Idaho: Boise to Chubbuck, via the Moon.

I woke up in my friend, Cheryl's comfortable guest room bed in their super-quiet neighborhood.

I had my coffee and we chatted about life as she ate her breakfast. I never got to see her husband, Chuck, who was always out on long walks, basically keeping their dog, Rigby, away from River while we were there.

After a quick shower, I left for the Dojo to teach Amazing. Boise was one of the communities that contributed to the co-creation of the routine. We did the song that ended up being the opener of the routine: Calling All Angels.

The class went smashingly and we stuck around in The Dojo for several hours afterward, talking about Nia and life and the Amazing routine and stuff. This will be my last visit to the Dojo, where I've enjoyed teaching several times in the past. But Britta Von Tagen, who owns it, is shutting it down in August. I hope she quickly comes up with another place to house her Nia business, so I can come back and teach Orchestra when I pass through Boise again in late September.

River sat quietly in his cage as we did class and chatted afterwards. So as a reward, I stopped at the first rest area I came across heading out of Boise. I found a nice big green patch of freshly watered grass and put River on a 50 foot leash. He ran around at top speed for several minutes, passing by me at most of the time, but once in a while, crashing right into me at breakneck speed.

Eventually, he slowed down and rolled around, massaging his back in the grass. Then we sat in a shady spot in the grass and enjoyed the breeze and the sound it made rustling the leaves.

Back on the highway, I was struck by a lot of amber. It seemed a bit early in the season, but undeniably, the ground cover was dead and brown through most of eastern Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

But things changed when I got to Craters of the Moon National Monument.

I was climbing in altitude and I believe I was well over a mile high when I started noticing the rolling hills were being more and more dominated by lava rock. I found it quite beautiful, but I don't like any of the pictures I got of it.

I tried at one point to get out of the car and take a video, but again, I'm feeling that the scale of the actual place is hard to capture in such a small frame. Something wonderful about it is not coming through in the photos.

It was $10 to get into the park (free with my pass). There's camping there, and a small driving tour through the lava beds. But the bulk of the park, the stuff that would be the most fun, I couldn't do because no pets were allowed. There were several spots to climb on the giant lava deposits and even some rickety stairs heading up the mountain. It's exactly the kind of interaction I love to have with parks, but I couldn't enjoy it knowing River was in the car, dying.

So even though it added about two hours to my commute today, I only stayed for about ten minutes. Still, I think it was worth it.

It was another couple of hours to my final destination in Chubbock, Idaho. In case you don't know where that is, I'll tell you it's right next to Pocatello, so that should clear things up.

I got to the motel room and fed River in the grassy area outside. Then, I ordered up a free pizza. I have earned enough points with Domino's that I got a free pie today. This is the third time in a row that I've gotten a strange look from the delivery person when I gave them a tip.  Like... am I the only one that tips pizza delivery guys?