Day 37 - Through the Rockies to Spokane, WA

The second-to-last day took us from Missoula to Spokane - familiar territory. Heading west from Missoula along the Clark Fork led us deep into the Rockies then up, up and up to Lookout Pass on the Montana-Idaho border and into the Pacific time zone. At 4710 ft, the pass is not the highest on our trip (that was at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico, southeast of Santa Fe at 7500 feet), or even on our trip west from Chicago (5230 feet along Highway 385 in the Black Hills). But Lookout Pass is the highest point between Missoula and home and seemed a major crossing as our journey was nearly done.

Crossing the Idaho panhandle put us in the Silver Valley - a historic mining district that has produced 1.2 billion ounces of silver from the late 1800s to the present. A few mines (Hecla's Lucky Friday Mine) are still active. The towns of Wallace and Kellog retain some of their old-time character and are interesting places to visit and poke around. But not today.

Near the end of our 75-minute crossing of Idaho, we dropped down to Lake Coeur d'Alene (in the photo) and the town of Coeur d'Alene. What used to be a pokey small town had grown tremendously since we were last through a decade ago. Building stretched westward toward the eastward growth from Spokane.

We ended our day at the home of our long-time and dear friends, Tom and Deb Briggs, in Spokane. Although we saw them only a few months ago in Tucson, we visited like it had been years through several bottles of wine and piles of barbecued chicken and grilled vegetables. Maybe not the best preparation for our final day of travel, but friends take priority.

Only 197 miles today, and still no sign of Delaware or Maine license plates.

The book selection today celebrates what Washingtonians call 'the east side of the mountains'. Very appropriately that is the name of David Guterson's book East of the Mountains. The story is set in the Columbia River Basin of central Washington. On his last journey, a retired doctor sets out on a trip with his hunting dogs through this western landscape. He must deal with his memories, as well as life's mysteries.

We came upon this song on one of our days in the car. This is Us by Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler. I know some of you will probably get them mixed up with RnB, after all Roy plays the guitar - all I need to do is get a pair of cowboy boots like Emmy's. But for the record, This is Us.

Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris - This Is Us (Real Live Roadrunning | Official Live Video) - YouTube