Missoula Montana
Poor Washington and Idaho! The smoke is terrible! I feel so sorry for what the people are going through.
Got up this morning and drove to the Grand Coulee Dam. Sure would have been nice it it weren’t so smokey, but I was able to get close enough to get a good view. Yet another feat of engineering. I remember reading in grade school all about the Aswan High Dam. I saw the Aswan High Dam in the 90’s. It’s nothing compared to Hoover Dam or Grand Coulee Dam. Just think. We built a lot of dams in the 30’s. Most of them came in early and under budget. Of course, that’s before gummint became a hindrance to construction projects. I can’t imagine us doing any prpjects like this now what with the EPA, OSHA, and the environmentalists. Back then, a stimulus actually resulted in construction projects and not boondoggles. Check out nuclear plant construction. We have two new reactors being built in Georgia that are already three years behind schedule and over a billion over budget.
I left the dam and backtracked to Spokane and headed East. To get to Glacier, I should have turned off I-90 at St. Regis, but I continued down here to Missoula. The reason? Since I’m traveling in my chair, I like to stay in crip friendly rooms. The best way to do that is to stay at one of the big chains. To do that, I need to stay in larger cities. I do wind up spending more on rooms but as you all know, I am a SRF© so I can afford it. At my age comfort and convenience is essential and I’m willing to pay for it.
So what do you think? Correction or crash? I’m talking about the stock market. The liberals progressives rat bastard commies have been pointing to the stock market as proof that Obungler’s policies are working. The growth numbers are bogus as are the unemployment numbers. The only thing they really had was the market and that’s up ’cause the Fed has been printing money. Is the market now gonna collapse as well? Or is this China? I read a book two years ago called Currency Wars that stated that the next war was gonna be a monetary war between us and China. This could be the opening salvo. Or not.
What about those American heroes in France? Once again Americans have to save the French. Didja hear that the French crew locked themselves in a special compartment and wouldn’t let any passengers in? Typical French.
Tomorrow, I’m driving up to Glacier National Park and driving the Going to the Sun Road through the Park.
Some friends were backpacking in the area and they came out into the town of Winthrop – gorgeous little tourist town. The whole town had been evacuated a few days prior and they were on the trail not knowing anything about it.
Like the zombie apocalypse… No civilians anywhere but lots of big government vehicles running around.
Just an observation,DaveH. Anybody who ain’t in the military is a civilian. Somehow, LEO’s and such seem to want to set themselves above the rest of us. I don’t mind remindin’ ’em that they, too, are civilians.
You didn’t mention it, but any plans to get near Yellowstone while you’re out and about?
So why not do the reasonable thing, come up to Canada and say hello to us foreigners. Cross at Carway go north a bit and see vast amounts of not much.
If you make it to Lethbridge, hour and a half from St. Mary, big deal for a fast mover like you, I volunteer to buy you a Canucki brewski.
Alas I’m now heading home. I’m in Helena tonight.
I may have gotten this from GOC but it has to be years ago. It is still appropriate for the French. http://www.strangecosmos.com/images/content/8296.jpg
Denny:
While reading your daily accounts of your travel adventures I couldn’t help thinking of how far we have come in less than 150 years. What you have managed to do in 3 days from your beloved Missouri would have taken you about 5 months along the famed Oregon Trail to Eastern Oregon.
Also, I remember reading one time that somewhere around 1 out of 15 or 20 who started the Oregon Trail never made it. Think about that when a bunch of reckless Ass-Holes fly past you on the highway, Just keep count and when you get to your pre-determined number, say out loud; “Go ahead Ass-Hole! You won’t be going far.”
And finally, To make a comparison of your travel timetable into a more recent context; When I was a kid – BI (Before Interstates) it used to take us 3 days to travel from South Florida to the wilds of Indiana and/or Ohio. We had to travel mostly 2-lane roads thru all of those “wonderful” cities – Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati – Depending on route taken. That was probably half of the distance that you traveled in your first 3 days.
So enjoy and revel in the knowledge that someone, a hundred years from now, will probably read your accounts and say, “3 days! Can ya’ believe that? I drove that route last week in less than 8 hours.”
Damn, you were about 60 miles, as the crow flies from me. Unfortunately, those miles are all on fire. The last time you came west I told you of one of the most exciting 6 mile drives in the west. Just upstream from the dam, State Route 21 crosses the river by ferry. To get to the Keller ferry you drive about 8 miles from US 2, you come to a sign that shows a curve with a 15 mph speed. The road curves and the world disappears beneath you. The road drops almost 2000 feet in a series of switchbacks down to the Columbia.
We are under a Stage 2 evacuation order and the North Star fire is about three miles from us. The line is holding, but we are all packed up and ready for make a run for it. The smoke is so thick that the damn fire could come over the ridge and we could not see it.
Roger, hope they’re able to hold the line. We had to evacuate a few years ago and didn’t get back home for a week. At least our place was okay. If you don’t protect all your sekrit skwerril paperwork and it burns up, who’s gonna believe you were a Space Shuttle Door Gunner?
Well, I read this book called “Shemitah” and it says the 7th year always brings something to hurt the world in general–even if it is just monetary wise.