Whew! That was a lotta potatoes!

We learned a bit about patience in Idaho, a lesson I have tried to impart to you remaining faithful readers by letting the remainder of the blog come in it’s own good time.

Tuesday July 18
We woke up in our elevated campsite by the great rushing river, breathing in the crisp pine air under clear blue skies. Fantastic! We lingered over breakfast and packed up and headed back out onto Route 12, keeping to the winding river.

Sir Guano on a pedestal

View from the Campsite...

We stopped for gas and I decided that it was of critical importance that the Snaab get a much-needed bath (his last washing was in Vegas – some 2,000 miles and 10 days ago!). We headed back out through Podunk, ID and as we crossed the railroad tracks, noticed an odd traffic jam building up. Appears that the only road through to Missoula, our mid-day goal, was going to be shut down for at least two hours due to an accident up the road. Now, familiar as we are with the more densely developed Northeast, we asked for the best alternate route. Apparently, there is no real alternate route, save for driving about 150 miles out of our way. In these parts, when the road’s closed, you don’t get to Missoula as quickly as you’d like to. Kelly, ever anxious to be putting some pavement behind us, tried to head off in search of some ‘side roads’ that might lead us past the wreck. So, we climbed up in to the hills, ultimately riding 6 miles down a dirt and gravel road only to end up exactly back where we’d started. Lesson learned: listen to the locals, chill out and enjoy the ride – plus any unexpected little detours.

Off-roading in Idaho

View of the evergreens from our little side trip...

We headed back into Podunk for an early lunch at a nice little God-fearing tea shoppe. Hum. By the time we were done (with some tasty pie in us, a welcome bonus!), the road had cleared and we eventually rolled into Missoula at about 5 pm. Found a pretty cool coffee shop that was having “a band in from New York!!!” that night, and thus was closing at 6 mp. So we chilled for a bit, but ultimately found Missoula a bit disappointing. I was expecting more from Montana, really.


Well, apparently what Montana lacks in small town charm is more than made up for in redeeming it’s Big Sky Country reputation. Pretty darned amazing, no?

I could live here...

Purple mountains majesty indeed!

Magical...
This Driver's Dream...

We just had to pull over and indulge in a fine meal befitting the spectacular setting: PBJ and spray cheese on Ritz. Aaaah… Kelly pondered the litter factor of throwing a bread crust on the ground – is food matter technically polluting or littering? Beth said that this does count as littering, Kelly did this anyway and was promptly rewarded by spilling her diet Coke all over herself. Instant karma’s gonna get ya. (she did, then, retrieve the offensive bread crust).

The colors of the sunset and the purple mountains majesty were just overwhelming, and the sensation continued as the sunset dissolved into the starriest night I’d ever seen. Though it was cold, Kelly begged Beth to have the top down as we drove a bit, listening to some chill music about the moon and stars, Kelly achieved what she has set out for some 8,000 miles ago: driving nirvana. Fahrvergnugen. Heavenly…

We set up camp at a state park site located just outside of Yellowstone, but as we were quite after hours, we were greeted with just this sign:

And so to sleep...

This freaked Beth out a bit, but we both decided that it must be a formality – some sort of thing they have to post everywhere in the region just for liability purposes, not because of frequent bear maulings. We decided to enjoy the stars and not over-react and fell asleep to the sound of heavy snoring in neighboring tents that Kelly repeatedly had to reassure Beth was not the sound of rummaging bears.