We walked a different route Thursday morning. Both of us were tired, so we decided we wanted a “flat route” to walk. The Greenway path along the Portneuf River was the ideal place to walk. Forty minutes and 1.4 miles later, we had met our goal for the day. The weather was (and remained so the entire day) just fabulous. The trees are showing very nice (for Idaho) color and the walk was very pleasant. I’m certain it’ll be on our agenda again … if there’s enough time!

We’re working on the to-do list so we can leave next Friday. There are still several unknowns (for instance, the motorcycle still isn’t running right), but we’re closing in. One of the big questions is whether or not we should buy a car hauler trailer and haul a car behind the motor home across the country or should we rent cars when we’re staying at places. A used car hauler trailer will cost about $2,000 and would probably sell for that much when we were finished with it. However, it’ll really affect the gas mileage. So, I’m still fussing with the numbers.

We walked as far as a bridge across the river before we turned around. I noticed several padlocks on the chain link fence on the bridge. The lover’s practice of “locking their love” and throwing away the keys is here in Pocatello as well.

This one had a date on it, but no names. That was part of my criteria for showing the lock. Don’t want to publicize something that might already have gone down in flames! We’ve got a spare padlock here somewhere. Maybe we should join the club??

The first time I had seen padlocks on a fence was in Florence, Italy. I ran across them again in Germany (called to my attention by an article in the newspaper). Since then I’ve read about similar activities across the world, as documented by Wikipedia.

Mother’s cordless telephone has been giving her a lot of problems. She has trouble hearing when someone calls. The phone she has is very old. The markings are worn off and it’s difficult to tell which button does what. It’s also very easy for her to accidentally turn the volume down. So, we ordered her a new phone which arrived on Thursday. After the walk we drove over to Soda Springs and installed the new phone. Hopefully this will work much better for her. The phone is definitely quite loud!

On the way back home as we exited the freeway next to Prime Time Auctions, I noticed several old sheep camps along the back fence to be auctioned off at their next auction on Saturday, October 11th. Nina has been fascinated with these canvas-covered units, so we stopped and took a look at the most authentic of the sheep camps.

Looking meant climbing up and poking her head inside! When I was very small I remember that Grandfather Smith had a few sheep they he combined with some other farmers in the area into a fairly large herd of sheep. During the summer the sheep went up into the high forest to graze. They hired an old Basque sheepherder and outfitted him with a sheep camp that looked (as I remember) very much like this one. It had a wood-burning stove, a place in the back for his bedding, and had a big basin attached to one side along with a fold-down table. The other side had a couple of big water barrels. The camp was pulled by a couple of horses which the sheep herder kept with him all summer as his conveyance.

This is a short iPhone video showing a bit of the interior.