September 2

We took an early morning stroll to the lake shore and hit the road earlier than usual. The scenery has been pretty all along the way with lakes and lots of trees but without the rugged mountains of prior days. The cedar trees of this area are particularly impressive with their size and unique beauty. We passed through Missoula and went on down highway #93. We stopped for a look-around in Darby and found the most amazing combination antique and candy store you can imagine. It would have taken hundreds of pictures to show the inventory of antique items they had on display, most of which was for sale. They spanned the U.S. Cavalry, farm, household, mining, ranching, livestock and horses, clothing and on and on from the late 1800’s through about the 1950’s. Prices varied generally from a few dollars to over $4000. The store spanned an entire block with separate entrances from the sidewalk as well as internal doors passing from one theme section to the next along the entire length. We then went to another gallery of items made of wood and stone that were also very impressive and gave Mom a number of creative ideas. From Darby we went over the Lost Trail Pass which had the old motor home wheezing but she made it. The pass climbs from around three thousand feet and change to over seven thousand feet over a steady climb at thirty five to forty miles per hour for a steady seven miles. At the summit we crossed into Idaho (yeah!) and gave old Betsy a breather at a very nice rest area and then headed down. There were numerous hairpin turns with one place where three consecutive twenty-mile-per-hour hairpin turns and a ninety degree turn all occurred within about one half mile. After a nice drive down the North Fork of the Salmon River we arrived in Salmon and determined to look up and old friend and mechanic from Pocatello who moved to Salmon ten years ago, Arlen O’Brien. We found his shop and after a brief conversation he called his wife, Judy, who drove from their home about ten miles north of town back in so we could go to dinner together at the Bertram’s Brewery and Restaurant where we had a delicious salad bar and blackened catfish with baked potato and veggies. We then caught up on old times and had a lot of good laughs during a lengthy campground conversation in the Saveway Food Store parking lot before calling it a night. We had not gotten to know Judy well in Pocatello because most of our dealings were with Arlen but Mom and Judy really hit it off and found that they have a lot in common.