Global Wandering

Everyone should occasionally get in a car and take a long drive alone. After ten delightful days touring Montana and Northern Idaho with my family, we parted ways and LaPriel and the kids headed back to our little Idaho town while I rented a car and drove from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho to Walla Walla, Washington.

I took what I thought was the scenic route, and the first part of the journey from Coeur D’Alene to Moscow was beautiful. Rolling hills, mountains, pine forests. In fact, I suspect the politicians who decided which confiscated Native American lands should be set aside for the Coeur D’Alene reservation had never been to Northern Idaho. Usually reservations are located on the ugliest, least productive scraps of land. The Coeur D’Alene reservation takes up prime real estate, which is why it is such a delight to drive through. It has been spared much of the strip development and billboard fest so common along U.S. highways.

The only manmade structure of any significance in the area is the Coeur D'Alene Casino. What is amazing about it is like many Native American casinos it’s in the middle of nowhere. You round a curve and suddenly there’s this huge building and parking lot full of cars staring at you. It’s like being on nature hike, turning the corner and stumbling across a moose or elk in your path. Okay, perhaps my analogy is a stretch, but then again casinos on reservations are so commonplace they almost seem like they were there before man.

If you have ever spoken to someone who grew up in the Mountain West and moved to the Eastern United States invariably they will tell you they love how green the East is with its leafy hardwoods, grasses and flowers, but it drives them crazy that they can’t see far into the distance because of all the trees. Westerners need vistas to calm their souls while Easterners are at peace with small, intimate views. Then there is the road from Lewiston, Idaho to Walla Walla, Washington, which I can only describe as a passage through a 200 mile long gulley. I believe a drive through there via US12 would frustrate most Easterners and Westerners. The hills close in on both sides of the highway, there are few trees, and I found myself constantly craning my neck trying to see over the crests. I knew there were mountains out there somewhere because of the timber trucks hauling three foot diameter logs. It was like driving down a chute. Apparently Lewis and Clark traveled this way on their way back home. It’s called the Forgotten Trail. I can see why. In speaking with some Walla Wallites this morning, they explained this gulley was formed when a large glacier dam broke up stream. They likened it to the plot of Ice Age 2. This area is a geologist's dream but for those seeking a scenic route, I would take a different course.

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