Left home 10:00 am, 60 degrees, tolls paid: Il. =$17, IN =$12, OH =$3.75, so far.
I hit a lot of construction and traffic in Illinois, Chicago’ loop was a mess at noon on a Saturday. Once Out of IL, traffic was light with rain, cold 50s temps through Indiana and into Ohio. I stayed at a slightly shabby (but not cheap) hotel in Toledo. I ate some food I brought from home and went to bed early.
I am leaving tomorrow morning, so I’m doing a lot of last minute stuff today. I decided not to use my trailer hitch carrier this year, as I anticipate a lot of traffic…there will not too many open prairies or mountain Forest Service roads out east. That means carrying a few less items and packing a bit more carefully, but I got it all in, even my $10 lawn chair! And, though it’s no big deal, today is my birthday. Age? let’s just say that I was born in the first five months of the “Baby Boom”. I will post in a few days and report my progress. First night in Toledo, OH, second night in Buffalo, NY. Boston in 4-5 days from home. Lobster dinner!
(write your own caption)
I spent today unpacking and sorting out the many items that I either took along or accumulated on the trip. I also ran my friend of 7 ½ years, Kia, through a “deluxe super-duper” car wash, as she deserves nothing but the best. After the faithful service of 6,650 miles on Interstates, two-lanes, one-lanes, gravel, and mud, while serving as my bedroom for eleven nights, Kia never missed a beat. She is now looking pretty good for her age and over 111,000 miles. I will do a full detailing when it cools off a bit.
Misc. trip notes:
1. I am “pass-ed out”. I went over 11 mountain passes, many more than once, for a total of 20 crossings. I also drove to the top of one mountain: Mount Walker in Washington’s Olympia National Forest.
2. I slept in one Wal-Mart parking lot, one Oregon State Park, one city park, one American Indian Reservation camp, seven NFS or NP camps, and one camp owned by Warren Buffet. I enjoyed every one.
3. I also slept in 17 different motels for a total of 24 nights. I enjoyed some of them, too. I was burned by the rate increases over this year’s long week of the 4th of July…some of these so-called “budget” places raised their rates by $20, $30, $40, or more. Supply and demand, I guess.
4. I burned 360 gallons of gas ($1,300+) and got 18.5 miles per gallon in 6,650 miles. That’s less than last year’s 21.3 mpg, I suspect due to high altitudes and heavy winds. The state of Washington was over $4 per gallon for most of my visit. I paid anywhere from $3.24 to $4.19 on the trip.
5. I ate anything I wanted; fast food, fat food, and a bunch of motel donuts, but I did not gain a single pound! I guess that old saying that calories do not count on vacation is true!
6. I exceeded my self-imposed budget by about $1 a day.
Now it’s recovery time, with laundry, grocery shopping, and lots of neglected Yellowstone Trail Association duties.
Thanks for “riding along”…I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know at mmowbray@yellowstonetrail.org
Mark
I left that sleazy motel in St. Paul at 6:15 a.m. and hurried over the St. Croix River on I-94 into my home state of Wisconsin, where I stopped in Hudson, a key YT town, for a donut and coffee…well, 2 donuts actually, as they were on sale. (good excuse, huh?)
It was a glorious day, cool and sunny, so I followed the Yellowstone Trail / US 12 route from Hudson to Menomonie, also on the YT and home of my Alma Mater, UW-Stout. I spent about an hour there in Wakanda Park, on the lake and in the shade. Very nice.
There I sorted through all of the “stuff” (booklets, maps, brochures, etc.) that I had collected on my trip, and also dug out the 110 pages of Washington draft maps so I could loan a lot of that “stuff” to John (President) and Alice (Secretary) of the Yellowstone Trail Association. They live in the Eau Claire area, my next stop. They are the “Founding Godparents” of our modern day Association, and they will use those materials to supplement their vast research of the YT.
We had a fine visit…4 ½ hours…talking about my adventures, looking at the maps at some surprising “lost” parts of the YT that I “found”, and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit, and I am sure that they did too.
But, home beckoned me, so it was back on I-94 towards Janesville. Traffic was a bit heavy from about Tomah to my exit, where the temperature had dropped to only 88 degrees.
Everything was just as I left it at home, so I kicked on the A/C and unpacked a few things. Tomorrow I will get everything sorted out, get some groceries and Sunday papers, and try to shed this “road trip mode” I am in…I am so used to hitting the road every morning…it will take a few days to get used to being back in the real world. I’m not really sure that I want to though, as I had a very good time on this trip and I will miss the adventure and fun.
I’ll post a trip summary soon.
Day 35 – July 6 Long Drive, Rain Like Car Wash, Then Hot
I woke in the dark, had a coffee and donut, and left Bismarck in the rain at 5:30 am. I hit some areas where it seemed like hurricane conditions…almost a white-out of rain and wind across North Dakota and into Minnesota. (OK, I bootlegged that photo, there are not really palm trees in Fargo {:>) )
I was following the storm that was also moving east, sometimes driving out from under it. By central MN, I left it completely and instead, found myself in very heavy Friday afternoon traffic.
It was in the upper 90s when I finally got to St. Paul after 460 miles today. I checked into a fleabag motel and watched the storm catch up to me.
Early to bed…and looking forward to being back home in Wisconsin tomorrow with lower temps predicted.
I pulled out of Forsyth, MT this morning at 9:30 and pounded eastbound on I-90. My intention was to go 200 or so miles to Mandan, ND and camp again with the wild horses and prairie dogs at the Teddy Roosevelt Nat’l Park.
I have already explored the YT in eastern Montana, both last year and last month, so it was Interstate time. I drove past Fallon, where I waved good-by to the Yellowstone Trail, as it wanders southeast from there through Ismay (sometimes known as Joe) Montana and on to the Dakotas.
From Wikipedia: Ismay is a town in Custer County, Montana. The population was 19 at the 2010 census. As a publicity stunt coordinated by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993, the town unofficially took the name of Joe, Montana, after the NFL quarterback Joe Montana.
By the time I got to Mandan, it was very windy and black clouds were rolling in. A quick check of the weather forecast and radar on my ‘droid phone told me to forget camping…severe storms and lightning coming. May as well keep driving, so I did.
Somewhere in North Dakota, during a break in the windy, rainy, and boring ride, I came across a statue of the “World’s Largest Prairie Chicken”. Really…I even took a photo of it (see above).
Off and on rain brought me to Bismarck after 330 miles, to a nicely remodeled motel that I reserved earlier from Mandan. It’s super.
I’m pretty burned out after 34 days, so I will do long drives for the next few days…hopefully getting home after the heat wave breaks (it was 104 there today, only 88 here).
St. Paul, MN tomorrow, 440 miles away.
Most of central and eastern Montana, and a lot of other areas of the country, are designated Red Flag Fire Danger areas. Camp fires, BBQs, and fireworks are banned. Local fireworks shows are usually produced with or by the Fire Departments, but are cancelled or postponed this year. Thus, no fireworks for me…but I did see a parade, a really little one.
My day started in Livingston with clear skies and forecast of HOT. I had a brief setback when I discovered, after I had checked out of the motel, that I had lost the memory card for my camera. I had it in my room to download pix to my laptop last night. Long story short, the desk clerk let me back into my (former) room and I found that I had dropped it under the desk chair. Was that caused by the full moon???
Even though I could not get a ticket to the rodeo last night, I drove past the rodeo grounds this morning anyway. The contestants are still there for tonight’s show, which I will miss. It was pretty quiet, with the horses and calves resting, but I saw a neat Model T with flags on cruising past. I tried to follow him, but traffic made it hard to catch him, so when he pulled into the parking entrance of the wonderfully restored former Northern Pacific Railroad Depot, I quickly parked. I had a long and enjoyable visit with the old timers (the guy and the car); he’s a local fella who has two Model Ts and has helped restore many others over the years, and I took some pix.
After he left, I toured the Livingston Depot Center Museum…very, very nice. One thing I noticed was that the “Smoking Room” (now a place to watch a DVD of rail travel in the good old days) was a place for the bigwigs to have a cigar while waiting for their train way back when. That is not politically correct today, of course, and smoking is forbidden. I’m a smoker, and I wish a few places treated me the way they did those bigwigs. One other thing that struck me was the fact that the Women’s Rest Room is located off the Smoking Room, while the Men’s Room is located off the area that was, and is labeled as Women’s Lounge (now gift shop) at the other end of the depot. Hmmm. What’s that about?
I then made a stop at the newly, and very well-restored Yellowstone Gateway Museum where visited with Paul, who I had also visited a month ago on my way west.
Man-o-man, I spent the entire morning touring the town, but now it was time to hit the road for a 230 mile jaunt. I-90 took me past Laurel, Billings, and a few other towns I have visited and mapped in the past. I stopped into a Rest Area on I-90 where I saw my first “Doggy Rest Area”, complete with a fire hydrant.
I remembered a really good burger and “buffalo chips” (spicy fries) I had with the Aussie guy last year in Custer, so I stopped in again. He said “you’re just in time, the parade starts in half an hour”. Who is he kidding…a parade in this tiny, dead little burg? Where is everybody? But, sure enough, some folks showed up in the bar parking lot and along the road, and they started the parade almost on time…with two Model T’s, two small wagon “floats”, a very well-trained horse team, a couple of little 4-wheel ATVs, and two small fire trucks. Seven or eight “units”…so the parade didn’t last very long…about 5 minutes! No band, as the Custer schools closed years ago. But hey, it’s 4th of July, they have lots of spirit, and I got to see a parade. By the way, the burger and buffalo chips were really good.
Then, it was off to Forsyth, one of my favorite stops in eastern Montana, for a restful night at the very well maintained, catchy-named, and historic Restwel Motel. Ask Diane or Dan why it’s historic.
It looks like a 200 miler to Theodore Roosevelt Nat’l Park tomorrow, with a forecast of “hot and nasty”.
My R&R in Missoula over, I worked my way east on I-90 for a while. Tonight is the full moon, and the license plate I saw this morning may be a warning to me.
I had read about the scenic Phillipsburg Alternate “loop” to Anaconda last year, so I decided to check it out. It is an easy and very nice ½ day drive, just west of Yellowstone Park, south through a long and flat river valley, then over the pass. But being flat was deceiving…the altitude here is over 5,000 feet, with the tallest of the mountains, Mt. Haugen at 10,800. That is different from where I live, with my home at 850 feet above sea level. It’s high country here, and hot today in the mid 80s.
Phillipsburg, known to everyone as “P-burg”, is a surprisingly well done tourist town, with many 1800s buildings re-done and a lack of tacky tourist trappings. Sure, there are shops, cafes, and bars but it is a clean and thriving little town and I enjoyed my visit a lot.
While walking around taking pics, I came across a small gem and mineral shop named the Sapphire Gallery that I would have normally walked past, but there in the window was something that said “this is a friendly shop with nice people”.
The sign said “PUBLIC REST ROOMS”. That is unusual, as most places try to chase away customers with a “no restrooms” sign. So I went in, was very impressed with the beautiful gems, minerals, rock carvings, jewelry, and antique oak furniture that occupy the three storefronts. I had a friendly chat with Cheryl and bought a small carved quartz bear with a fish in its mouth. Being customer-friendly will pay off for any business.
From P-Burg, MT Highway 1 (old Alternate US 10) climbs up Flint Creek pass to the Flint Creek Dam that creates the wonderful and surprisingly undeveloped Georgetown Lake. Note the different rock colors on my pic, this is quartz and flint country, very different ancient rock than other places I’ve visited, and stunning in its raw and sharp ruggedness. I was very pleased that I took the “loop” drive. Over the top brought me into clean and quiet Anaconda, once the largest, and roughest copper smelter town in the world.
http://philipsburgmt.com/ http://www.anacondamt.org/
Back on I-90 with heavy, for Montana, traffic. I bypassed Butte, an interesting town, built on the giant copper mines, that I explored last year. I then went east over the Pipestone Pass at the Continental Divide, elevation of 6,392. After a boring, but very windy ride, I came to Three Forks, where Lewis and Clark and their crew, with Sacajawea’s guidance, decided on their route west while they camped here. The highlights here are the Caboose Visitors Center, the very nice Heritage Museum, and the delightful 1800s Sacajawea Hotel, restored to its glory…I want to stay here for weeks because it’s is so authentic in the restoration that includes a relaxing Victorian bar and dining room. http://www.threeforksmontana.com/
A few sputters of rain cooled things off a bit as I cruised into Livingston, missing the big Rodeo Parade by one day, and finding tonight’s Rodeo sold out.
I have seen motel rates increase $30, $40, and more per night since last Friday began the 4th of July week…ouch. I bit the bullet and checked into one I had stayed at 3 weeks ago…at $30 more per night (!) than I paid then. Gas prices are down though…to $3.44. Last year I had a terrible time finding a place to stay over the 4th week, so I am playing it safe with advance reservations this year.
Some full moon craziness at the motel, but I locked myself in my room and hit the sack.
Tomorrow is the big day…God Bless America.
I have been on the road for one month as of today, so I am taking a day “off” and just messing around here…doing laundry, trimming my whiskers a bit, and washing the windows on the Kia…stuff like that. I took a short ride down the Bitterroot Valley this afternoon, mostly because it is such a beautiful day. And, I dropped a couple bucks at the “low prices” place, too.
The hotel window is wide open, and its 70+ degrees as I write this tonight. My one “Montana Steak Dinner” of the year is tonight…I’ll report in the am. *See update below.
1. This “Luxury King Suite”, the only choice offered with my big rewards discount, is still costing me $80/night w/tax. Sure is nice though.
2. I turned 5,000 miles for the trip today that includes almost 3,000 miles for the three weeks I spent in the state of Washington, where I verified and made notes on most of the 110 pages of draft YT maps. I’m still 1,700 miles from home if I was to drive straight through…but that’s not going to happen. I’m a wanderer with no deadlines.
3. I don’t want to figure out my daily spending average right now, probably a little over budget, but it doesn’t seem too bad. The terribly high gas prices in WA until recently were almost always over $4 a gallon, so my average is high even with a lot of nights of cheap (or free) camping. I “only” paid $3.44/gal today to fill up. Holy schmoly…I’m happy to pay that!!?? It looks like I am getting around 20 miles per gallon or so overall. (21.3 for trip last year)
4. The Kia has performed flawlessly, my internet enabled Verizon phone has also, so has my new camera, and my laptop (except for a fix I had to do because of the “bad” WIFI in that motel a few nights ago) also has been totally dependable. When my Garmin GPS died, I was only an hour drive from getting a free replacement at a Best Buy that I was driving by anyway. (wish me luck for the rest of the trip)
5. Driving has been pretty safe, and I only came upon one accident, four college age rodeo cowboys in a camper van highballing from Alaska to a Championship Rodeo (somewhere, I forgot to ask). They hit a deer in the dark. No injuries…but the deer is roadkill. The van is pretty bad, and will take a while to fix. Two of them were trying to hitchhike to Spokane Airport to make the big show. Unfortunately, I didn’t have room for them. I hope they made it.
6. I have no set plans from here. I will probably follow I-90 eastbound for some stretches, with favorite drives on the Yellowstone Trail along the way. Maybe I’ll visit with a few members along the way also. Freedom during Independence Day week, how appropriate.
*Update on steak dinner:
Do not always trust recommendations. A prominent restaraunt in Missoula is an expensive but very mediocre joint pretending to be a high class fine-dining establishment.
I had a halfway decent $15 worth of “8 ounce Filet Mignon” dinner, but unfortunately it cost me $32.28 and I left no tip…the waitress was as bad as the salad and the steak…the baked potato was OK.
Just about everything about the place is phony, and the people working there could not care less. Food quality and service are at greasy spoon level. It is Monday night, and they are not busy…there is no excuse.
Oh, how I long for a good old Wisconsin supper club.
NOTE: Full moon Alert for tomorrow.
Some internet work started my day in the Trail Motel with black clouds and drizzle outside, but about 10 am I left and took another slow tour of the Kellogg, Wallace, and Mullin area: places I explored pretty thoroughly last year. This is the heart of the historical mining district, with a history also of a 1910 forest fire, “The Big Blowup”, the largest and most destructive fire in US history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_1910
I then visited the ski resort up on Lookout Pass, a place I missed on previous trips, just to check it out. It’s an outstanding ski area, straddling the Continental Divide, with a ton of runs for skiers and snowboarders and a great chalet with everything you need. There I met Donna, who seemed to be in charge, and she was taking photos of a crane unloading new steel ski-lift components. We had a great chat…she’s originally from Dubuque, IA, a place I know well as it is only 90 miles from my home.
The next stop was the I-90 Rest Area on the summit, where the weather turned pleasant, and everyone was in a good mood and talkative, so I promoted the YT like crazy. One of the volunteers, serving free coffee and cookies, suggested that I stop at the Historic Savenac Tree Nursery and their displays. This is where the US Forest Service raised saplings to re-forest the Bitterroot Range after the “big burn” of 1910. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savenac_Nursery_Historic_District
Savenac is another place I skipped on previous trips, I suppose I was “saving” it for today. Good thing, as today Susi was working. She and her husband are teachers for the US Gov’t in Stuttgart, Germany and are spending the summer working here.
Her first words were: “we were just talking about the Yellowstone Trail yesterday, we want to travel it coast to coast in two years when we retire”. Well, that started an almost hour-long conversation that left us both happy: I shared maps with her, gave her some brochures, she now can explore the YT and I might have a new correspondent for the Arrow newsletter.
From there it was an easy roll into Missoula, by far the biggest city in western Montana, with 60,000 people, and home to the U of M.
I checked into a somewhat upscale hotel using a rewards certificate for a big discount…”King Suite” no less…for two nights of luxury lodging. A buffalo burger, onion rings, and a beer at a place down the road set me up for the night.
R & R tomorrow.
A quiet camp this morning greeted me with a few raindrops early and 65 degrees. By 7:30 I was heading towards Wilbur, with clouds breaking up and temps rising, through seemingly endless fields of wheat.
Not much to see or do in Wilbur that early, so I did my best Mr. Ed imitation…WILLLL-BURRR!…and wandered my way towards Davenport, locating some interesting sections of the old YT near US 2.
First stop in Davenport was at the Lincoln County Historical Museum where I met Tannis, the Director. She is familiar with the YT, has some of the Ridge’s YT books for sale, and wants to get more involved with us. We had a great visit, as no one else stopped there that early on a Saturday. She showed me what their website calls an “impressive display dealing with the outlaw, Harry Tracy”, one of the “Hole-in-the-Wall” gang along with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Old Harry was wanted for a number of murders in Montana but escaped to Washington, where he was wounded by the Sheriff of Lincoln County. Rather than face capture and a necktie party, “he shot himself dead” as the old cowboys put it.
www.davenportwa.org/businesses/lincolncountyhistoricalmuseum.html
I also stopped in at the Black Bear Motel and Cowboy Cafe, a very cool old cowboy style place that practically sits in the middle of the both the Sunset Highway (SH) and the Yellowstone Trail (YT). Kim, the owner, was out of town for the day, but make sure to stop and say hi to her for me when you visit Davenport.
And, visit her website…but beware of the bear: www.blackbearmotel.com/
The YT / SH road from here is old US 2, and is signed as the Sunset Highway, mostly well-preserved old ’50s concrete with its “thumpity-thump” signature ride. It jogs a bit but runs mostly parallel with current US 2 and joins up with it about 10 miles east. From there the YT / SH run straight into Spokane, but the route is quite confusing at the I-90 / Business 90 interchange. You’ll have to look for Sunset a bit north of there, and it is signed as Sunset Boulevard. It takes you to downtown over the same Sunset Boulevard Bridge I showed you three weeks ago when I came through Spokane heading west, and today I explored the old park under the west end of the bridge that was an Auto Camp way back when.
I was warned by a number of folks to avoid Spokane this weekend, as it is the site of this: “Hoopfest is the biggest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament on the planet. That means over 7,000 teams, 3,000 volunteers, 250,000 players and fans, 458 courts spanning 42 downtown city blocks, and that’s just on day one! Beyond basketball, though, Hoopfest is an outdoor festival chock full of shopping, food, interactive entertainment, and every year brings some thing new.”
Since I had already thoroughly explored Spokane three weeks ago, I blasted through town on I-90, made a few quick stops out near the Idaho State Line, and buzzed over 4th of July Pass to Kellogg, Idaho and the Trail Motel ($39.95 – all rooms)…a favorite stop for me.
Tomorrow, I visit the “richest silver mining district in the world”.
OK, right off I’ll tell you that the dam-ed big coulee I’m referring to is the Grand Coulee Dam, located 19 miles north of Wilbur, WA. When you compare the Grand Coulee to the Hoover Dam in Nevada, they each top the other in one statistic or another. Let’s agree that they are both “really big”, for many years the largest in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Coulee_Dam
I started the day in the great Coulee City Community Park, where the walleye fishermen were up early and on the water. I was up early too, with sunny skies and temps in the 70s, so I visited a few folks in town, took some photos, and started east.
Following the YT route, I visited Hartline, stopped in Almira and met a few friendly residents, and as I neared Wilbur, I saw the sign to Grand Coulee Dam -19 miles, decided on the spot that this is a must see, and drove up there. Before I could even see the dam, I could see Lake Roosevelt. Spring Canyon NFS camp, on the lake, caught my eye. This is 4th of July weekend, of course, and campsite and motel room vacancies are scarce. I drove in, found a nice site ($10/$5 for senior), and then went to the dam. Good move, as the camp was packed full by early evening.
Wow, the dam! It’s almost unbelievable in its size and the volume of water passing through. My photos do not do it justice. The construction of this monster, consisting actually of three independent power plants, was started in 1935 and making electricity by 1949, but was not fully completed and commissioned until 1955 due to the massive earthmoving and concrete pouring required and delays caused by the manpower and material shortages of WW II. It is surely powering my laptop and the motel lights as I write this, with cheap and dependable electricity.
My campsite was pretty nice, with an assortment of neighbors, some of them Ukrainian families celebrating the 4th of July. They moved here because of the wheat farming industry and who appear to be doing very well in this land of freedom and opportunity. That’s what Independence Day is all about.
The guy with the big travel trailer running two generators was not my friend though. From about five pm until lights out quiet hours at ten pm (that’s the NFS rule, when it finally does get dark), he had them roaring. I suppose he needed those loud and irritating generators to have all the lights in the trailer on, his microwave oven, his wife’s hairdryer, and big screen TV…plus his satellite dish. Oh, and the twinkling fairy lights, in broad daylight, that hung all over the awning. Stay home next time buddy, then you won’t need two generators.
Tomorrow will complete my three week “voyage of discovery” of the fine state of Washington.
After a night in a motel with a messed-up WIFI signal, I was up early and bailed out of there first thing to the nearest McD’s, where I was able to post yesterday’s blog. I then left town on US 2 northeastward, first to Orono, on the river, with scattered orchards where water can be pumped for irrigation.
Then it was up out of the Wenatchee Valley on a newly resurfaced US 2 to Waterville, a very neat town where they were painting new stripes on all their new main streets, another improvement. (I think the “Shockers” on the sign refers to wheat shocks, as wheat is king here). This is a great little town; the Museum is very well organized (ask about the meteorite), there is a beautiful park, and many old buildings are re-purposed. The Waterville Hotel is alive and well also…thanks to partners Amy and Dave. You may recall my buddy Jim visiting them on his bike ride two years ago. Amy and Dave are avid “boosters” of Waterville and have also been supportive of the Yellowstone Trail for some time. They feature a YT pennant and large YT poster at their B & B guests entrance, and sell John and Alice’s books (also available at www.yellowstonetrail.org). I gave them a YT window sticker and some of our pamphlets and we had a nice, but brief, visit, as they were leaving on another of their projects. I’ll write more about Waterville in a future Arrow, and I hope to be further developing our relationship with the folks there soon.
I then cruised through Douglas, which was closed…well the one business; the General Store that’s still there was closed today.
Then, because our friend Dave helped me make notes on my maps the other day, I found some very, very interesting sections of the old US 2 route that wander through the sagebrush in Moses Coulee. The coulee is over three miles wide down in the flat section, with very high and sheer basalt rock bluffs running along each side. I should note here that a coulee is a large ravine, or valley dug out millions of years ago by flood water from melting Ice Age glaciers, and this one is many, many miles long.
Most of the old US 2 asphalt is still intact, but with a lot of sagebrush growing alongside and right up through some of the cracks in the asphalt. You would never, ever guess that old road was even there, as you can see but a few patches from modern US 2. I was able to follow bits and pieces of it, or at least see it in many places, from above the eastern edge of the Moses Coulee most of the way across the coulee flat. From about the center of the coulee, I was able to drive the entire length of the road from there up and over the western plateau…what a cool ride. You can easily drive it today at 35 miles an hour. I found one sign from the old days advertising the bank in Waterville. There is absolutely nothing else there but the road itself. There are still white or yellow center lines showing on the old asphalt and it is very much like being in some movie about the future where people and cars no longer exist, and roads are no longer needed. Cue up the theme from Twilight Zone.
I then cruised easily, with the A/C on in the 85 degree sun, over to Coulee City, in yet another “dam-ed” coulee, Dry Falls. This one is flooded with diverted water from the Columbia River to the north for irrigation. “Water is life” goes the old saying, and it is evident here, because where there is no water, it looks like an old western movie set…sagebrush, desolate, and mostly dead. This time, cue up some Bonanza music.
Coulee City is a pleasant old town with some of the buildings rejuvenated and a fine city park that has a large boat launch and an excellent campground. There I spent the night with a light breeze, shade, and a lot of fishermen with their boats, and a few families. Walleye are the target here, and the guys were bringing in some nice ones. I talked to one guy for a long time and hinted that I wouldn’t mind a few hours on the lake in the morning…but he never took my hints…he took his stylish German Shorthaired Pointer instead. Imagine that, taking your bird dog fishing.
Tomorrow, the biggest coulee of them all.
After I left Dave yesterday, I took US 97 back north over the modern Blewett Pass route (where trucks still blast past you) and took a side trip, first to Leavenworth; a small community in the Cascade foothills that was struggling in the ‘70s so survive. They decided to re-invent the town as a Bavarian Alps village, as the geography here looks amazingly like the Alps. All of the businesses now have been made over into chalet style stores, restaurants, and gift shops, but I question the authenticity of German sushi that I saw advertised on a sign. Local workers dress in old style “costumes and it really does “feel” like you are in the Alps…and of course skiing is a big deal up on Stevens Pass to the west, with a number of fine resorts. I’m not much for “touristy” places, the town was full of visitors, and I was unable to find a motel, so I drove up to Stevens Pass to look around. I had a great time skiing here about 40 years ago, but nothing was open today…not even a coffee place (which is unheard of in Washington’s “coffee culture”. It was raining, foggy, and 42 degrees so I turned back towards the east and came upon a very nice “travelers rest” stop. A large, lighted parking area, with heated, very clean, and spacious bathrooms (even hot water!) made this my home for the night. I munched on a sandwich while checking my e-mails and the ‘net headlines on my phone, read for a while, and slept like a 66 year old baby in my Korean chalet. After about 10 pm, I was the only vehicle there and was undisturbed. In the morning I made coffee in the cozy and warm bathroom (it was only 38 degrees outside) and hit the road in absolutely clear, sunny skies.
It was warming up quickly and a gorgeous day, and that “something missing” thing from yesterday told me to go back to Blewett Pass and re-drive it…and I am tickled that I did. I took the north-to-south path of the old road today, windows open, scent of pines in the air, and vistas of this “alpine” area jeweled with wildflowers. It was70 degrees at 9 am. Old Blewett Pass is now on my “Top 5 great US drives” list.
From there I headed along the YT route through the apple and cherry orchards of Dryden, Cashmere, and into the big city of Wenatchee, the Apple Capitol of the World. Found a motel, drove the (confusing) early YT route through town, and stopped to give the Kia a treat…oil & lube with a tire rotation. Dinner at Denny’s next door to the motel set me up, but then I spent two hours trying to connect to the internet, so no posts tonight.
(note: posted from McD’s in the morning)
