Saturday
After breakfast in Pocatello, Idaho, we followed the trail beside the Interstate to Shoshoni Falls in Twin Falls.
The emigrants often were hot, tired and very thirsty when they reached the Snake River. They could hear the falls from three miles away. But when they got to the river, the steep cliffs prevents them from getting to the water.
We drove on to Glen's Ferry to see the Three Island crossing. Very interesting here,too.
Nice Interpretive Center, where they used to have reenactments. This center
concentrated equally on the cultural differences of natives and whites and how
they worked together. Before leaving Glen's Ferry we stopped to get the car washed by
cheerleaders raising money for new uniforms.
Here is a sign that on the first days of the trip would have beckoned us to follow the Byway.
But we looked at the map and decided to stay on the Interstate and make it to sister-in-lay, Shirley's home in northern Idaho, tonight.
Drove to Boise.
Toured the university campus. Roger showed me the blue football field. We picnicked at a
city park along Boise River right near the university.
As we sat at a picnic table, we looked at our mode of transportation--a Buick to drive/ride in with air conditioning that allowed us to cover a distance in one day that took those pioneers one month to travel. Although we ate lunch outside every day at a picnic table, we had the convenience of dinner in a nice restaurant every evening. We also managed to stop for ice cream every afternoon around 3.
Finally we arrived in OREGON!. Stopped
at the first information center we came to, which turned out to have a tribute to Blue Star Mothers (I am one.)
As we drove onward, we came to Flagstaff Hill where the Oregon seekers anticipated the end of their journey. They could see the Blue Mountains looming in the distance and knew they were near their goal.
We stopped at Baker City, Oregon where there is a National Interpretive Center for the whole Oregon Trail. It is a very impressive place. There are life-size displays with history descriptions and a one hour movie that summarizing the whole Oregon Trail experience. As we watched it and then walked through the extensive collection of memorabilia, we realized that we had stopped at every significant site along the way.
There also was an interesting display room on the Homestead era. The only really bad
weather we experienced was a downpour while we were inside this center. Sun was shining in
blue sky with a rainbow as we left.
We left the Oregon Trail. Both of us have traveled the north and south sides of the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, so didn't feel the need to redo that part of their trip.
We made it to Pendleton for supper. We ate quickly since we were trying to get to Coeur d' Alene before dark. We got turned around in Pendleton, but eventually found our way to the road to Walla Walla. Gas in WA was over $4/gal.
We decided to take short cut to sister-in-law, Shirley's. Trying to get out of Walla Walla, we got turned around on a round-about. A young (smiling) helpful motorcycle cop came along and directed us to the road we needed to get out of town. (Can you tell we must be getting tired?)
As we progressed toward Coeur d' Alene on country highways with the sun setting, we came to a small town where the road turned a sharp corner. Roger suddenly started pointing his finger out the front window and was so shocked he couldn't speak--there was a camel in the farmyard!
We both
believed we have seen the elephant! (check Google: Seeing the elephant on the Oregon
Trail was an expression they used often when someone got so weary of traveling, they seemed to lose their senses.) We, however, really did see a camel--why a farmer/rancher would have one is not something we could figure out.
As I wrote this day's saga, we progressed across southeastern Washington in the dark, driving 4 different highway numbers for 60 miles. We didn't feel lost, but we didn't see a sign in a long, long time. We had no cell phone service and the highways we were traveling on, were not on our paper map. We did find an outhouse restroom that was as fine a stop as I have seen. There were hand sanitizer containers on the wall. There were lights outside--we were out in the middle of nowhere. We just kept driving, figuring if we kept taking the east choice of road at junctions, we would get to US 95 and know where we were and how to get to Shirley's. Tiptoed in at 11:30 pm. Long day and night!
