Spoffords Travel

Day 5 September 2, 2025 Oberlin Kansas to Emporia Kansas 320 miles

The day was cloudy all day but no rain. Some wind but more a gentle breeze. The sweat shirts felt good most of the day. We ran the heater part of the day.

The terrain is more rolling hills. Most things are very green. Still lots of corn and cattle. Most of the towns are small and nearly deserted. The fields are huge so farm houses are far apart. We did drive through Manhattan Kansas which has a population of about 54,000. We didn’t pass the university however.

We stopped in one of the small towns and drove to the park in the middle of town. A couple of people stopped to admire the car. One couple offered to give us lunch and a place to spend the night. We must look pretty desperate.

Just out of Manhattan Kansas are the Flint Hills. This is the largest remaining area of prairie. The area has over 600 species of vegetation and over 300 species of wildlife. We stopped at the scenic overview. You can see for a long ways. More trees than expected. The only wildlife we spotted was grasshoppers. Lots of those including on the car radiator.

About an hour later we were at our lodging. We checked in and then went for gas and the grocery store. The closest one mentioned was an Aldi so we went there. We also went across the street to the Dollar Tree. That one didn’t have the cinnamon licorice either. We just got lucky before. We did see more wildlife however. About six Canadian geese were in the parking lot.

The strange noise we mentioned a few days ago is gone. The Woodie is still running so it must not be too serious.

Day 4 September 1, 2025 Torrington Wyoming to Oberlin Kansas 290 miles

The staff at the hotel were so excited about the car. Three of them came out to look. One even offered us a watermelon. Unfortunately we really don’t have a good way to cut it or store it. Two of the staff had opened a farmers market until the owners of the hotel told them they couldn’t do that. Now they have extra produce.

The weather is sunny but cool. The sweatshirts still feel good in the morning. Even though we were very close to the train tracks the sound wasn’t loud. They did blow the whistle at the crossing but not very loud.

We are only seven miles from the border with Nebraska. The terrain really changes at the border. The land flattens out and there is more agriculture. Lots of beef cattle and corn. John Deer equipment seems to be the major player here. Occasionally there are some low rolling hills to see in the distance.

In front of an RV park someone had painted a large propane tank pink, added ears, nose and a twisted tail. It looked very much like an extra large .pig.

Lots of grain silos. One town had a very large sugar processing plant. Must be sugar beets somewhere.

By afternoon the clouds moved in and looked like rain. We only got a few drops so no need to put up the side curtains.

We stopped for lunch at Wendy’s. That place was packed! The crowd must have known that Rob, the big spender, was taking Connie out for her birthday lunch. The freeway exit is nearby which surely added to the crowd.

Sometime during the day we crossed into the Central Time Zone and lost an hour. We arrived at our lodging about 5:30.

The Woodie ran very well today. It seems to like the Midwest with no real hills.

Day 3 August 31, 2025 Riverton Wyoming to Torrington Wyoming 290 miles

We actually got away a little early today. We were on the road by 8:30. We had filled with gas the night before and that makes a difference.

Today we saw a few oil wells. Some were pumping and some were not. We also saw what looked like a refinery. At least it had a Sinclair sign on it.

A small herd of antelope were in one spot. Several herds of beef cattle were in pastures along the way. Most of the terrain however was miles and miles of nothing. A few trees when they were close to a water source. Some of the small hills were interesting shapes. Very little color other than brown. The towns are small and far apart. Most had a police officer ready to write a speeding ticket. Luckily we didn’t get one.

The largest town we drove through was Casper with a population of just over 40,000. No passes to go over. A few small hills but lots of flat two lane road. At least no gravel.

A couple of small towns had a large number of big horse trailers parked in vacant lots. Would have been interesting to know what was going on.

Some of the way we had traveled before. We saw the large metal shapes depicting life in Wyoming. Most have the number 307 on them which represents the only area code used for Wyoming. The cowboy lifestyle is alive and well.

The wind today was terrible. It rocked the car and would have taken our baseball caps off if we had not had the head sets on. We could even hear the wind over the story we were listening to.

We arrived at our hotel about 3:30. It’s definitely an older place and a little run down. A good reminder to not trust the pictures on hotel booking sites. Things are clean so that is important. So far three trains have gone by. Looking forward to more rolling night music.

Day 2 August 30, 2025 Idaho Falls Idaho to Riverton Wyoming 255 miles

We ate breakfast this morning at the Wendy’s just down the street from our hotel. The staff was really friendly and the food was good. We still managed to get away about nine.

A big farmers market is going on along the river next to the falls. The weather should be great for a day of shopping. The rest of down town was reasonably quiet.

The morning air is cool so our sweatshirts felt good. We don’t have the side curtains on so the woodie is rather chilly in the morning. The skies are mostly blue so hopefully no rain.

Our route takes us over the Teton Pass. We have crossed this pass a few other times. It is a long climb up and a long descent with grades of 10% sometimes. Last year when we crossed the crews were working to repair a major mud slide that took out a big section of road. That is now all repaired and traffic flowed normally. Today there was lots of traffic. All the pull outs were full of cars. Seems like numerous hikers are already out and about. We have also seen far more RVs. Since this is Labor Day weekend and good weather all the recreational enthusiasts are out in force. The top of the pass is 8431 feet.

Not far from the bottom of the pass is Jackson Wyoming. This is a real tourist town and today was extremely busy. I bet you could not get a room here tonight. Most likely not an RV spot either. Lots of different types of vehicles and pedestrians everywhere. We saw several elk and a couple of moose in town. Unfortunately they were all statues.

Once we got through the town the traffic thinned out some. Luckily this stretch of road is relatively flat so we could drive a little faster. Teton National Park begins just outside of Jackson. The Teton Mountains are so beautiful. Today they were somewhat in the clouds. This meant the tops of the peaks were not as easy to see. A bike path parallels the road for much of the park. Quite a few bikes along the way. The park has several turnouts which are all full of tourists. We stopped at one for lunch so we could have a beautiful view. Several people stopped to ask about the car or to have their picture taken with the car.

Shortly after lunch we came to a large herd of bison. We didn’t remember seeing them in this area before. They were not on the road and most were peacefully grazing.

We crossed the continental divide with an elevation of 9858 feet. Thankfully the traffic has really thinned out. Most were in Yellowstone, the Tetons and Jackson. The terrain flattens out and cattle ranches are more prevalent. Two fields had a few long horn cattle. The horns sure are long. One field had a very large herd of antelope.

We follow along what we think is the Wind River. The mountains on the opposite side of the river have some color running horizontally all along. Not as colorful as some of Utah, Colorado or New Mexico, but still interesting.

We stopped at a rest stop about 40 miles from our destination. What a nice rest stop. They had playground equipment, nice grass, and covered picnic tables. Everything was well maintained and clean.

It took about an hour to get to Riverton from the rest stop. We stopped for gas before going to the hotel. A Dollar Tree was almost next door. After checking in to the hotel we returned to the Dollar Tree to see if they had more of the cinnamon licorice. Connie had purchased some in Boise and it was really good. This store didn’t have cinnamon but did have lemonade so we will try that. Every trip needs some junk food.

Since its a left turn to get back to the hotel we decided to try the alley. Well that was interesting. The area at the back of the hotel was blocked off so you could not drive from the alley to the hotel. Then the alley did not continue on to the next road but turned to the left and continued about a block before turning left again. It finally got to a paved street that eventually took us to a traffic light back to the hotel. The alley kept getting smaller and less traveled. There were weeds growing down the middle. Maybe it was an undiscovered part of the Oregon Trail?

We ate our Chinese leftovers in the room for supper and went to bed early. The night before had not been a good one.

Yesterday Rob was stung or bitten by what he thinks was a flying ant that came into the car through the window. It really hurt for a while but he is doing fine today.

The car has a new sound that is something to do with the clutch. It only makes a noise when you depress the clutch. It sounds like the throw out bearing is dry. Last week when we were replacing the transmission we installed a new sealed throw out bearing. More later if it becomes a problem.

Day 1 August 29, 2025 Boise to Idaho Falls Idaho 256 miles

We stopped at Costco it fill with gas before getting on the freeway. We decided that driving the freeway to the Orchard exit eliminated about 25 miles of gravel roads. We were glad to get off the freeway and all of the semi trucks. We did have a short detour just after the freeway.

We were surprised how many really nice homes were back there. We had it in our minds that we would go along until we got to highway 20. Well the GPS had a different idea. We turned on a road that soon turned to gravel. A very good gravel road however. Well at least the first few miles were. There were houses in the first few miles. We even saw a couple of birds of prey. Well the houses stopped and the road conditions got somewhat worse. Then we recognized a portion of the road we had driven as part of the Oregon Trail tour. The rest we were pretty sure we had never been on. The road was by this time only one lane wide. The only vehicle we saw caught up with us. We are guessing we drove about 40 miles on dirt roads. We need to figure out how to tell the GPS no Oregon Trail roads.

Eventually we got to the highway and from there it was smooth sailing through Fairfield, Craters of the Moon and Arco. We stopped for lunch at the rest stop near the intersection to go to Sun Valley. The restrooms were very clean.

We did have a few drops of rain but didn’t need to use the windshield wiper. May not rain during the trip because Rob got the windshield wiper fixed and reinstalled.

We ate Chinese tonight and managed to beat the crowd. Two large groups were just arriving as we left. Only one waitress and she was hustling. We have enough leftovers for another meal each.

The woodie ran very well today.

Day 28 July 29, 2025 Pendleton Oregon to Boise Idaho 270 miles

As we were leaving Pendleton we saw a sign saying it was 9:06 AM and 78 degrees. Sure is going to be a hot one. We purchased a mobile thermometer for our next trip. However, it may be better if we don’t know how hot it gets. We elected to continue on the backroads rather than the freeway. Pretty sure we were never on some of these roads before.

The grain fields around Pendleton have been harvested thank goodness. The grain dust and regular dust can make visibility pretty bad.

We began seeing some evergreen trees as we entered the Battle Mountain Scenic Corridor. This wanders through the Blue Mountains following a small stream. The stream has very little water and we can see the rocks at the bottom.

We climbed and descended at least two low passes. They were only about 4000 feet. Compared to where we have been this was not much. The grade wasn’t steep either.

We did have to stop for a couple of minutes for a crew trimming some trees. We couldn’t tell if they had fallen in a storm or if they were just being removed.

We stopped at a small turn out for a break and lunch. While sitting there a doe came running down the hill, sailed over the fence and continued with her fawn. The fawn had been waiting in a protected area.

We stopped for gas in Unity Oregon. The cost was $5.909 per gallon. Similar in price to northern Canada. We also got popsicles which melted as fast as we could eat them. They tasted pretty good.

The farmland around Vale, Ontario and Nyssa didn’t seem any cooler. Sometimes the irrigated fields help with the temperature. It was even too hot to stop at the quilt shop in Nyssa even though we drove right past it.

We arrived home about 5:00 pm. Glad to be here. The house air conditioner has been doing its job.

In summary

28 days on the road

329 gallons of gas used

$4.87 average price per gallon

6,444 miles driven

$1,602.23 spent on fuel

18.83 average miles per gallon

230 average miles driven per day

1 flat tire but not damaged

2 small rock chips in the windshield

2 rock hits in the radiator but no coolant leaks

1 broken headlight lens

Unknown transmission problem

8 nights in the trailer

The Canadians we met were all very friendly and helpful

Day 27 July 28, 2025 Osoyoos British Columbia to Pendleton Oregon 298 miles

The skies are mostly blue. The temperature is already warm. It’s going to be a hot one for sure.

We ate breakfast at A&W Canada. They have a similar menu to the other fast food places. It was easier to get to than McDonald’s. Then we went next door and filled the gas tank.

On the way out of town we drove through much of the residential area and then along the lake. Lots of options for recreation.

We are barely out of town when we reached the border. The only vehicle in front of us is a semi. We thought we might have to wait awhile but the truck breezed right through. We didn’t spend long either. Usual simple questions. Glad we didn’t purchase any of the fruit at the stands we just passed.

In a yard just down the road are two Big Foot metal yard art with a dog. Both Big Foots have on hard hats. I guess they are off to work.

A family of birds that were either quail or ptarmigans were attempting to cross the road in front of us. Thankfully they took flight before we got there. Even the chicks flew. There must have been at least eight chicks and two adults.

Numerous semis loaded with big square bales of hay are headed north. Can’t imagine they are going to Canada based on all the hay we saw up there.

Several long stretches of highway had the ruts in the road filled in with asphalt. Obviously cheaper than resurfacing the entire highway. It sure made the driving for us difficult with the narrow tires on the car. We wiggled back and forth all the time. You might think Rob was a drunk driver.

To the west of us and up on a ridge was a big collection of satellite dishes. They were all different sizes placed close together. Oh maybe one for every streaming channel provider?

For several miles we still see orchards and vineyards. Eventually however that gives way to grain fields. They are very large and appear to be dry land farming. No sprinklers.

We passed by the Chief Joseph Dam. Also came to the sign for Grand Coulee Dam but we chose not to go there.

We stopped for lunch at a wide turnout overlooking a small town and a canyon of some sort. We are close to the town of Soap Lake. The canyon most likely has a river flowing into the lake. This was one of the few turnouts we even saw. It didn’t have a trash can nor a toilet. The back roads just don’t have many rest stops.

We drove along what must be Soap Lake. Quite a bit of activity for a week day. Lots of RV parks with a lot of RVs in them. Very popular spot.

The grain has given way to fields of corn. The corn fields do have sprinkler systems running. Then we came to two large dairies only about a mile apart. No subdivision In the area.

The hills are dry with very few if any trees. Some sage brush and dry grass. Not the beautiful scenery from a few days ago.

We followed Lake Wallula for several miles. It looks like a nice lake but no activity in the area we were.

The last part of the journey was through rolling hills of grain. Most had been harvested. Then we arrived in Pendleton. We drove right down the Main Street of town past the stampede grounds. Then up the hill to our hotel for the night.

Then woodie ran well today. The temperature was in the mid nineties and it did not overheat. The transmission is making more noise but is still working. Time will tell.