Tales from a Traveling Innovator, Tuesday, July 3

The following entries are a collection of some notes from my drive from Chicago to Boise...

Usually my rule about driving (and life for that matter) is that you don’t turn back. But this afternoon, we made an exception – and I’m sure glad we did.

After seeing all these towns along I-84 with the name “Falls”, we kept wondering why we saw no water falls. Where are the falls?

So at the Sinclair gas station we asked, and they said there was an incredible view in Twin Falls, just off the interstate. So we backtracked about 10 miles to discover the gorgeous Snake River Canyon.

We came upon the Perrine Bridge, which the only manmade structure in the US from which BASE jumping is allowed year-round without a permit. And just as we arrived, five jumping enthusiasts were preparing. They set up sort of a diving board over the side of the bridge (which they called Potato Bridge). Then, just literally jump off. With our amateur camera, we captured the few seconds as best we could. Read more about BASE jumping, including what B-A-S-E stands for, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASE_jumping

Now, as Paul Harvey says……here’s the rest of the story.

To the east, along the south rim of the canyon, lies the dirt ramp used by Evel Knievel when he unsuccessfully attempted to jump the canyon on his motorcycle in 1974. If this brought back some great memories, then click http://www.evelknievel.com/bio.html