Day 10 - 12 June 2009

I had the great idea to spend another night or two at an Air Force base - Hill AFB in Ogden, Utah, just a few miles north of Salt Lake City. Before departing the campground at Montpelier I tried repeatedly to call Hill AFB to make reservations - no luck. So we left the campground and drove into the town of Montpelier which used to be called Clover Creek, then Belmont, but was finally named Montpelier by the Mormon leader Brigham Young because it reminded him of a town in Vermont near where he was born. To me that name fits about as well as the name Montpelier fits the Vermont capital, that is, not at all.

Nevertheless, Montpelier, Idaho, is a nice little town. It is the place where the pioneers that traveled the Oregon and the California trails rested and refitted their wagons after coming over the Continental Divide. The travelers going to California split near here from those going to the Oregon Territory.

Right at the spot where they rested there now is an information center where we received about an hour long description of what the pioneers had to have for supplies and equipment. The description actually was a tour through reproductions of a gunsmith's shop and a general store where we received a detailed descriptions of the kinds of items that were necessary for the long journey. In addition, there was a reproduction of a camp as it was set up at night by the pioneers and a simulated ride in one of the wagons to get a feel for the twisting and bumping the freight or people in the wagons experienced. Very worthwhile!

My friend, with the infinite curiosity of a woman, discovered that a few miles (out of our way) north of Montpelier there lies the town of Soda Springs. The pioneers discovered that carbonated water came out of the ground there. Some years later the carbonated water was bottled and sold all over the region or country. However, in the 1920s prohibition supposedly took away a large part of the market for soda water (scotch and soda, etc.). Simultaneously, methods for artificially carbonating water were developed, leaving the town of Soda Springs "high and dry" so to speak. Then some townspeople wanted to get at the mineral water for a municipal pool and drilled a hole about 300 feet deep, thereby creating a man-made geyser because the water shot 70 feet into the air out of the hole. The water turned out not to be suitable for a swimming pool, but the geyser became a popular attraction for tourists. It "geysered" constantly and reliably so that it became competition for Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park. Consequently, someone (the government?) caused the town to cap the geyser so that it would not spew constantly. However, in order to leave the town one attractive feature (it has none otherwise) the geyser was put on a timer and now it goes off once a day, exactly - and predictably - at noon. I can see that the water is unusable for a swimming pool because the area around the geyser is reddish-brown, almost orange. Probably from the iron content.

After a little lunch and a nap near the geyser, in the camper, we left and passedfa town with hot springs at which my friend drooled for she hates to pass up an opportunity to get wet, especially if the water comes from a hot spring. However, I prevailed because I wanted to reach the Hill AFB campground before it was all filled up. As it turned out, when I finally managed to get hold of someone at the campground they were all filled up already. The nice lady gave me some rather vague directions to another campground.

To make a long story short, we got to Salt Lake City as planned, got lost as programmed by the vague directions, called a KOA campground for directions, backtracked to the campground because we were past it, and settled in for the evening. One more unusual aspect: The KOA hospitality lady who escorted us to our campsite was extremely helpful in giving us information about Salt Lake City, the free shuttle service provide by the Mormon Church, signed us up to see the Tabernacle Choir perform, and told us about the guy in one of the RV slots who sells barbequed spareribs and other items which he barbeques there on the spot. We partook of some of his excellent wares. Day ten ended with a full stomach.