THE THINGS YOU SEE ON THE ROAD – LITERALLY!
 |  |  |
Click on any photo in today’s blog to enlarge it.
We saw a lot of wildlife in Grand Teton Park, including several herds of bison that crossed the road whenever they felt like it. Heading back to our campsite one evening, we stopped to watch the herd migrate to the west. All of the sudden, one big bull decided to change course, coming right toward us. As he veered to the right, I hastily put up my window, then snapped a quick photo as he walked past. Man, that guy was HUGE!
This morning, we took off for Pocatello, looking forward to our first visit to Costco since we were in Minneapolis. Leaving the campground, driving north on a deserted, two lane road, we came over the crest of a hill and saw… WHAT?? It looked like a traffic jam, more people than we had seen in the past three days!
 |  |  |
We slowly rolled up behind the white horse trailer that was blocking our lane, wondering what the heck was going on. Everyone was carrying potatoes! Buckets of potatoes, sacks of potatoes, boxes of potatoes. When the horse trailer pulled away, Odel asked a woman standing in the road what was going on. Her response? “We’ve digging potatoes. Park that big RV and I’ll get you a bag!”
Of course, there was NO place to park Scoopy, so we smiled and declined, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. In a few quick steps, she was knocking on the door, handing up a bag with at least 20 pounds of fresh Idaho spuds!
 |  |  |
| Taking Delivery | Fresh dug, and covered in dirt. | Washed up and ready to cook! |
We’ve seen a lot of interesting sights in our travels, and met a lot of friendly people – but this was a first. We gave half a dozen taters to our neighbor here at tonight’s campground, who told us it is an Idaho tradition that locals go out to glean the potato fields after the mechanical harvest is complete – free spuds for all. We’ll be sharing them for days. Thanks, Idaho!
Posts
What a lovely tradition!
ReplyDeleteWe have some awesome friends who have a small ranch in Pocatello!! One of our kitties went to live with them when she became "naughty" about the litter box while we were traveling. We went out of our way to take her there becuz we knew it would be a great place for her. After coming to our house stray, she traveled with us to 37 states, some more than once, and died peacefully in her kitty tent we left for her there.
ReplyDeleteWish we were there to get some of those taters; to meet you guys and to see our friends again!!
I've been missing you!
For the first time ever, we planted Yukon Gold potatoes..and we have enjoyed having fresh potatoes for the past 4 weeks...Enjoy...there is NOTHING like a fresh Idaho potato!!
ReplyDeleteHow cool was that! Wish I were there right now! :)
ReplyDeleteFree potatoes! Amazing! Life is good...and exciting.
ReplyDeleteThe San Luis Valley part of Colorado,where we're from,is also known for their potatoes. They are fun to glean and properly stored will last a long time. Nothing like fresh cream potatoes and peas!
ReplyDeleteI love potatoes but we don't have them very often because Kelly says they will make us overweight. I am already overweight so what the heck!! I guess you guys got a good example of why Idaho is known for it's spuds alright. Looks like those mechanical spud pickers aren't too efficient either if there is that many people out there finding all those left over potatoes.
ReplyDeleteBison on the road is an exciting experience the first or second time it happens. Then it starts to become a nuisance. The potato sharing is a really nice tradition!
ReplyDeletereally neat concept there.. less waste more food.
ReplyDeleteGreat story about the potatoes! I would have loved to have been there. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! I've dug potatoes in Texas
ReplyDelete(family farm) and Alaska but I've never heard of this tradition before. Missed you the last few day -- glad for the post.
What a great story...spuds for all!
ReplyDeleteJust another great reason to be living this lifestyle. We learn something new everyday about different things in this country that we never had any idea happens.
Gleaning. Now there's a word you don't hear much anymore. I'm glad to know that tradition is still happening somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful tradition ... and so nice of them to share with you guys!
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool! I told my husband about the potatoes and now he wants some fried potatoes. LOL
ReplyDeleteGreat story about the potatoes! By the way, I went hiking the other day, and went by Lake Odell. Not spelled exactly right, but I wondered if it was any relation... :-))
ReplyDeleteWe had to stop on a backroad in the Tetons and wait for a few hundred buffalo to cross and your picture sure brought back a fond memory. We're enjoying your blog and are going to add it to our blogroll on our blog.
ReplyDeleteMissy and Roy Helton
rvtreks.com
What a neat tradition! It's always fun to happen upon something different. And this certainly falls into that category. Think of the great memory, and story, you will have every time you have a potato now.
ReplyDeleteI am a new lurker. I "found" you two days ago and saw your list of recipes (among other things) but I wanted to tell you I tried your Peanutty Chicken Stew. Talk about a hit! It is truly delicious. I passed it along to my two bachelor sons and they asked me to pass along any other such recipes I found. Thank you for posting!
ReplyDeleteEmjay