As a theme for the first part of my journey, I chose the idea of following U.S. Highways from end to end. The one that I'm looking forward to most will be next summer when I plan to travel the 3,700 miles of U.S. Hwy 20 from Boston to Newport, OR. It's just too late in the season to start that trip now. Instead, I'm headed south for the winter. My plan is to travel U.S. Hwy 95 from the Canadian border in Idaho to the Mexican border in Arizona. Driving the Selkirk Loop was part of my master plan. So I re-entered the United States at Eastport, Idaho and was greeted immediately by this sign at mile 538.6.
The territory in Northern Idaho is absolutely beautiful. But the government ownership of that parcel came at a huge cost to the Kootenai Indians. Kootenai elders have passed down the history of creation and the beginning of time, much of it so sacred that it cannot be shared with non-tribal members. It can be told, however, that the Kootenai people were created by Quilxka Nupika, the supreme being, and were placed on earth to keep the creator/spirit's covenant. The covenant is simple. It says: "I have created you Kootenai people to look after this beautiful land, to honor and guard and celebrate my creation here in this place. As long as you do that, this land will meet all your needs. Everything necessary for you and your children to be happy forever is here, as long as you keep this Covenant with me." For thousands of years, the Covenant guided the Kootenai.
In 1855, the U.S. Government sent representatives with a treaty for the tribes of the Northwest. No Kootenai ever signed that treaty. In 1860, the greeted the International Boundary Commission surveyors and helped them across the Kootenai River, showing them safe trails, and sharing food. "We helped them and then they drew a line through the middle of our house and said we couldn't cross it." That line is the U.S. Canadian Border.
The Kootenai Nation was reduced to seven tribes, five north of the border and two south. No matter how they tried, they kept losing their lands. On September 20, 1974, the 67 remaining tribe members, having lost all their aboriginal lands, declared war on the United States. It was a peaceful war, but it got the attention of the bureaucrats, even though most of the U.S. was ignorant of the war. The Kootenai were finally deeded 12.5 acres near Bonners Ferry. There is a hundred times that amount shown in this photo--land that was once protected by the Covenant between the Kootenai and their Creator.
I'd crossed Lake Pend Orielle at Sandpoint, Idaho and stopped for a bite of dinner in Coeur d'Alene before heading further south along Lake Coeur d'Alene. When this beautiful full moon arose, I decided I needed to find a resting place for the night.
It was like an omen when my headlights illuminated this sign. It's at the Fightin' Creek Crossing where there's a little truck stop. I parked in its abandoned parking lot for the night and slept in the back of the truck. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the air mattress I bought at Cabela's, complete with built in pump, ran on 120v instead of 12v. It's not like I wanted to inflate it in my living room. Now I need to make another trip to Cabela's!
Tuesday morning, I headed south again and the terrain and landscape changed radically. For those of you who have never seen it before, this is called food. Hundreds of miles of wheat, oats, and other grains that feed a nation. I passed combines harvesting and dozens of huge trucks filled with grain on their way to elevators.
The elevators look like this. Along the left edge of this photo, you'll see a train with tank cars for carrying grain, that should give you an idea of the scale of the silos.
I finally made it to Lewiston, Idaho and the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. That's the Clearwater coming in from the East and the Snake from the South (top right). That twisting road you see goes ten miles to get from the top of the bluffs down to Lewiston. It was a great feat of engineering in the 1920s. Later U.S. 95 took a more direct but steeper route southeast.
And from Lewiston, I headed back north toward Spokane, skirting Pullman and Washington State University. I pulled into a rest area about two-thirds of the way and this bus pulled in a few minutes later. The young couple have been full time travelers for seven years with three children in the back. They just travel and looked and acted like the quintessential hippies. They were nice folks and let me know that there is a future to this full-time RV thing!
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