Refreshed, we continued on to Helena, battling a stiff headwind. Montana, I have to say, was something of a disappointment. Hot, dry, windy, and lousy road maintenance did their best to undermine the natural beauty of the place.
Helena was a cute city, though.
Finally, we passed into Idaho (and the Pacific time zone) through the Lolo pass. Lots of firefighters at the welcome center, because there are several fires in Montana at the moment. That’s another thing – the views in Montana aren’t what they should be, due to the blue cast of smoke over everything.
Anyway, once in Idaho, the scenery changed abruptly and for the better. Impossibly tall and spindly trees, with bristle patterns I hardly recognize.
After winding down through the mountains for a while, we came across the DeVoto Cedar Grove, a grove of cedars that look like they are at least several hundred, if not a thousand or more years old. Great strong trunks with no branches on the lower 50 feet or so, really impressive.
I stopped at a camp site, even though it was only 6pm local time, because it was just so beautiful, and I was tired. After two hours of tranquility, though, I decided to ruin it because I got antsy, and bundled everything back in the truck. An hour or two of pleasant driving gave way to a frantic search for a place to sleep, and finally I found a place in Kamiah at about 10:30 that would take me and Tuna. The room reeked of Chinese food delivery for some reason, but I quickly fell asleep nonetheless.
doing a search for something in my hometown (Kamiah) and I found your blog...will have to come back to read more about your trip!
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