Arco, ID - an interesting nuclear history

So thanks to my iPhone not resetting to Mountain time (this is now our 7th time zone change since parts of Arizona are on Mountain time and other parts are in Pacific time) we left camp an hour later than I wanted.  But the two hour drive up from Wendell and the "big man" was a nice one - nice clear roads and we drove through Craters of the Moon (where we will hike around tomorrow).  Pretty interesting views  but we wanted to settle in at camp and by 11:00 we were ready to explore Arco.  It was a good call to come up here to camp - we essentially made our "day trip" this morning and we're now 2 hours closer to Yellowstone.  It also doesn't hurt that this is a nice little campground with a nice elderly couple that welcomed us with open arms.  And not once did they mention the rules...

The "sail" portion of the USS Hawkbill -
the nuclear reactors for this sub were built in Arco, ID

Arco's claim to fame is that it is the first town in the United States to ever be powered by nuclear energy.  The army and it's engineers were developing nuclear power just outside of town and for 45 minutes in 1951, Arco was powered by that reactor.  Turns out the Army engineers weren't quite up to the task and 3 of them were killed shortly after the reactor went live.  One of them was actually impaled by one of the fuel rods.  So that reactor was dismantled and as we learned from a Navy veteran that ran the museum in town, Arco (and the Idaho National Laboratory) became a training facility for the Navy and it's growing fleet of nuclear powered submarines and air craft carriers.  Reactors for those vessels were built here and Navy seamen were trained here.

It was remarkable to listen to Harvey, a native of Pennsylvania, as he told the story.  He had served on nuclear submarines and one of the more interesting bits of information that he shared was the reason for the Navy turning to nuclear power in the first place.  It came down to refueling.  To refuel a diesel powered ship is a logistical nightmare so the extended range of any ship that is powered by nuclear energy made it an asset in warfare.  I have to say, it was neat to listen to Harvey.  This was a man who served his country and he wanted to be part of telling the story of nuclear power and the Navy in Arco.  He now lives on 40 acres behind the museum and at one point bred Appaloosa horses there - two of which competed at a very high level in international competition.

So today was a pretty casual day - we biked together for 4 miles going into town and learning about nuclear submarines in Idaho.  After that, the kids got some more pool time, Mommy did laundry (Mommy seems to draw the short straw on some of these deals) and Daddy biked around these mountains to explore a little.  I'm still adjusting to the sense of space and distance out here.  I covered 20 miles today and whenever I estimated the distance between where I was and a point in the distance, I was always woefully short.  My goal was to get to a place called Natural Arch.  I never got there and I'm still wondering why they don't put the mileage on their signs...  I rode down that road to the left of the sign all the way to the mountain range in the distance but never did find it.  Had I not run out of water, I may have put in a few more miles to get there, but I thought it wiser to get back to camp.  Maybe tomorrow...

I thought you might want to see how Annalise approaches downhills on her bike so below is a short 30 second clip.  You'll see why we have been seeking out level ground for her.

Cautious Annalise

Our view from around the campfire