August 8 - Back to the beginning

We woke to drizzle but it soon stopped and the wind died down. It was quite pleasant. I had discovered that Alison was an avid reader so we planned to give her a set of five books we had all read. (I was still busy finishing the fifth but had to concede defeat or we would not have left before noon) We continued south to Idaho Falls, where we had lunch and bought supplies. We could not find a book store, so I worried that Ant's reading frenzy would die off before we got him his next book. We arrived at Lava Hot Springs by mid afternoon - completing a two month circuit of the north west. It felt like being home. We were happy to see the familiar town and faces. After parking the camper I stayed in the car to call mom, while the boys hopped out to connect up the camper. I finished my conversation, got out the car and wondered why I could hear water flowing. We dashed into the camper to find we had a mini lake inside from front to back. At least they had levelled it well! The basin faucet had been left open that morning and when they had connected the water they had not noticed that the water started flowing. The plug was in the basin and as a result it had overflowed and flooded. It was a great chance to get the floors cleaned before Gran arrived. After loading up the burley we rode off to the laundromat. Those were the worst machines we have encountered all trip. Mike and Rob wallowed in a spring in the river - the water level had dropped a great deal and there was a nice rock pool to collect the hot water. After dark the town got real quiet, except for the freight trains passing by. The temperatures dropped considerably at night - goodbye summer!