08-05-09

At 4:00am the idling engine of the semi truck parked near me drove me mad. Windows up, headphones on it was still too loud. I had to move. I was ready to roll because I wasn’t sure if overnight parking was allowed at that Wal Mart. When I pulled in there were no Rvs. There were no “No Overnight Parking” signs and the one truck, so I thought I’d give it a shot.
When I decided I had to move, all I had to do was start the engine and open the curtains. The parking lot was quiet as I circled in my underwear looking for a better spot. I parked on the other end of the lot from the truck. It was still loud. I restarted the bus, drove all the way to the other side of the store and crawled back into bed.
After some quiet sleep I drove to the Crates of the Moon National Park, in Idaho. I thought it was close, but it took a long time to get there, farther and farther out into the baron prairie. It was fitting that the “Moon” was so far away. The park is from out of this world. I felt sometimes like I was on a cheesy Star Trek set, waiting to get killed as the forth man on the away team.
The volcano that is now under Yellowstone was at this spot millions of years ago. The volcano didn’t move. The tectonic plate has been sliding over it for eons. Crates of the Moon is miles and miles of hardened lava. You can see the way the lava was flowing, frozen in time. As I scanned the horizon I imagined the entire area as bubbling red hot lava.
I liked the size of the park. Some are frustratingly large to take in. There were about seven stops on a 7 mile drive. Each stop had an easy half mile walk, or so. There was one huge volcanic mound that took 10 minutes to hike up. The whole mound was made up of black lava rocks, like coal. The view, as usual was worth the hike.
Many of the paths wander through the lava field. There is actually a lot of plant and animal life if you look close.
By the time I explored the caves and was ready to leave I was surprised to find out I had been there for 5 hours.
I headed back to the interstate towards a Wal Mart in Mountain Home, Idaho. I thought it was about 30 miles, but the sign said “110”. It was a long drive with rain and road construction. My Jeep got pummeled by gravel. The windshield had about 20 chips in it as well as one chip on each headlight. Now I understand the construction sign, “Slow Down Save Windshield”.
I was low on Diesel and virtually out of LP, so I didn’t run the generator, water heater, or stove, but kept what LP I had left for the refrigerator.
I ran the batteries down on my laptop and MP3 player by candlelight and went to bed.