7/11 - Missoula to Spokane

Today’s 200 mile drive from Missoula to Spokane was outstanding.  Other than being covered with evergreens instead of hardwoods, the mountains along our route were very much like our mountains at home.  Much of I-90 reminded us of I-40 through the Pigeon River gorge with mountains slightly higher but very similar.

View from I-90 soon after leaving Missoula.

A “smoky” view of the mountains.  So much like western NC and eastern Tennessee.  My cousin Gabe grew up in Spokane and also lived for years in Asheville.  She said she's never seen these mountains look like this.

The Great Smokies were named because of clouds that made them look smoky, just like these mountains.

The Clark Fork River from I-90.  The few brown, treeless mountains let you know you’re definitely not in the Appalachians.  

One of dozens of ground squirrels running around a rest area on Montana’s I-90.  Travelers feed them so they’re quite tame…..and some of them are VERY fat.  Another traveler told me they continued to hang out here while the rest area was being renovated a few years ago.  Their patience was rewarded when the travelers and food returned.

No picture to illustrate this, but the information is too interesting to pass up.  This area was covered 15,000 years ago by Glacial Lake Missoula, a lake the size of Lake Ontario which covered much of western Montana.  A gigantic glacier filled the area, damming the Clark Fork River.  The lake filled and emptied on a regular basis over a 2,000 year period.  Every time the glacial dam broke the resulting flood devastated eastern Washington, leaving scarred terrain still visible today.  Old shorelines are still visible along I-90.  I looked for them but wasn’t sure if I was seeing the shorelines or old logging roads.

A small arm of Coeur d’Alene Lake in the Idaho panhandle.  It’s a big lake with houses and docks all around it…...an absolutely gorgeous place.

Shortly after coming down the Idaho side of Lookout Pass we crossed over the town of Wallace.  I-90 is built over the town similar to the Linn Cove Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway around Grandfather Mountain.  Prior to the completion of I-90 this was the last section of the intercontinental highway to have a traffic light as the highway wove through the town on city streets. (Anyone remember how it was when I-40 went through downtown Black Mountain as late as the ‘70’s?)  All of Wallace is historic and the downtown area would have been destroyed if I-90 had been at ground level.  In the battle to stop I-90 from ruining the town, the town council applied for and was granted National Historic Register status for every building in the town.  The Federal Highway Administration went back to the drawing board and came up with this great solution of routing I-90 over the north side of town.  These photos are from the internet……I couldn’t get one as we were going over it.  The internet has a picture where an arts and crafts show is being held under the highway which gives protection from both sun and rain, so the town is making use of the underside of the highway.  It really is a novel way to solve the problem of mixing new and old.  If we ever make it back to this area I definitely want to spend some time in this beautiful little town. 

We had quite a time finding our way onto Fairchild AFB.  I knew we were supposed to come in at the Rambo Gate because it’s where they inspect RVs (unlike any other military installation we’ve stayed at).  The turn isn’t marked and we were afraid to go in where we thought it was because, if we were wrong, it might have been impossible to turn around.  We went in the main gate and found out that, yes, the Rambo Gate does look like you’re turning into a field and, no, it isn’t marked.  So, out-of-town RVers are supposed to know this by osmosis?  They were very nice, though, and let us through with a quick check and admonishment that we should use the Rambo Gate next time.  The young airman looked through our RV very quickly.  Jim asked him what he was looking for…..he said “Isis” and laughed.  Turns out they’ve had some weird types trying to get onto the base so inspecting RVs isn’t quite as odd as it seems (although going through the drawers and closets as we’ve heard they’ve done to others is very strange).

The next three days we’ll be spending with my cousins who grew up here (one of whom lives here).  If I don’t have time each evening to write up our adventures I’ll catch up at the end.