Started our drive back home. Smoke is worse in Utah as compared to Wyoming. We put the Bioweapon Defense Mode on. It stopped us from coughing. The smoke from the fires in California, Oregon and Washington are drifting east.
"Despite its dramatic name, Bioweapon Defense Mode will protect occupants from a variety of more mundane dangers as well. It’s designed to filter out all sorts of hazardous particles in the air, including exhaust fumes, smoke, allergens, airborne pathogens, and anything else potentially dangerous out there.
This lung-protection capability is thanks to a HEPA air filter and some clever HVAC work.
HEPA, short for High Efficiency Particulate Air is a standard for air filters developed by the United States Department of Energy. In order to meet the standard, a filter must be able to stop 99.97% of particles 0.3 micrometers in diameter.
For an idea of just how small that is, human hair can have a diameter of anywhere between 17 and 181 micrometers. A piece of paper might be anywhere between 70 and 180 micrometers thick.
If the HEPA Air filter stops 99.97% of all particles 0.3 micrometers thick it’s nearly guaranteed to stop all incoming larger particles like dust, smoke, and fumes. The filter is 100 times more effective than premium automotive filters, removing at least 99.97% of fine particulate matter and gaseous pollutants, as well as bacteria, viruses, pollen, and mold spores.”
The difference between a standard air filter and the HEPA filter is stark. Your lungs will notice a difference when driving through areas with poor air quality, like stop-and-go highway traffic, California wildfires, and smelly animal farms."
I love our Tesla!!
This will probably be the last post. You have already seen pictures from our house to Provo on the way up to Sun Valley.
With the colder temperatures at night, the trees and bushes are starting to change colors. It is so different from the leaves changing colors in New England.
The first clouds we have seen in two weeks.
For a short distance we went through the Targhee National Forest. Notice how the trees are all leaning. The wind coming through the canyon caused this.
"We drove through Afton, Wyoming with a population of 1,911. Afton is home to the world's largest arch made of elk antlers. Spanning 75 feet (23 m) across the four lanes of U.S. Highway 89, the arch consists of 3,011 elk antlers and weighs 15 tons.
The first settlement at Afton was made in 1885. The community takes its name from the River Afton, in Scotland.
Afton is the largest city in Star Valley, a grassland valley in forested mountains.
The town has a total area of 4.18 square miles (10.83 km2), all of it land.
A periodic spring is Afton's main water supply, which cycles on and off during the summer, fall, and winter at 12 to 18 minute intervals. During the spring the flow never stops due to increased water supply from the melting snow pack. At full flow the Intermittent Spring discharges up to 285 gallons per second. It is located 5 miles east of Afton, a short hike from the end of Swift Creek Road."
Miles and miles of nothing but grassland and cattle grazing.
We have no idea what this is but it is in Orem, Utah. It must be some type of mining.
"Deer Creek Reservoir. The Deer Creek Dam and Reservoir hydroelectric facilities are on the Provo River in western Wasatch County, Utah, about 16 miles northeast of Provo. The dam is a zoned earth fill structure 235 feet high with a crest length of 1,304 ft. The dam contains 2,810,000 cubic yards of material and forms a reservoir of 152,570 acre foot capacity. Construction began in May 1938 and was completed in 1941. The reservoir supplies water for agricultural, municipal and industrial use.
Recreational activities on and around the reservoir include boating, fishing, camping, swimming and water skiing."
Thanks for joining us on our trip to Sun Valley, Idaho and the Tetons of Wyoming!