Immediately after the Southwest Roadrunner’s Leisure Travel Van (LTV) rally in Reno, Nevada we started our LTV caravan tour of Idaho. Our itinerary for this years caravan tour started in Reno with a 4 hour drive to Wells, Nevada. This years caravan had 12 Leisure Travel Vans, including ours.

Our itinerary for the tour of Idaho was planned to be a 17 night/18 day adventure. We will visit Hagerman/Twin Falls; Glenns Ferry/Three Islands State Park; Boise; Cascade; McCall; Lewiston/Hells Gate State Park; Lake Coeur d’Alene/Heyburn State Park; Hamilton, Montana; Stanley/Sawtooth Mountains; Arco/Craters of the Moon National Monument; and American Falls, Idaho.

Wells, Nevada

Twin Falls, Idaho

Our first stop in southern Idaho was at the Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls and Hagerman, Idaho. The water was low for this time of year, (May) but still beautiful.

Hagerman, Idaho

Pics from the Road in Idaho

Boise, Idaho

Cascade, Idaho

We lost the latch in the door to our LTV while we were in Reno just before we left for this trip. Not a show stopper, the deadbolt still worked so we continued on with our caravan tour of Idaho as planned.

However, on the highway between Twin Falls and Hagerman, Idaho the house door started rattling and shaking as we were going down the road to the point that I thought we might lose the door. So I strapped the door in place with a strong tie down strap that Tai, another LTV owner on the tour had given me. After talking to Leisure Travel Vans in Canada and calling around to local RV dealers in the area as we were traveling, I found out that the entire door lock would have to be replaced and no one had one available.

I finally found the lock I needed on Amazon and made arrangements for it to be shipped to McCall. Idaho to the RV park we were going to be staying at a few days later. But in Boise after texting a picture to various repair shops, I found a dealer about 10 miles from the High Valley RV Park where we were staying that had the lock assembly in stock. On our way to our next stop in Cascade we stopped and bought the lock assembly and cancelled the Amazon order, thinking “a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.”

One of the benefits of traveling with other LTV owners is that when things don’t go as planned there are people who can help solve the many challenges that can occur while we are on the road.

On our Alaska caravan in 2018, one of our solar panels on the roof caught on fire. There were ten LTV owners also in our caravan who came running to help us with this problem.

McCall, Idaho

Of the 12 couples that joined us on this years caravan tour, 6 couples were with us on last years tour of southern Arizona. The southern Arizona tour lasted 12 nights and covered all of southern Arizona south of Tucson.

Hells Gate State Park, Lewiston, Idaho

Heyburn State Park, Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Hamilton, Montana

In order to travel to the Sawtooth Mountains from the Lake Coeur d’Alene area we had to take interstate 90 east through Montana. There were mountains in our way that we had to go around since our LTVs don’t have wings.

Custer City, Idaho – Ghost Town.

We took a side trip to see a ghost town called Custer City. It’s the ruins of an abandoned mining town from the 1800’s. There are volunteers there dressed in the clothing worn by the long gone residence of the town who will answer any questions about the people who once lived here.

If you ever find yourself driving through the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, I highly recommend stopping here at Custer City. It requires driving on a dirt road for a few miles, but definitely worth it. There’s a lot of sad stories here at Custer, stories of how the people lived in this harsh environment and also how they died. Most died from the extreme harsh winters, the town was completely isolated and cut off from the outside world for several months each year. Its amazing what people are willing to do, especially in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries for the hope of sticking it rich.

When driving the road to Custer, it will also take you back in time in an area that still bears the scars from over 200 years ago when the miners used large water cannons to blast away the sides of the mountains looking for gold. You can see large piles of gravel on each side of the road from these water cannons.

Stanley, Idaho – Sawtooth Mountains

Arco, Idaho – Craters of the Moon National Monument

On our way to Arco, Idaho we stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Craters of the Moon is all about the volcano activity here in Idaho. Interesting place that reminded me a lot of Big Island, Hawaii.

Pics from the Road in Idaho

American Falls, Idaho.

After our 18 day trip through Idaho ended, the next day MaryAnn and I continued traveling with two other LTV owners to the Grand Teton National Park and beyond. Stay tuned to see what happens in our next post as we continue our Summer Road trip 2022…