It was a great trip from Palm Desert to Edmonds, covering twenty three hundred miles and seven states, (Idaho twice, and somehow we missed Oregon). (States were CA, AZ, NV, UT, ID, MT, and WA)
First tourist stop was Moab Utah. A real neat resort town, populated almost exclusively by young virile outdoor types. Boaters, mountain bikers, hikers, four wheelers, and the like. We probably had 25 years on the oldest ones, but enjoyed their company anyway. So two days went by exploring Arches National Park, and four wheeling in the Colorado River canyons and up in the mountains.
See the cowardly lion from Oz
Four wheeling along the Colorado River
Arches National Park
More Arches National Park
Next, it was on to Salt Lake City, over a 7000 foot pass, with it snowing like mad. But our four wheel drive got us through in great shape.
Then we had to make a decision. Straight on to Seattle on I-84 and I-82, almost a straight shot, but boring. Or up to Butte MT on I-15 then to Seattle on I-90. So we chose I-15. But in checking the map, I noticed some back roads wandering up through central Idaho, the Salmon River country, and the River of No Return Wilderness. Eventually leading to I-90 and on to Seattle.
Well, having never been there, and remembering that Lewis and Clark got irretrievably lost in the same area, before being bailed out by Sacagawea, it seemed like a natural to explore, so off we went.
Well, the first afternoon went OK, except it was mostly desert, and we almost wandered into some restricted Atomic Energy installation. As it got later and later though, the roads got narrower and narrower, the towns got smaller and smaller, as well as farther apart.
We finally came to this almost abandoned mining town called Mackay, which claimed almost 500 inhabitants, if you also counted the four footed variety. And there was even one restaurant that was not boarded up and had the lights on.
Mackay Idaho
So we grabbed a luxurious two room suite in the best motel in town, and settled in. But not really. Yes it was the best motel, but also the only one. And it was more like a log cabin with two rooms, But the owners were friendly, (having not seen a tourist for days, it seemed), and the price was right.
A real "Ghost Town", for sure
But it really reminded me of the old “Tourist Cabins” which we used to stay at, for 50 cents per night, in the ‘30s, where my mom would swab the place down with Lysol, before letting us kids out of the car.
Then it was off to the eatery, the Miners Inn, which probably hadn’t seen a real miner for 50 years. Any way, the one woman running the place was the cook, waitress, bottle washer, and probably the janitor, but they weren’t overrun with business either.
The other diners, seeing our truck with WA plates, and knowing we were outsiders, plied us with questions, and we soon became fast friends.
Anyway, the food was surprisingly good, and after dinner, and just before it got dark, we made a four wheel tour of some old mines the customers had told us about. Very interesting.
Then back to the cabin to turn in. But guess what? The electric heat in one room wouldn’t turn on, and in the other room it wouldn’t turn off. We finally stabilized the place somewhat by judicious opening of windows and doors, and managed to get a fair night’s sleep.
Next morning it was up and away, and since the restaurant was closed, (I suppose that sole employee had to sleep sometime,) and it was sixty miles to the next town, we were a bit hungry when we got there.
Anyway, the scenery got better and better, but we were running out of towns, and road. Finally about 150 miles out, we were faced with a dilemma. We could either retrace our steps, back to Pocatello and I-15, or go for this line we saw on the map, across the Bitterroot mountains, over a 7200 foot pass, and into Montana. The same place, incidentally, where Lewis and Clark got into trouble over 200 years ago, and it didn’t look like much had changed.
So, you guessed what won out, and up the pass we went. Everything went kind of OK up to about 6000 feet, where it started snowing so hard we couldn’t see. The scenery, the road, or much else. We couldn’t even see the “Welcome to Montana” sign at the top, if there was one, but thanks to four wheel drive we made it. And a few miles down the Montana side, the sky cleared and the sun came out.
The Montana road eventually wandered on to Missoula, where we hooked up with I-90, and were on our way. And that night we splurged for a Real suite at the Hampton Inn in Spokane.
The rest of the trip was anticlimactic, and we pulled into Edmonds with the sun shining and the temperature in the high 60’s. Sure beat the heck out of flying, I guess!!
AND STILL MORE SOUTHWEST SCENERY
