After breakfast, we set out for another few hours of driving. The route went through some awesome scenery of treed canyons and twisting waterways. We passed a little town of Wallace, ID which had lots of historical-looking brick buildings that you could see right next to the highway. So I looked it up online. Indeed Wallace has some interesting history. A mining town with a history of permissive activities, land scandals, worker strikes, uprisings, and murders. The brothel operated for years as a way to "cut down on rape." I90 was also mentioned as part of the controversial history. It is interesting to read about the history. Historical facts are important, good or bad. Thanks to Wiki, I know that it is on the National Register of Historic Places. We will have to stop next time through.
As we went through Montana, we encountered much road construction, not enough to slow us down. We sometimes were restricted to the right lane, and then to the left lane, then maybe back to the right. Sometimes both lanes were being worked on and we were directed to use the left lane of westbound traffic. The roads here are subjected to harsh winters and maybe they have to be worked on during the summer months before the next harsh winter takes its toll. I seem to remember last year we were also caught up in road maintenance/construction in this area. It brought to mind the observation of a colleague of mine when he was asked about barred owl removal to reduce the impact on spotted owls. The comment was something to the effect that barred owl removal would mean that it would have to be done in perpetuity and that seemed unreasonable. My colleague pointed out that we perpetually conduct maintenance on our highways and it seems perfectly reasonable to most people. I am sure there are other examples of what we have accepted as reasonable, but perpetual. Every time we slowed a bit, Tad had to come to the front seat and check it out. When he was satisfied that nothing exciting was going to happen, he returned to his sleeping quarters. This happens several dozen times a day and he quite enjoys it when he can stick his head out to get the aromatic assessment as well.
Our destination today was Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. So named for the explorers who did not even know the caves were nearby when they passed through, but after many name changes, and another land scandal, the State Park was named after the explorers because their route passed through what is now the park boundary. Thanks again Wiki. We arrived and chatted with the nice woman at the visitor center. State Parks in Montana are free to visit if you are a resident, but for riff-raff like us, we pay a fee. Camping deferred some of that cost. We found out tomorrow at 9am, they start selling tickets for the tours of the caverns and so I will be up early again and Kasey will be up too since there is incentive.
We walked to the Jefferson River, about a mile to give the boys a swim. We were told a rattlesnake was seen nearby and we proceeded cautiously. Having gotten a nice walk-in, we brought our chairs out and soaked up the view. It is a very scenic area. The campground is, well, a campground. It is quiet, nothing special and it will do for the night. There aren't enough trees in my opinion. I am not a campground person. I prefer not to see other people when I am camping, but there are some advantages, especially in a grizzly country. My mom would say safety in numbers but in this case, I say it is more about beating the odds. This is how it goes sometimes and I can't always have the gorgeous scenery to myself. I can, however, crop the people out of the pictures and not let it spoil the adventure.
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