Day 21 - Wednesday 7/20/2005 -  To the Moon, Alice...

Sorry, I had to borrow a line from Jackie Gleason for this installment.  I apologize to all those who are not familiar with the arcane reference.  It just seemed apropos, since we are headed north to Idaho where we will visit "Craters of the Moon National Monument".  

We packed up from the campground and said "Adieu" (I wanted to be understood), and drove northwest through the mountains toward I-15.  With the Hoodoos and canyons fading in the mirrors, farms and ranches became the visual norm.  After a short drive and some lunch, we reached I-15.  Music on, cruise on, brain off.  Utah, being the conservative state that it is, opted for personal responsibility over public ecological guilt, and therefore established the speed limit at 75 MPH.  Some may say that it's because the state is flat with straight roads.  I personally believe it's because the people of the great state of Utah realized that NOBODY wants to spend any more time than they must driving through a state.  But I guess if that mentality were adopted on a national level, the speed limit in New Jersey would be 195 MPH.  But I digress...

 We drove north through Salt Lake City, and I used some of the "civilization time" to call folks that I had been able to contact.  We drove on, across the Idaho border and up to Idaho Falls.  My original plan had been to stay at Craters of the Moon, but given the 7pm temperature of 98 degrees, the idea of sleeping on black slabs of hot basaltic rock paled with the idea of an air-conditioned room with TV.  We hit the local Jack-in-the-Box for some burgers and crashed for the night.

Side Note: I've told many people about our unique bike rack, but I realized I had not included any pics.  Below are pics of the rack closed on the car, and opened with the read hatch opened.  I also included a closeup of a little "accident" we had with the bike lock when we forgot to secure it before going out one night.  The rack still works fine, but the lock was a goner.