Charlotte on the Snake river after a long day in the truck

Some great people we met along the way!

Well, after the long road to Elko, we were a little road weary this morning.  We took a little extra time in getting on the road.  We had decided to make a small change in the trip itinerary by not going just to Twin Falls, ID but taking the truck a little further into northern Idaho to Pocatello.  That will make our final leg up to our destination in Montana a little closer.  We will still be looking at about 5 hours on the road tomorrow.

As we made our way into Idaho, we began to see the fields of potato plants.  Man, Idaho knows how to grow potatoes!  It brought back some old memories about the first real job I had.  We moved to Colorado for three years and the summer after fifth grade I got a job hoeing potatoes.  We worked from about 7 in the morning until the sun was almost down about 7 or 8.  I made $3.00 a day!  I had never seen so much money!  On Fridays we got paid and I got $15.00!  I didn’t think I could spend it all.  We would all get in the bed of the truck of one of the dads whose son worked with us.  We would each pay $.25 for the drive inn theater and stop by A&W and get a cheese burger with fries and a gallon of root beer for another $1.50.  That still left me with a little over $13.00!  Man life was sweet!

We drove through Twin Falls and I began to think about one of the last things on my “bucket list”.  Do ya’ll remember when ‘ol Evil Kenevil tried to jump the Snake River up here in Idaho?  I always felt that I would like to try that on my old Harley.  So we went on up the road a ways and began to scout out a possible jump site.  The river runs right along the highway for several miles and we finally decided to check out a site in this little town called American Falls.  Now that has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?  American Falls….. man I can see Old Glory waving in the breeze there on the Snake giving me wind direction and speed for the jump!

Well we finally found a place down by the old hydro electric plant and dam there in the town.  The Snake gets bottled up on both sides by solid stone cliffs.  It comes shooting out of that gorge at a pretty good speed.  I think that will be a possible jump point.  So just remember, Sturgis is for sissys.  Real men jump the Snake!

As we were leaving American Falls, we drove past this house in town and there was a couple in the back yard(which was right beside the highway) tending to a beautiful garden.  It really struck a note in me for some reason.  I drove on for about a couple of blocks and I told Charlotte I wanted to go back and find out something about those people and their garden.  So I made a u-turn and headed back.  We drove up and we got out and introduced ourselves and I told them they had a great looking garden.  He called his wife over and soon we were talking like we knew them forever!  They are Freddy ande Marcia Roads.  She just retired and Freddy has a “biker pub” as he called it in downtown American Falls.  They showed us pictures of their just harvested onion crop which was unbelievable.  What a great couple!  They gave us two of their beautiful tomatoes to take with us.  I had my Vietnam Veteran cap on and he thanked me for my service and showed me the bracelets he and his wife were wearing that sponsored MIA efforts.  They have a fund raiser for the MIA movement that is the only one in Idaho recognized by the U.S. Government.  Just common everyday Americans, living their lives and doing what they can to help others.  Where can you go in the world and find this type of goodness and commitment?  I think it altogether fitting that Freddy and Marcia live in a place called American Falls.  God, I love this country!