Boise, Idaho. Motel 6

    The drive to Boise along the Salmon River looked just as beautiful in the summer of 2006 as it did in 1974 when we drove from Glacier and Banff to visit Uncle Bud and Aunt Margie.  The road runs right along the river with many beautiful view and pretty resort areas.  It was very winding and went over several small summits and each time we went up the terrain changed from woods, to rocks, to desert.  We stopped for lunch at a wayside rest where I got such a kick out of the sign that pointed to a snake area to walk your pets.  I forget that we are in snake country here, although they are probably less of a hazard than the grizzlies at the waysides in Alaska.  Haha.
     As we got into Boise we started looking for a motel to stay for a couple days while we visited Rick's relatives.  We drove to the area near the airport where there were quite a few motels, but found right away that they were very busy and full.  After driving into and navigating three motel parking lots we finally found a room at a Motel 6.  It does not have much to offer - shelves rather than a dresser, no coffee, shampoo, or hair dryer.  But it is clean, has decent beds AND air conditioning.  The office manager was not thrilled to have us parking the RV in the lot, but did work out a place for us to leave the trailer.  Uncle Bud is calling around to find someone to look at our air conditioner.  I am sure that there is something wrong with it since it just doesn't seem to be able to cool the RV down much at all.  Certainly not cool enough to sleep well when the temps are in the 100's.
     After settling into our bare bones room (not nearly as nice as the RV) we went out to a Pub for dinner.  This is the first meal we have eaten out since we were in Skagway.  It was nice to have someone else cook and be waited on!

     Boise has grown a lot since were were here in 1974.  It went from a town of 55,000 to one of 250,000.  The town looks nicer with fewer junky businesses.  Now there are many nice houses on the west end and in the foothills.  Unfortunately, it has been over 100 for six days and will continue to be hot.  The motel parking lot is so hot that the chock under our wheels is stuck into the pavement already.