on our list of revisits and recommendations!

Tommy remembers seeing a Starbucks somewhere while driving around looking for the Sushi Restaurant, and thought it was along Blue Lakes Blvd, so we started our search there. It was easy to find. On our previous trip, we had been delighted just to have the Starbucks coffee kiosk at Barnes and Noble. This time it is a real Starbucks store and an especially attractive design with a delightful outside sitting area. AND it is still open! Sitting outside, sipping our tea and enjoying the lovely evening, we realize we are sitting across from our old Kings Food Host Restuarant location which is now a bank, and that we are sitting where Jerry’s gas station used to be. Nostalgia sets in! It is past 9:00 p.m. and the sun is still shinning bright. Oh– the North Country in the Summer Time!

October 10, 2008
by Julia
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DESTINATION: TWIN FALLS, IDAHO

Even with more miles and miles of sage brush, we find the mountains softening into hills and there is more evidence of civilization. The driving is easy, still having the wind at our back for the most part. A couple of times the road twists and we have a side wind, but not too bad. It is about time for some lunch so we watch for a Rest Area, finding one by the Little Salmon River. This isn’t a fancy rest area but a dramatic spot off the highway in a Basalt rock canyon next to the river. We choose a vacant picnic table and enjoy something to eat. What fun! -Another Volkswagen Westfalia Camper, a ‘water boxer’, is parked opposite us in the corner across the parking lot. After a bite to eat, we walk over near the ‘water-boxer’ but there is no activity… Perhaps they are out for a hike or even taking a siesta so we wander on over to the river for a closer look, then back into our ‘Westy’ and on the road to Twin Falls.

The countryside is becoming more familiar. Jackpot (Nevada – a gambling town) is up and coming with a traffic light—wow! And a golf course and a couple of mini subdivisions of stick houses and paved streets! Big changes from days of past when there were only two casinos and couple of mobile homes!

As we get closer to Hwy 30 and Filer, (Idaho) where we will turn and head into Twin Falls, we try to remember the sequence of little towns—Rogerson or Hollister first? The sign for Nat-Soo-Pah Hot Springs brings a brief nostalgic memory of fun (and sun burns!) We drive past our first little ‘love shack’ –our rental at the Henderson farm. It is looking great with a second story added and a shiny new metal roof. It had been the original homestead of Helen’s family. During our stay, we shivered with just an oil stove in the living room for heat and discovered the insulation between the walls was just old newspaper! Still—it was a great little love nest and we had our love to keep us warm!

Driving into Twin Falls, it is fun to see familiar places, some shabby and run down, others looking spiffy. Twin Falls is busy. The traffic on the short cut we decide to take across town is heavy. We have decided to stay at a hotel for this part of the trip because we could not find a campground that was convenient to the class reunion events in Buhl. We find our hotel easily and walk into the lobby at the same time as another couple who share our surprise at discovering the temperature is 104’ today. The earlier weather prediction was for much lower temps and we expected to leave these triple digits in Havasu and Vegas! It is a relief to be out of the bus especially with this unexpected heat. We are ready for a refreshing shower and a change of clothes, then some dinner! But first, we wonder if we can find a natural food store before it closes, especially with Fourth of July holiday tomorrow.

October 7, 2008
by Julia
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Bella’s

$Bella\'s Espresso House$ $Cups of Bella\'s Espresso House$ We roll into Wells, Nevada, and gas up again, still getting slightly over 20 MPG. We are ready for a cup of tea and eagerly stop at Bella’s Espresso House. It is a place ‘out of place’ in Wells, so different from what is normally found in this rugged country and in a ‘truck stop’ town! Perhaps because it is owned by a ‘Madam’ who also has ‘Bella’s Gentlemen’s Club’ on the edge of town, the Espresso House has a character all its own. We discovered Bella’s two years ago on our trip to Boise, Idaho. We had opted for a truck stop dinner (our mistake) and visited Bella’s Espresso House & Diner for our morning coffee. It was a pleasant little diner with great coffees and homemade cinnamon rolls and we wished we had taken a chance on it the night before. Anyway, today we look forward to a stop at Bellas and enjoy it even more. The energy is livelier than the previous time we visited. Tommy zags with an Americano (we haven’t been drinking coffee so it is a special treat) and Julia enjoys a Jasmine Green Tea. Our waitress is cheery and chatty….fun, almost bubbly and makes our visit to Bella’s even more memorable. Revived and refreshed, we head out on the road with renewed anticipation of more adventures for us and bringing joy to more folks on the road.