September 14

We started the day listening to Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" from 1959-last nights movie was the inspiration. It's the best selling jazz album of all time, and also an accessible album for skittish would-be jazz listeners. Next was Stevie Wonder's "Talking Book", another of the classic 1972 albums from the play list I mentioned earlier in our journey. 

Kari made breakfast, she was hard at work in Shirley's galley-leftover pancakes, eggs, and a big ole bowl of our never-ending fruit. It was morning, but it's scenes like this that have me counting my lucky stars regardless of the time of day: 

A nice place to dine huh? This park (Lewis & Clark Caverns SP) is really cool. The wheat-filled valleys in this region are as beautiful as the mountains.

In the category of "what might the future hold", we also caught a glimpse of our temporary neighbors, a glimpse foreshadowing what we'll look like in another 20 years?

The park is also home to one of the nation's most extensive cavern systems. And though Kari isn't a spelunker at heart (she's claustrophobic ya know), it seemed a perfect activity given the limitations imposed by her broken foot. So we ventured up the mountain and joined the tour. Kari received special treatment-she got to ride in the golf cart to get to the cavern entrance. 

The tour was cool, worth the time. 

I snuck in a great ride on the remote road leading to the park, it was a gorgeous valley.

Kari hit the yoga mat.

For dinner we headed to the metropolis of Three Forks, MT, home of the Sacajawea Bar in the historic Sacajawea Hotel. Apparently Three Forks was her "home town". The town is of course tiny, the hotel and bar are clearly the highlight. A classic old structure, very cool. We ate at the bar. Dinner was tasty-they even had lit menus, likely for 2 ole folks like us struggling against nature:)

About halfway through dinner I looked up and Harrison Ford was sitting down next to us. I casually mentioned this to Kari, who promptly scoffed at me. But it was obviously him, I knew even before I saw the Millenium Falcon parked outside. Check him out, he didn't seem pleased with my not-so-surreptitious photo...

A fun ending to another successful day...except Shirley’s battery died…and it was a brisk night to come. 

September 13

We began the day with a breakfast burrito at where else-the Burrito Brothers!-after which we hit the road once more with no destination in mind.

We ended the day at the Lewis & Clark Caverns SP in Whitehall, MT. It was a gorgeous park as you'll see below. Along the way we bought some fresh cherries at a roadside stand, the fruit has been amazing since the start of our trip. We also drove through more smoke, uggh. I'm not sure if you can see the smoke in this photo, but check out the barely visible mountains in the background.

The park was truly gorgeous, very remote, set within a wheat filled valley ringed by mountains, and home to one of the nations most extensive caverns. It was quiet, and pitch black at night. We even met some fellow Hoosiers, a young couple from Lafayette-she a Purdue employee, he a contractor.

Kari once more cooked a fabulous meal, (during the pandemic I was the luckiest shut-in I knew). Lamb, lettuce, tzatziki, tomatoes, pita etc, all from the farmers market.

We ended the night watching the Miles Davis "Birth of the Cool" documentary, check it out on Netflix. It's a fun look at one of our unique national treasures. He was a cool cat, we were lucky to see him at the Newport Jazz Festival years ago. 

Truly a successful day...

September 12

Today (Monday) was another travel day so we packed Shirley up and hit the road. We hadn't booked any reservations for the next 4 days so our destination for the evening was unknown. We needed to get to Bozeman (about 6 hours) by Friday, where we were staying at an airbnb for the weekend Morton wedding. 

Our route was again through thick smoke from the fires, yet another daylong reminder of our climate challenges ahead. It was sobering. Our podcasts were a Preet Bharara interview with Transportion Sec'y Pete Buttigieg, and 2 Derek Thompson interviews, one with Paul Poast on Ukraine's recent counteroffensive, and the other with Bill Gates on global trends. All 3 were great, people that smart make me feel dumb.

Along the road we booked an overnight at another Harvest Host. As I mentioned earlier in our travels, this is a membership service that links you to breweries, wineries, and restaurants that provide free overnight accommodations for rv's in return for the favor of buying some of their product. This joint was the East Shore Smokehouse Bar & Grill in Polson, MT, a stones throw from Flathead Lake. It was in the middle of nowhere and it was really cool, a classic looking western joint. We more than paid for the patch of grass where Shirley sat for the evening-we sat at the bar, had a cocktail, enjoyed the BBQ, chatted with some locals, then sauntered back to Shirley for the night. Check it out:

September 11

Kari started the day with a scrumptious breakfast-buckwheat pancakes with blueberries topped with Oregon huckleberry syrup, and sausage from the farmers market with mustard from the Blue Heron Creamery in Tillamook. Yum!

We watched a couple Sunday news shows and said our weekly prayer for our republic. September 11th is also my Dad's birthday, adding to this annual day of reflection.

We headed to Coeur d'Alene to look around and do a little shopping. It's been years since we were there for one of my meetings. The drive was thick with smoke, again. Bummer. On the way we listened to the Colts squander their chance to beat the Texans. In the inimitable words of Duke Tomatoe, Lord help our Colts... Kari hit the ground runnin, or scooterin, or somethin:)

Here's Kari looking forward to a full recovery:

And here she is trying frantically to get away from me:

My big score of the day was a Sasquatch sweatshirt. Yes, I do understand that's random, so let me explain. Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot, is big in the Pacific Northwest. He's everywhere. We'd been seeing Sasquatch paraphernalia for weeks. Without boring you with details, Sasquatch is also a meme I've used in various situations for years. So, I couldn't take it anymore and had to buy a hat and this groovin sweatshirt: 

Dinner this evening was at the Legends sport bar in Liberty Lake. It was an uninspired choice, but it was getting late and the bar was close. Dinner proved uninspiring as well, unlike my new sweatshirt:)

September 10

We started the day at the Liberty Lake farmers market:

My girlfriend made an amazing brunch-salad, polenta fries with huckleberry sauce, and grilled shrimp with cilantro lime pesto sauce. (Note those rockin portable induction cooktops that Mr Preparation picked up). We'd gotten the shrimp in Hood River, the guy at the market was from South Bend and a Purdue grad so he took good care of us. Have I mentioned lately what an amazing cook my wife of 40 years is, and that I love her dearly?

We ended a generally lazy day hangin with Shirley for a gorgeous sunset:

Another successful day...

September 9

As I've recounted in earlier posts, our trip has been amazing and we've had a blast. Then again we're human, and together in pretty tight quarters 24/7. So there come times when a little respite from each other is healthy. Today was such a day. When we were on the Oregon Coast we availed ourselves of beaches that stretched in opposite directions for long walks. Here, we needed another tactic. 

Kari has done well with the limitations of her foot-no hiking, no biking, no kicking me in the ass. Even shopping is hard! So, she found a second-hand shop that sells mobility aids and we headed over to get her a scooter so she could explore Spokane without my sorry ass, and I could redo the ride that was cut short the day before. How damn adorable is this?

Today was also the day the smoke rolled in from the fires. It descended heavily on the area. There are multiple fires burning again this year in most western states in what has become "normal" with our changing climate. Seeing and smelling it really brought it home in a tangible way. We talked to several locals who have been through it the last few years, for them it becomes a daily reality. A conversation I had with some young guys in a local bike shop reminded me of how central climate change will be in their lives. Their view is much different than that of us old folks. We have a lot of work to do on this front in coming decades. 

As an aside, seeing this truck reminded us that states other than Indiana have crazy people too, I hope we survive the invasion...

On a more uplifting note, for dinner we dined at another fantastic joint, Zona Blanca-a Mexican ceviche bar: https://www.limefishsalt.com Their chef is a Top Chef winner and James Beard semifinalist, and dinner was spectacular. A queso unlike any we've had before, carnitas tacos, and of course ceviche.

Another successful day...

September 8

We had a lazy start to the day, in part because it was such a beautiful setting. In fact, it was so nice we canceled our upcoming reservation in Idaho and decided to stay a couple more days here. 

I made breakfast, all items from the farmers markets we've been hitting. Scrambled eggs with cheddar and tomatoes along with a big bowl of fresh peaches, blueberries, and blackberries. Yummy!

I rallied and headed out for a ride, they have a great 32 mile trail along the Spokane River, the Spokane River Centennial Trail. About 3/4's of the way through I had a flat tire without any spare tubes on hand, so I had to Uber home, damn...

We had dinner in the hood, listening to Robt Glasper's Black Radio 3 album and watching an owl snatch dinner in the marsh below our campsite. 

Today was also the day the Queen died, an interesting time to reflect. We have so few individuals today who can transcend our polarized world, it's sad to lose one. Such an amazing lady and life, she was alive for nearly a third of American history. Jon Meacham made an interesting point about the British system compared to ours. They've managed to successfully separate the roles of their national leaders, with the monarch being the head of state representing all of the nation, and the prime minister being the head of government. This elevates the head of state out of the day to day work of politics and policy and allows them to play a broader, more unifying role. In our system the president is both the head of state and the government. At least for the moment, our polarization is such that it's impossible for half the country to see a president of the opposing party as legitimate, let alone someone to admire. This is not sustainable, perhaps as boomers slink offstage the next generation of leaders will prove more mature.

September 7

Today’s trek was from Memaloose SP to Liberty Lake regional park. Liberty Lake is a town adjacent to Spokane, it seemed to be a high end suburb. Kari wanted to see the town of Walla Walla so we diverted that direction. We lunched in Walla Walla then moved on, bread in hand.

The route took us through unending, and I mean unending wheat fields. Sea to shining sea wheat. They actually were really cool, beautiful in their own way-rolling hills, brilliant golden colors. 

Though the fields were cool looking, the farm implements that work those fields don’t fit well on the highway. We found ourselves behind a convoy of 15 or so massive vehicles, and coupled with some construction delays we were running late. I hate getting into a new place after dark, it’s another Two Against Nature struggle-my fading eyesight. Needless to say this brought out my surly side. Yet, it looked like we would just barely make it. I had mapped our route and as we pulled into what we thought was our new home we saw row after row of tightly packed RV’s with portly senior citizens reclined in their portable chairs. Kari was aghast-corpulent campers do that to her:) We quickly realized there are 2 Liberty Lake campgrounds, and I had mistakenly mapped the private version. Luckily the county park was only 10 minutes away so we headed that way. On the way Kari read the directions from the park-they warned not to trust the GPS directions… This of course served only to heighten my surliness. Tiny, windy, unfamiliar roads aren't what Shirley was built to navigate. Miraculously though, we drove in circles long enough that we found the correct route. 

When we pulled in to this park, it was nirvana. A huge campsite on a ridge overlooking a beautiful marsh and Liberty Lake. The sun was just setting, and a huge moon loomed. It was fantastic. 

A perfect ending to another successful day…

September 6

I started the day with an early ride along the gorge, truly sublime:) Kari called her Aunt Dorothy to check in. She’s a good niece, regularly keeping tabs on her aunts and uncles.

The area is known for waterfalls so we decided to check some out. We went to 3, including the Multnomah, the largest in the state. 

We headed to Hood River for happy hour at Celilo https://www.celilorestaurant.com. We just beat the clock. Happy hours are merely a slightly hipper version of the senior citizen early bird dinner, perfect for old folks like us. In any event, it was a tasty joint-oysters, clams, a burger, and mushroom pasta-hard to go wrong. 

We spent the evening with Shirley. Tomorrow’s a travel day so we did some light packing while enjoying our last evening by the gorge:) 

Packing reminded me again how little one needs-both on a trip like this and more generally. We’re on a 2 month trek, and we have virtually nothing with us beyond clothes and a few essentials. I don’t miss much. I was reminded of George Carlins “stuff” routine. His humor always centered on everyday things, which to me is the best humor. In this bit he talked of travel, and having to whittle down your stuff to only your most important stuff. Then while you’re on the trip you do an overnight, and you have to whittle things down even more to your really, really important stuff. Such a brilliant guy, check him out: https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac