Roving Reports by Doug P: 2018-19 IDAHO, Idaho Falls and Rigby Idaho

2018-19

Idaho Falls, right in the center of town

Pocatello Idaho
Idaho Falls Idaho
Rigby Idaho

Campground: Jefferson County Lake Campground, Rigby ID. $20.00. 30/50 amp electric/water. Concrete pad and picnic table. Nice paved walking trails around the lake/campground. No dump station. Good Verizon signal. Many of the sites have recently been upgraded with concrete pads, a number of them are pull-thrus. Campground grassy areas are left to grow tall, with only areas cut to picnic tables…. Nice to see landscape more natural.

Distance Traveled: 210 miles

Pocatello

a total of 6 new deep cycle batteries should do it

I have to chuckle to myself, thinking about a question my sister Ann asked me recently about my boondocking. She asked if one of the reasons was to save money. It was a good question. And of course that is a plus along the way, but I think what boondocking does is give me many more options as to places I can camp, often in more remote and stunning locations. Especially while I’m out west as well as avoid having to pay higher camping fees in some areas of the country.

The chuckle continues when I contemplate saving money as it has not turned out that way as many Rv-ers can testify too. Sometimes our expenses can really go over the top. As it turns out, having the generator and solar panels, does not come cheap. I had 4 AMD sealed batteries for the past 4+ years and they should have lasted a good 2 more years.

What I discovered is that since I didn't’ have a backup generator to use when the batteries got low, I had damaged those expensive batteries by draining them a few too many times below the recommended levels. One example was last summer while camping in Upstate New York, I got a State Park campsite that have no utilities. On top of that, it was cold, rainy and no sun for the 4 or 5 days I was there. Draining the batteries, which never got recharged until I got to the next campsite. Not good for deep cycle batteries.

And with that they were now providing less and less backup power. So, I traveled from Wyoming to Pocatello Idaho, to a battery store that could provide me with the right backup power. Going from 4 deep cycle batteries to 6 extra heavy duty AMD batteries. The battery shop is a small national chain that advertises their ability to help out with all the power needs for any solar system. That wasn’t the case at the Pocatello site, but at least I got what I think is a better set of batteries. Let’s just say the cost was over the moon. Did you know those deep cycle batteries weigh in at 73 lbs each.

Idaho Falls

the falls are actually almost a half a mile in length
nice walking on both sides of the park like setting

fun sculptures in the park

lots of LDS temples in Idaho

Since I’m in Idaho, I ventured over to Idaho Falls city and went to The Museum of Idaho. They had a special installation called “Discover Steampunk, A Fantastical hands on Adventure”. What a fun and informative presentation. It described what Steampunk is, a marriage of Inventions particularly from the 18^th century, Victorian era costumes and lifestyle to the inventive genius of people like Jules Vern and such inventors as Thomas Blanchard (the steam engine) and invention of the sewing machine and Singers revolutionizing the industry by selling their machines all over the world. Since I love learning about various inventions and how they came about and finding out the tie in with the phenomenon of Steam Punk it was a most enjoyable morning. It was all a nice tie in since Idaho is the first location for the creation of Useful nuclear energy, over 50 nuclear reactors were built in Idaho during the testing phase.

how is this for a Steampunk outfit?

what a fun and interesting exhibit

an original 1777 13 star flag

the Singer sewing company had postcards made
showing every country in the world using a Singer Sewing Machine

this is the first time this special exhibit has been on display
Steampunk explored

Rigby Idaho

Later in the afternoon, I got back to the small town of Rigby Idaho where I went to a second museum called the “Farnsworth TV and Pioneer Museum”. Philo T. Farnsworth was the inventor of the Tv Tube making the Tv possible. He came up with the idea while still in high-school and even presented a diagram explaining his ideas. The teacher was not able to totally comprehend what he was telling him but encouraged him to continue with the invention. I believe it was Motorola who tried to claim the idea and patent it later on. The teacher was able to step in, present the diagrams that Farnsworth created back in high-school, proving he was the first to invent the Tv Tube concept and won the patent.

remember when blond Tv's furniture
was all the rage

this was my favorite quilt on display

Philo T. Farnsworth tucked in between the quilt display

all of the TV items tucked inside of a small room

Philo T. Farnsworth 1st presented his idea for a TV
in highschool

would be nice if a special museum was dedicated
to Philo T. Farnsworth

a great display of old chainsaws

Plans were drawn up to build a museum to celebrate the invention of the Tv and Farnsworth’s contributions, but those plans have lingered and most of the artifacts are housed along with the more prosaic “Pioneer Museum” exhibits. Something you can see in just about any small town America across the country. For now, most of the Farnsworth display items are crammed into a room, behind a window for viewing purposes.

Another stop one day back in Idaho Falls was to their Art Museum. A very small museum, not even worth the few dollars entry fee. They had two local artists in the two and only galleries and a hallway. Both artists although they had extensive schooling and training under top artists, I didn’t think their art was particularly good. A number of their paintings were even On-Sale…. Was I in an art museum or art gallery.

I’ve enjoyed by stay at this county park and lake which is very popular with the locals for swimming and paddling around on the small man made lake. A quick stop at the dermatologist in town where I was fortunate to be able to get an appointment due to a cancellation. I have a small spot on my face that has not cleared up and since I’ve had multiple cancers removed, I needed to have it checked out. Fortunately it was a small infection, no cancer cells. Topical medication will take care of it.

Jefferson County Lake Campground

the park has a really nice mile long walk around the lake

very popular swimming and boating
with the locals

And finally the little town of Rigby is having a parade and rodeo this weekend. The parade was unusually quiet to begin with, no horns blowing, no loud speakers announcing the various floats and bands going on by. I was terribly concerned that a number of the floats being pulled by trucks as they had runners going between the float and truck to get candy to throw out to the kids on the side lines. Kept picturing one of the runners stumbling and getting caught under the float.