Three trips down, just one to go. So I headed up the Sacajawea Historic Byway, and made my journey toward Salmon.
Just getting there was half the adventure. The Sacajawea Byway had all kinds of things to stop and see of historical significance for either Lewis and Clark's voyage into the new territory or the early settlement of the area.
There's a beautiful drive along the way and some interesting things to see. Including this all in one stop in Lemhi where you can send your mail at the post office, and do some wine tasting...just 20 feet away.
Driving in to Salmon, you can understand why it's an outdoor capital of the west. With mountains, rivers and forests nearby, it's a mecca for hunters, fisherman and anyone who enjoys the outdoors.
One Salmon resident of 40 years I spoke with, said that the only real cost, is the gas getting out here.
Val Johnson, Salmon Resident: "Once you make the expenditure of getting out here, the cost of doing what it is you would like to do in the outdoors is relatively inexpensive."
Obviously there are ways to spend more money. For example, if you wanted to take one of the guided whitewater river trips along one of the three rivers, it'll be a bit more costly, but there are cheaper alternatives.
Johnson: "You can put your inter tubes in the salmon river along the highway and that doesn't cost anything."
When you're in Salmon, check out Bertram's Brewery. There you can sample one, or all of the eight beers made in house. After lunch, try one of two different beer floats. Which are filled with ice cream, toppings, whipped cream and of course beer. Hazzlenut stout in one, and a sweeter huckleberry brew in the other. They might not sound too appetizing, but trust me, they are.
Another point of interest in Salmon is the 71-acre Sacajawea Center, located just two miles east of down town. Here you can learn all about the Shoshone Tribe that once lived near this land.
Among many of their various activities, the outdoor educational center, which teaches people how the natives lived off the land for clothing, shelter and tools. Which is important for people to learn where they came from.
Denyce Bigley, Outdoor Education Center: "Everybody had an ancestor that sat in front of a fire that tanned hides, that built brush shelters and learned how to make tools and useful items from stone and bone and things like that."
They also show how to make some of the food they ate, including a granola type dish, jerky and bitter root...which lived up to it's name.
The educational center also has a one to two week long outdoor adventure where you spend the entire time cut off from society, electronics and the rest of the outside world to live like the original natives.
And at just over 350 miles, make sure you have Salmon as a destination for your road trips this summer.
For more information on the town and things you can do in Salmon, go to the news links section of our website. If you'd like to revisit one of my trips, you can also do that on our website under the in depth section.
Well unfortunately, that was my last adventure for Rockies on a Tank of Gas, but I hope we showed you some places you could enjoy this summer. And if you go, I hope you have just as much fun as I did.