A whole new appreciation for Lewis and Clark

After a conversation with the desk clerk (and maybe owner) of my motel in Drummond I adjusted my plan (not that I really had one) and headed down the road to Phillipsburg MT which was only about 20 miles away. It is an old mining town (I am discovering that there are lots of old mining towns in MT) but unlike many of the others Phillipsburg appears to be thriving and has made the turnaround. It sits on the side of a hill and has a beautiful and well kept courthouse as well as a place called The Sanctuary, which is billed as a biker sanctuary.
You can find more detail at bikersanctuary.com

Like many towns out here the streets are wide (I recall wide enough to turn a cart and 6 horses?) and this is still put to good use when they deliver the beer or other goods. The trucks just park in the middle of the street!

I had looked on the map the previous evening and decided to test my spirit of adventure and check out the Skalkaho Pass which crosses the Bitterroot Range at about 7200 ft. This on a gravel road. They close the pass in winter and I discovered why.

The first 16 miles are paved and the road is very good and fast, but gets narrower and more curvy and eventually turns to gravel as you start the climb to the top of the pass.
What I had not anticipated is that the climb would be in a forest with views only of the road and surrounding area. 
I came around a bend to find a semi loaded with bridge culvert concrete structures. The driver escort said there were two trucks coming down the grade and would I wait. We chatted and I found out about some waterfalls on the other side of the pass. I eventually got on my way and passed through the construction and to the other side of the pass. There was no view at the top because of the trees. A little disappointing but still a great adventure.

 

The road at this point got very narrow and curvy, and the drop off on the left side going down was at least a couple of hundred feet with of course no guard rail.

I found the waterfall that was mentioned and it was not a huge cascade of water but as I was out looking around I heard a motorcycle coming up the grade, and much to my surprise it was a motorcycle and side car. Not something you see on the highway let alone up on some random gravel road in Montana.

I turned around and retraced my steps eventually coming down to a couple of small rivers and some fly fishermen.

 I turned back towards Georgetown Lake and Anaconda and came across an impressive waterfall right beside the highway

You can see the highway on the right hand side.

I will continue with the rest of the day and Saturday in a separate post. I need to get going to meet up with Renee in West Yellowstone

On to Montana

I left Challis Idaho around 10 with the intent to get as far as Missoula Montana, which is about 200 miles. Early morning was quite cool (maybe in the 50s) but it warmed up and the sun shone pretty much all day. Salmon ID is only about 60 miles and is a much bigger town (pop 3000) and is close to the confluence of the North and South forks of the Salmon river at a little place aptly named North Fork!.

Along the way there are areas where the valley is quite wide and there is a lot of irrigated alfalfa (thanks for the correct spelling from my sister Mags!). There are some very nice homes, some with spectacular views, but equally there are lots of crappy mobile homes and houses buried in the middle of piles of junk that nobody could be bothered to clean up. It certainly distracts from the beautiful scenery and is a shame.

As well as the broad valleys there are also narrow canyons that the river passes through and quite steep grades so the water is flowing fast. Along the river there are small areas of what I think are cottonwood trees and some are designated camping areas (there are lots of other places to camp as well).

 

The Salmon river heads west from the town of Salmon and eventually joins the Snake River, the major tributary of the Columbia River that flows into the Pacific in Portland Oregon. I need to go back and look at the geography, but that is what Wikapedia tells me!!

From Salmon the road starts to climb and twist and turn all the way to the Lost Trail Pass at 7014 ft. It is also the Western continental divide. The road from there to Missoula is much wider and progressively more populated. Had I known what I now know I would have headed east on a small road across another pass and avoided Missoula entirely. I may still backtrack on at least a part of that road today. I elected to just slow down for Missoula and headed east on the Interstate to Drommond. It is a small town of no great distinction but was a place to stay. There are a couple of places to eat in town and I had decided on a steak and a beer. Not a bad plan, but the restaurant / bar had new ownership that (judging by my food and the service) will not last long. The beer was good but the steak was terrible and the baked potato only half cooked. I thought people were shot for that kind of thing in Montana!! Oh well that is life.
The plan for today, such as it is, is to head down some small roads to Anaconda MT and then on to the Idaho Falls area with a view to go to the Grand Teton National Park on Saturday. Plans have known to be changed but that will do for a start.

The Sawtooth Mountains and the Salmon River. Idaho

I got some good advice from a friend in Boise and traveled up RT 21 from Boise thru Idaho City, an old mining town and up a curvy road towards Stanley ID. There was lots of evidence of forest fires and I now have a whole new appreciation of what it must be like trying to fight them in that type of terrain. I crossed a couple of passes at progressively higher elevations with the highest at 7200 ft or so. The mountains that surround the passes go up to 10,000 ft or so. I had started in Boise at about 2500 ft (I think)

About 15 miles from Stanley you come out on to a high plain and there is some farming but it is sparse and looks very dry. Steve had suggested that I turn south for a few miles to Redfish Lake. It is apparently the spawning ground for the Sockeye Salmon and they are a protected species and have been since 1991.

The lake is beautiful and there were campgrounds and people in the lake swimming.
The drive from there to Challis ID where I spent the night follows the Salmon river or at least some of the branches of the Salmon river. At some points it is in a significant gorge and at others spreads out.




 

                                                        Note the lack of guard rail!!

The road passes thru Clayton ID with a claimed population of 23! Not much else to be said!

 












Coming in to Challis there is evidence of irrigated fields and I think they are growing alphalpha (how do you spell it anyway!). I have not seen any dairies (there are LOTS of huge dairies in Idaho) so maybe they are growing and selling to those dairies. I know in some places they export the alphalpha to Japan!

Challis is not a very exciting place but certainly the business center for the area and the county seat.

I took a walk this morning and it presented a couple of random photo opportunities. Enjoy

No doubt here as to what they mean!!

Idaho Travel Trailer

Back on the road

Well after a hiatus of about 9 weeks I am off traveling again. This is a fairly short trip to Idaho and Montana. I will be gone about 3 weeks.

I went to Atlanta to see the family for the weekend and particularly to see Gavin off on his great adventure. For those that do not know he is going to New Zealand and Australia for about a year to travel, work and have some fun. Hopefully the economy will recover and when he returns there will be better job opportunities for a well traveled and mature young man.

Gavin left Atlanta about an hour ahead of me and I flew to Boise Idaho as jumping off point for an adventure in the mountains of Idaho and then about 6 days in Yellowstone National Park. I have a former colleague and friend who quit work, sold her house and bought an RV. She has been living in West Yellowstone for about 3 months now and will leave for Texas in early September before the real cold sets in. She has had numerous visitors and I am lucky to be included in that number.

My planning for the trip has been less than stellar. I booked the flight, a rental car and my first night in Boise (as I arrived at 9.30pm!)I am going to wing it and see where I end up until I get to Yellowstone on Sunday afternoon.

I will do a separate post for the travel part of the first day.

What a phenominal time!

The reality is that I am back from nearly 5 months of travel with a 3-week break in April. It is good to sleep in my own bed, and in the same place for more than two nights I a row.

I am not sure that I can say that I miss my itinerant lifestyle. I am sure that I never got tired or bored with it.

I am hugely grateful to the wonderful friends I have around the world who were such fabulous hosts. Many of them I met through work, and as they moved in to overseas assignments they said “come and visit” and I took them up on the offer. I would not have enjoyed the experiences I did without them, and am profoundly grateful for their incredible hospitality. Thank you one and all from the bottom of my heart.

The most common question has been “where did you enjoy the most?” I can honestly say that each place was so different that I could not come up with a favorite, except maybe New Zealand. I was there almost a month and in reality saw (or scratched the surface of) about half of South Island. It is a truly amazing place in terms of the people, the fabulous and pristine scenery, and the ease of getting around.

Part of me wanted to go to see if I should have gone there 40 years ago, but another part says that I am a very different person now and New Zealand is a very different place. I would love to talk with my friend Roy Vinden who spent a year there in the 70s and would have a much better sense of how life was in those days.

Perhaps my greatest realization was that my son Gavin is in a great position to go and experience some of what I saw. He is, like many other graduates not able to get interviews for a job that matches their education. I met lots of people his age in similar circumstances that were traveling and learning, and generally having fun. Gavin is laid back enough to be able to do this and enjoy the experience and will return with a wealth of experience and a level of confidence you cannot achieve under normal circumstances.

The travel bug is alive and well and the list (call it a bucket list if you will) is no shorter today than it was five months ago. It may be slightly different but no shorter.

Future plans or concepts include learning Spanish in Guatemala, visiting Nepal and flying in and out of Lukla (basically a short runway on the side of a mountain) and visiting Peter’s uncle (from my French visit) who has two lodges one of which is a rebuilt farmhouse. They also do adventure trips like hiking and white water rafting in the Himalayas, and maybe a trip to Darjeeling in India. My brother Steve wants to go there so we may meet or he may like to join me in Nepal.

There is still a huge amount of the USA that I have not seen and the Northwest is of great interest to me. Mountains again and remote less traveled areas.

The thing I really discovered is that each place has it’s own personality and manages their issues in very different ways. Moving people around in Tokyo and Mumbai are similar in ways but how it is done is hugely different. I think I did a post on transportation after my Japan visit. I should go back and read it.

Many thanks to all the readers and followers who have commented (even when it was difficult to do so). The blog has been a true learning experience both in how you do it (like adding video clips) and what it has taught me about writing style and trying not to be just a travelogue..

I need to see if there is a way to print it out and kind of make a book.

Hang in there for the next round when ever that is.

The final week of the world trip

I have just completed my last week of travel for a while.

I was able to catch up with family and friends. My sister Mags and I along with her grand daughter Ellie went to Chartwell House, which was Winston Churchill’s home. 

Beautiful gardens and a house that has a superb view of the Weald of Kent. Some parts date back to the 1500s, and a large addition from the 1920s.

Back home for a final visit from the latest addition to their family, a daughter Erin for my lovely nephew Piers, and his lovely wife Marion. I have been to Ireland with them twice on vacation and love them dearly. Erin is a wonderful addition.

I actually broke down and rented a car for a few days and saw my cousin Barbara and also some other friends. Cleone, who spent a couple of summers with us when the kids were little. She is approaching her 40^th with a 16 year old and a 14 year old, and her Mom Jackie who I have known since she was 8 and I was 10! It is funny that we basically could not stand each other at that time but of all of her siblings we have remained closest over the years. Cleone lives in Market Harborough a nice small market town.

I wandered around town on Saturday morning and saw a building that is now the town Council offices but used to be Symingtons factory. One of my best pals when I was small was Robert Symington, and they lived at the big house in the village. Robert and I got into all sorts of trouble as kids. His Dad owned the factory, which I think he had inherited from the family. They made ladies corsets and other mysterious garments!. It closed in the 70s, but I discovered on this trip that during WW2 they made parachutes and apparently made over a million of them during the course of the war. The current building houses a museum, which I did not have time to visit.

I then spent the weekend with Andy and Chris Corner, and our mutual friend Barbara (with whom I did the narrow boat trip). 

We have all been friends for 46 years, and manage to get together every couple of years at least for lunch or dinner.

It is both gratifying and very satisfying having friends like this, where the relationships have been sustained over that length of time and where you can essentially pick it up and put it down at short notice. There is no doubt that we have all had our challenges in life and that those challenges have been different for each of us, but we all have kids who are successful in their own professions and are good role models for their kids or others around them. 

That is a huge accomplishment. I am very proud of all the friends I have and in particular these ones, and my long time buddy in Scotland Geoff.

We had lunch at the pub next to their house and I also saw the recently opened “Village shop” which is actually owned by the villagers and manned by volunteers. Quite an interesting little venture. It is located in the pub car park.

I am going to do one more post with some overall thoughts about the last 5 months and what I have seen and learned. I would not have missed it for the world, and can only think of two days on the whole trip when I was a little down.

Thoughts on French strikes and the PIIGS economic situation

Getting caught up in one of the regular French strikes on the railways (or anything else for that matter) caused me to talk with Peter about French attitudes and their workers expectations. In another post I mentioned the amount of vacation that most people in France are entitled to, and I learned more about the apparent inflexibility that most unions have to change. They appear to be highly protective of the workers and the jobs that they have and pretty much to hell with anyone else. It is incredibly difficult to fire anyone even if they are grossly incompetent, and there is level of mistrust between workers and management that is not seen elsewhere. The end result is that employers look for ways to automate jobs, and will do about anything to not increase the workforce, and international companies like Caterpillar and Volvo would likely not give France a second look as a potential site to expand or relocate a part of their business.

The unemployment rate amongst young people, particularly the disadvantaged youth in the northern Paris suburbs like St Denis, who are mainly of North African descent is about 45% and a proposal a couple of years ago to modify job tenure laws to improve their chances was defeated by the unions. I will find a way to link to the article as it is indicative of a larger problem that Europe is just beginning to come to terms with.

Link to the article referenced above

French unemployment article

The other thing that struck me was that to a large extent the way of life in the villages and small towns has not changed substantially. Small farms still dominate the landscape and school kids still come home for lunch. Shops close for an hour or two in the middle of the day and close at 12 on Saturday for the weekend.

You could well argue that they are the smart ones and those people who take 20 minutes for lunch, or even worse, eat lunch at their desk are the ones who need to change. In a perfect world that is probably true, but in the world of cost cutting, job cutting and outsourcing to India, China and Malaysia it cannot be sustained.

We have just had the Greek currency crisis, and that is likely the first of many as the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy Ireland Greece and Spain) finally realize, along with the UK and the USA that life as we know it will be fundamentally changing. Greece has a huge public sector employment and a lousy rate of people actually paying their taxes, and I suspect that most of the others will have similar problems that will have to be tackled at some point. I just read an interesting article about why more people should be audited. It might be a useful strategy for some of the PIIGS countries

Tax audits and the benefits of same

It will be interesting to see what David Cameron comes up with in his emergency budget in the UK on June 22^nd (I think).

Does Britain really need nuclear submarines and new tanks? Wars do not seem to be fought that way anymore, it is more by drones over Afghanistan operated by someone sitting at a console in Tampa Florida.

What started out as an observation of life in France has morphed into a more general rant over the serious economic situation we are ALL in. I hope my pension survives!!