May, 2011: On the Road Again, part 4

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Snoqualmie Pass

Headed East

Cousins Don & Hollie set up a gathering ("party", "BBQ", "cookout"). We had grilled burgers & dogs and much fellowship, meeting some "new" family members since the last time the Herd clan got together somewhat over 10 years ago.

We stayed overnight in Marysville and went to church again in Toppenish, after which we drove to Spokane and found a motel. On the way, in Ritzville, we stopped for supper and had a waitress who was, let's see, the granddaughter of Larry and June Kinney. Way back in about 1962 I rode to work with Larry. We were both on the night shift at Weyerhaeuser Mill "B" in Everett. (I hated that job, but that's OK, the boss didn't like me either!) Earned enough money that combined with a scholarship paid for a year of college. Not too long after that, Larry and June moved to a farm near Colville, up in the northeast corner of Washington, their kids grew up and had kids and one of them was our waitress. Both Larry and June passed away last year.

So now it was over the big hump to brother Rick's place, across the panhandle of Idaho and into Montana.

Because Spokane is already at an elevation of nearly 2000 feet, it doesn't seem all that far up MacDonald Pass whose highest point is over 6000 feet. (Snoqualmie Pass is only 3000 feet but you start from Seattle at sea level.)

Lake Coeur d'Alene ("Heart of the Lion" I think) at left is really beautiful. There are several good views of it from Interstate 90. I remember college days when classes or organizations from Whitworth would have retreats at the lake.

Montana really is "Big Sky" country!

We could tell when we were getting close to Rick's house. He lives on a pothole-strewn dirt road back about a mile into the woods. He collects and fixes up old equipment like harvesters and mine pumps. He loves steam power. When we saw an old threshing machine near the road we knew we were close.

They live in a lovely two-story octagonal house amid the pine trees. Pine beetles are killing the trees, and it's impossible to cut them down and burn them as fast as they're dying. About half of them are brown and dry as tinder. They're praying a forest fire doesn't start real soon as the only thing to do would be run like crazy. (Grab the family photos; everything else is insured!)

Seen at ND rest stop (Apparently, Roger Miller was right: You really can't roller skate in a buffalo herd!)

As you can see in the photo, there are many dead trees in the foreground, and brown patches on the hills in the distance where there are entire areas that are dead. (Click image for larger view.)

After a good visit with Rick and Kathy, we started East again, by way of Wheat Montana at Three Forks, right where we rejoined I-90. They have many kinds of wheat flour, of which Kathy bought 20 pounds for particular baking needs. Had to have a snack from their bakery, of course. They raise most of their own wheat.

Traveled all that day and finally reached Glendive. We planned on turning south at Billings, but big lighted signs were telling us that I-90 was closed at Hardin. I would have thought that an Interstate would be better engineered, but I-90 was under water! The flooding across the Midwest was quite severe. So we took I-94 which goes through North Dakota. Motels were pretty full and I thought prices were ridiculous; we had to take a room (suite) with 4 queen beds ($$$$) but at least we got a room! Traffic turned away from I-90 was really keeping things busy along I-94.

North Dakota Badlands
Note standing water from spring rains

North Dakota isn't all that bad, regardless of the tales you've heard. Kathy's parents grew up there and they turned out well. Down-home folks, very practically minded. ND had a campaign some years ago to plant a million trees. The rains returned, lakes appeared where they used to raise wheat in the bottom, a real transformation. Now they fish where they used to harvest. During the spring, the lakes rise and connect to each other and the fish swim from one to the other. On the other hand, they now have way too much water at times, especially downstream. Can't win 'em all.

I can still remember when U.S. Highway 85 south out of Williston was a gravel road. There have been many improvements in the past 50 years or so. The rest stops along I-94 are really nice. The badlands are still the badlands, though. They're really pretty in the spring, but don't get lost in there during August!

We needed a rest stop so we pulled into Valley City, about 2/3 of the way from Bismarck to Fargo. They had thousands of sandbags piled along the main street anticipating possible flooding. They also have an old railroad station, now the Rosebud Visitor Center, named after the "Rosebud" superintendent's car housed there. The Northern Pacific (NP) built the "Hi-Line" extension bridge across the valley back in 1906-8, still used by the BNSF which is the corporate descendant of the NP. It's about 3/4 mile long, longest in the world when it was built. It was so critical to the war effort during the World Wars that soldiers stood guard to prevent sabotage.

Construction in Minneapolis had traffic slowed to about 3 MPH and we were tired. Kathy managed to navigate us through city streets and we stopped for the night at Fairbault on I-35. Next day we stopped in Quincy for dinner with friends Larry and Barbara. Larry is a fellow survivor of radiation treatments, which we both had at about the same time. We're both still healing from the treatments six months later, in different parts of our bodies. But when the doctor says, "Cancer", you just make up your mind to go through with it.

Finally made it home. Son Jonathan came for a visit. The whole place was a soggy mess from excess rain; Joe was doing the second cutting since we left and couldn't do it all because there was an inch or so of water in the grass in many places. Got the garden tilled and mostly planted, lawn in some sort of reasonable shape with Jon's help, then left again for our

next trip.

Yellowstone River in MT