We woke this morning to the same sounds of the Little Salmon River that lulled us to sleep last evening. While the sun was creeping up behind the hills to the East and crept down the slopes across the river to our West, it painted the water with greenish hue.
Less than a dozen miles down (actually north) along US-95, we passed through the quaint, and surprisingly full-service town of Riggins where two deer suddenly darted across the street in front of us.
A couple of miles and few curves past Riggins,
we again crossed the Salmon River where we simultaneously crossed from Mountain to Pacific time.
As it was no way as tight or steep a canyon as we’ve navigated through in the past, we enjoyed the views of the mostly smooth, rolling hills and Salmon River beside which the roadbed was constructed.
We passed through the town of White Bird on the Nez Perce Reservation. Interestingly, the Nez Perce are an indigenous people of the Plateau who live in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States which is on the Columbia River Plateau. They are federally recognized as the Nez Perce Tribe and govern their reservation in Idaho.
Crossing the bridge in White Bird (elevation 1,581 feet) we began a steady, seven mile(arduous for our motorhome) climb
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While my eyes were focused forward, Debbie had the luxury to occasionally glance back
to White Bird Hill Summit (elevation 4,245 feet).
Of course, what goes up must come down …
Although, fortunately, only about 800’ into a high and wide farming valley.
As we’ve traveled across the country, particularly the “farm belt”, we’ve seen a wide variety of crops. Identifying corn is a “no brainer” and we think we’re pretty good at spotting hay,
canola
and even milo. However, we admit that we’re still pretty ignorant about most crops we pass as well as farming in general!
So it was refreshing to see fields identified as to what was planted … not that we’ll remember most of them.
Stay tuned … there’ll be a test on what you remember!
About 40 miles from our campground, we stopped at a Rest Area. While “open carry” is common in many rural states … and even in those states restrictions are in place to restrict guns from such places as schools, court rooms, churches and even political conventions, we were certainly glad that in its infinite wisdom, Idaho has ensured its citizens and guests to the state will not be intimidated while tending to their “business”!
We loved the sign for a local B&B.
And, yes, there were some barns Debbie couldn’t help not photographing.
There was another descent into Lewiston, ID
where we passed one neat mural
before crossing the Snake River into Clarkston,
where we’ll spend another day before moving on further west.
On the recommendation of the owner of the campground where we're staying, we wemt to
fo dinner … excellent spicy chicken and pasta, live music and a great view over teh Snake River.
