Yesterday I decided I wanted to go to Salmon, Idaho. Again. I didn’t stop when I rolled through there a few years ago. It deserved better than that. And my friend, Judy, had given high marks to a certain camping spot by the river. Salmon would be a bit much to drive all in one day from where I was. I could stop a place or two along the way.
I got out my atlases, fired up Google Maps and consulted FreeCampsites.net. Because free is better. Having a strong cell signal would also be nice. I discovered some promising spots north and south of Dillon, Montana, along the Big Hole and Beaverhead Rivers. I would enter the coordinates of the first location in my GPS in the morning.
But I didn’t. Because it was late and I was tired.
On the road, I remembered I hadn’t entered the coordinates, but I would enter them when I stopped for gas and a shower at a truck stop in Butte.
But I didn’t. I think the shower had washed the thought out of my head.
A few minutes south of Butte there was a rest stop. Just after I had passed the off ramp to it I thought, I could’ve pulled in there to enter the coordinates. I should do that soon so I don’t end up backtracking.
I drove on. There was a river off to the right, and a frontage road, and spots very much like what I’d seen in satellite views. My instincts told me I was getting close. “I really should pull off at the next exit, check the map and enter the coordinates.” So I did.
Well, it turned out to be the exact exit I needed. Go five miles down that road and turn left for a quarter mile. Bingo. Free campsite, on the river, plenty of space, far enough from highway noise, and with three bars of 4G. It couldn’t have worked better if I’d planned it.
Not my photo because it’s drizzly today
As my dad used to say A blind hog finds an acorn now and then. Excellent site.
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