Monday 6/2/98
Day 5: Idaho, WSU & Home
It was going to be a long day as I would have to drive home to Seatlle vicinity and probably be on the road for about ten hours today. I get up at 4:30 and start driving as it looks like it will be a nice day out. It is already light out and blue sky. I decided to go back to Ketchum first to find Hemingways's grave. I did find the cemetary but at that point decided not to look any further because I didn't want to take the time to look at all the graves. I left Ketchem and drove north on highway 75. I continure to drive thru the Sawtooth National Forest and as I am driving I see all of these gravel roads that I would love to take a 4X4 pickup on. There is still snow in the hills/mountain and it is a nice view driving thru here at this time of the year. I pass thru many small towns this morning as I drive thru Stanley, Lowman and Garden Valley before getting on highway 55 and driving north until reaching McCall. McCall is another nice small town but this town has the advantage of being right on Payette Lake. They have mild summers but get large amounts of snow here in the winter.
Whenn you leave McCall you will go a couple mile and come to Highway 95 and New Meadows. I turn right continue north as I drive thru Pollock and Rigins. I am now right beside the Salmon River which is also call the 'River of No Return'. It is very deep and swift right now as they have white water rafting in this area. I pass thru Grangeville, Cottonwood and Craigmnont before finally coming to Lapwai and Spalding. The Nez Perce National Park is just outside of Spalding as the Nez Perce Indians roamed the whole northwestern part of Idaho. There used to be a Fort Lapwai that was built here in 1862 to protect the Nez Perce Indians from the white man. Lapwai is still largley populated by indians The next town is Lewiston and this is in a large valley with steep Lewiston grade leading out of town towards Moscow. I stopped at the top of the hilll and took a couple pictures and got a cup of coffee.
I leave Lewiston and take a backroad that bypasses Moscow and goes into Pullman. 
This is all farmland that is surrounded by wheatfiealds. I went to school here for five years and enjoyed the area although I was ready to leave after five years. I didn't come back here for ten years after leaving in 1981. Washington State University has become much larger and the town is larger to, although it is still a small city of about 25,000. It's 12:00 and I went to the bookstore to buy some shirts and then went to get a milkshake at Ferdnand's. I was only in Pullman for an hour befor starting back to Seattle. I drive thru Colfax and their main streeet is currently a mess as they have two lanes each way closed. The next two hours is nothing but wheat firelds as I go thru Washtucna, Othello and reach Vantage around 4:00. The weather is around 70 degrees and blue sky all day.
I continue west and pass Ellensburg and reach Snoqualmie Pas around 6:00 when all of a sudden I notice big black clouds at the top of the pass. 
I had also been listening to my cassest recorder when it stops working. So I decide to turn on the radio and I hear the Mariner pitchers give up three straight home runs to the Orioles. I all of a sudden realized that I was back to reality and that I had been in a dream for the last couple days. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend to go where I went and have the weather that I had. It occurred to me that this had been a great trip and would always remember it for just getting away and being able to see Yellowstone in five days. I stopped at Snoqualmie Falls on the way back as there is alot of water going over the falls right now. I got home around 7:30 and had drove 650 miles today and 3000 miles total in five days. It didn't seem like it was that many mailes because there was so many new places to see that I had not been to before. I will take this trip again but take many more side roads and try to visit little communities that are off of the highway next time. I also realised that there is alot to do in Idaho and there are many gravel roads that I want to explore.