To the Finish Line...

Ok. I know its been a loong time since I updated. That's my fault for being home and lazy. No apologies, thats just the way wizards are. Live with it. ;) Anyway, back to the story...

My next stop for the night was Wenatchee, Washington. Not much to the place for me. Its a regional agricultural area which seems to be a center for wine production and fruit. You know those apples grown in Washington you always hear about? This is the "Apple Capital of the World"(so they say). For me, it was just a place to sleep for the night. however, once I passed through I noticed a lot of vineyards. Perhaps a return is in order for some wine shopping?

Aleksandra surprised me in the morning, by being ready to go! She finally got the program down and was waiting in her carrier before I even got showered. Silly cat. NOW she gets it!




One thing of note was a motorcycle in the motel parking lot. The Harley-Dee was registered in Edinburgh, Scotland! Weird. I didn't meet the rider, but that could have been an interesting conversation. I did meet a biker earlier, in the Dakotas from Malaysia. His English wasn't that good and neither is my command of Malay, so that made the conversation brief. He was on the way to Sturgis, SD from the Malaysian UN mission in NYC. His bike was the only one I have ever seen with US Diplomatic License plates. Who knew they even made them?






After Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Washington was next on the road. The entire town center is modeled on a Bavarian village. As was expected, it was filled with tourists, so I didn't stop. I have been here before, and will likely do so again. It's a nice little tourist town (population under 2,000) nestled in the mountains. I suspect it would be great during Christmastime when there's snow (or mebbe Oktoberfest?).



And now, ON TO THE COAST!

My Journey into the "Forbidden Zone"

From the Grand Coulee Dam, I followed a "Blue Highway" (WA 155) south towards Wenatchee, WA, my planned overnight stop. Its a rather interesting path as it is bordered by huge basalt lava flows, much like the Columbia River basin.

It was then I saw this very interesting sight just ahead along the road. (See photo above) It looked very bizarre, almost like a fantasy landscape from a pulp novel cover. The photograph really doesn't do it justice. The juxtaposition of visual elements just got to me. That meant I had to explore more.

So I drove around the shore of Banks Lake and discovered Steamboat Rock State Park. Close to one side of the park is a bit of the lake called the Devil's Punchbowl. Wow...first the Devils Tower and now his Punchbowl. How lucky I am! The name of the park comes from Steamboat Rock. (DUH). This is a massive butte of basalt that dominates the landscape. It covers about 600* acres and is about 800 feet high, from the lake. When I saw it, it reminded me of the scenes in the Planet of the Apes movies, of the "Forbidden Zone". Its not often you see a huge lake in the middle of an arid desert. All I needed to view was some gorilla skins draped over St. Andrews crosses at the summit ridge to convince me I had dropped into one of those movies.

Now that photo is a bit deceiving.

First, it really doesn't show how big it really is. It's quite far from where my car is parked. A person standing at the top of the cliff would only be a couple pixels big. Second, just behind me (facing away from that butte) are perfectly groomed, green, fully modern campsites with running water. How weird is that? They also have a boat launch and other amenities. The campsites were about 2/3's full. It was gorgeous! (see the park website link). When I decide to take my tent out on a camping trip, this is one place now on my list. If you want a camping stop that is a bit unusual, this is a place to go.

Now as a kid, I would have loved to have visited such a place. I really would have felt I was on another planet. The long drive alone would have added to the illusion, especially if I had napped on the way there, and woke up as we arrived.

The neighboring campers probably would have wondered why I was running around and making chimp noises, though.

Washington State

After getting a $1.25 Mexican Pepsi-Cola (made with cane sugar, not HFCS) at a gas station in Idaho, I took a quick zig over to Spokane, WA. Nothing much to report from there, as I was visiting a long time internet friend from the old AOL Chat room era. We chatted up and had dinner twice...my first baby steps into authentic Indo-Chinese delicacies.

I won't get into the details, as I am a complete novice, but the Vietnamese food (especially the soup) I had was very tasty. I also had a "Vietnamese Coffee": a glass of cold coffee, sweetened and with cream and ice. Where have I seen that before?

We also visited a so-so exhibition of Leonardo DaVinci stuff, in Spokane. I say "so-so" because it wasn't even close to what I saw at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, Italy. (MUSEO NAZIONALE DELLA SCIENZA E DELLA TECNOLOGIA LEONARDO DA VINCI). That was awesome. But I suppose for folks not so lucky to visit Italy, this traveling show was good enough. Perhaps its enough to get those interested to seek out the real thing or at least follow up for further information? On a brighter note, I did get a pamphlet that shows how to make paint from scratch. I always wanted to do that, and use them in a painting.

Anyway, after Spokane, I zagged on over to the Grand Coulee Dam. Like most people, I have heard about it, but never saw it. Hydroelectric dams are not on many people's bucket list of things to see before you die. Its not on mine, either, but since I was close, why not? Isn't that the purpose of this road trip? Well, see the photo at the top. Not too impressive from a distance, but up close...Click on that whopper of a photograph!

It's HUGE! About a mile long from end to end. The largest dam in North America.


I stayed at the Visitor's Center for awhile and read most of the exhibits and stuff. I was surprised that there was so much PC propaganda, and nothing on how the power provided by the dam was instrumental on the production of the atomic bomb during WWII. Anyway, I was almost going to take the tour of one of the electrical power plants, but it was getting warm, and I had to consider Aleksandra in the car. In addition, they also didn't allow firearms. No real biggy, I guess. I just feel so nekkid unarmed.

It is pretty impressive and a testament about what Americans can do. Remember, this was built during the Great Depression (1933-42) and the beginning of WWII. Think we would do that today? I seriously doubt it. This is what "green" energy is all about: NO pollution and it enhances the environment.

Next up: My Journey into the "Forbidden Zone".

Idaho+

After Montana I zipped up to the Sandpoint, Idaho vicinity on Lake Pend Oreille. I must say, it is quite a beautiful area. Now, as a Minnesota Native, that's easy to understand. I will always prefer fresh water over seawater. Freshwater rarely is home to critters that can eat you and/or sting you to death. Plus, you can drink it without much, if any, processing.

A long time BP colleague, mentor and friend lives up that way, and he was the purpose of the visit. As we are both retired, it was a great opportunity to catch-up and reminisce about the Old Patrol.

The first thing I was treated to was breakfast and a ride on my comrade's boat. Breakfast consisted of a cold bottle of Black Butte Porter. Mmm. Not exactly bacon & eggs, but apropos: I was back in the Pacific Northwest.

It was on this brief morning jaunt to the fuel dock, that I was informed that the lake was the former home of the Farragut Naval Training Station during World War II, and is one of the largest and deepest lakes in the Northwest. As I was helping my buddy moor his boat, I witnessed an overflight of two V-22 Osprey aircraft. What they were doing there is anyone's guess, but it was pretty cool. No photos because I had my hands tied up with some boat lines. (Wait, that doesn't look right. I meant, "my hands were occupied with handling the boat's lines...")

One of the high points of my visit was a side-trip to Spokane, WA for dinner with more former comrades in arms. We all swapped stories, but I mostly listened to the dirt and gossip of things far removed from my experience. I guess I am still just an innocent "Boy Scout" when it comes to such things. In any event, we all had a good time.

Group photo is courtesy of my buddy.

Another treat of my visit was a dinner at Slates Prime Time Grill & Sports Bar, with my old BP partner. He suggested the place, and said he was a regular. I had misgivings because sports bars tend to have the usual finger fodder for beer drinking and perhaps one signature offering of some repute. However, I was on a quest for new discoveries and put my doubts aside. In addition, my buddy has rarely led me astray, on or off the field. Trust is earned for a reason.

The menu was quite extensive for a sports bar. Also, my buddy knew all the cute waitresses by name, so he was indeed a regular customer. This bolstered my courage and I bravely ordered the Mussels Marinara. The menu listing looked scrumptious, but I would see for myself soon enough. Oh, the Mojito I ordered was perfect! A good omen.

Now, I was banking on my theory that great seafood is often found far away from the sea. The reasoning is that it costs the same to ship quality sea food to the interior as it does the crap. Therefore, they may as well just ship and offer the good quality stuff as the difference in price would be marginal, after shipping costs are combined. I have had very bad seafood on the coast. Some of it has been just awful. I figure this is the crap they keep, when they ship the good stuff out. Now there is a good mountain range or three between Idaho and the closest seacoast, so this would be a good test. It should also be noted that I have had Mussels Marinara several times in Italy, where I was introduced to the little sea critters and the dish. My taste buds had been calibrated by the best. It wasn't long before the still steaming entrée arrived.

OMG! It was heaven! It was as good as any I have tasted, and in a decent portion: at least a full half pound (I think a bit more than that). And none of them were "dead". That is, unopened shells. You never eat those, if you are served them. A closed shell is a sign the mussel is flawed in some manner and not to be consumed. A good restaurant will never allow them to be served. Sometimes they are. The seasoning was perfect, as was the linguini...Al dente. Wow. It was a magnificent experience. The second Mojito was as good as the first.

If you ever happen to visit that area of Idaho, I cannot recommend Slates Prime Time Grill & Sports Bar more. Check the link provided above. I will be back there for certain.

Aleksandra had been a good girl. She liked Idaho, too. I mean, how could she complain when the room furniture was made from scratching posts!



Just kidding. She behaved herself like the lady she is.

Nate & Rosie

My last stop in Montana was at the final I-90 rest stop before entering Idaho.

I was walking around having a cigarette when I noticed a fat guy at the restroom pavilion. He was sitting there with a large black dog and a 'Need Gas Money' cardboard sign. I assumed he had a car somewhere about, so I strolled a bit and found a rather disheveled old Subaru with Montana license plates. Two fishing poles were evident, as well as the usual car trash associated with someone living in their automobile.

I figured, this guy can't be all bad, so I walked back and initiated a conversation. It was then I also saw he had an oxygen tank and breathing tube. His name was Nate and his dog's name was Rosie.

We chatted for quite awhile. The fifty-something dude, had a basic 'down on his luck' story, and confessed of many bad decisions in his life that led him there. He also admitted to being a casualty of the "War on Drugs" and a former hippy from the battlefield of Haight-Ashbury. He was personable, honest, and straightforward. He had no excuses, and regretted wasting much of his life. Now, his goal was to make up for it and spread what good will and love he could, and become a useful member of society.

At first he asked me if I was a teacher. I said, I had been...in a way. I guess after a few of my questions, he later asked if I was a writer. I replied I was writing a bit, mostly online. He seemed more satisfied with that response.

I told him I didn't have any money for gasoline, but I had $5 for dog food. I said, "Rosie's gotta eat, too." He shined a big grin as I handed him a fiver and said, "Rosie, go say 'Hi and thank you' to the nice man!", and she did. She walked right up and plopped her big head in my lap, tail a-wagging. I am such a sucker.

It was about that time when a young, attractive, and rather buxom blonde, gal showed up to ask Nate, "Do you mind if I give your dog a treat?"

Nate had no problem with that. She went back to her car, and came back with a rawhide doggie treat and her own big mutt, which looked like a Shepard/husky mix. Old Rosie ignored the treat nudging it away with her nose, and then crawled submissively towards the new dog; an obvious male. The mutts flirted a bit.

And then with a quick "G'bye!", the blonde left as her dog then dragged her off to the potty area.

Shortly thereafter, I wished Nate and Rosie good fortune, and returned to the road.

It was the only time during my road trip I regretted Aleksandra was a cat and not a dog.

...WAIT! There's MO!

Besides the old prison itself, the price of admission also includes The Montana Law Enforcement Museum (actually a set-aside area within the old prison), Frontier Montana Museum, Desert John's Saloon Museum, and the Montana Auto Museum!

Whew. What a goldmine of cool stuff!

But before I get to those, here's another photo from the prison:


That's some contraband confiscated from prisoners and other related artifacts including weighed down shoes (twenty pound concrete soles, for likely escapee prisoners) and a set of locks used in a lock-picking 'school', set up by inmates. They also had the bazooka used by the Montana National Guard to help suppress a prison riot in 1959.


The Montana Law Enforcement Museum was pretty minimal, but it was being revised and expanded. All that was open was a memorial for officers slain in the line of duty, and some sample uniforms. (See lead photo of the memorial above)

The Frontier Montana Museum was small but very impressive. EVERYTHING there was of extremely high quality, for a museum exhibit. I don't have many photos from there, as my camera battery decided to take a dump, and I was too lazy to go back to the car for another one. It was a mini-version of the Buffalo Bill Center in Cody, with an emphasis on just Montana history. All sorts of artifacts and curios are exhibited from gambler's tools of the trade to firearms and military regalia. All sorts of pioneer stuff, too. Pretty cool.

The two shots I did take, before that camera battery pooped out, are of a replica of a sheriff/town marshal office. Except for a few of the antiques, it doesn't look much different than my home office.

I guess some things never change.




Desert John's Saloon Museum was an odd place. It is an attached section of the Frontier museum which was basically an old saloon bar and accouterments and a massive collection of liquor bottles. I mean, they had walls of shelves filled with empty booze bottles and crockery. Now, I am no bottle collector, so I just glanced around a bit as I sauntered through. I did notice a few from some now defunct Seattle distillery. Who knew Seattle provided spirits to cowboys, miners, and ranchers in them olden days? Again, no photos by me. Visit the website link above.

Now the Montana Auto Museum was something to behold. USA Today rates it as one of the 10 Best auto collections in the country. From the outside it doesn't look like much. It looks rather small. Once inside I understood. They jammed the cars in there like sardines. There's about 120 cars in the collection. Here's a few choice bits:






Forgive the photo quality as it wasn't lighted very well and my tiny camera's flash wasn't up to the job at hand. If you are wondering about that camouflaged VW dune buggy in the first photo, that was used in the film The Road Warrior (Mad Max II). How that ended up in Montana, I'll leave for you to figure out. I think it would be more at home in Wyoming.

Another little treasure Deer Lodge, Montana had was a shop that sold crafts made by Montana prison inmates. The shop is nestled among the museums I visited. They had all sorts of things, but mostly equestrian and cowboy related items: tack, bridles, hat bands, belts, etc. All of it was was extremely high quality and expensive. A nice decorated belt (I think it was braided/woven porcupine quills on leather) was $250.00! But it was gorgeous and the craftsmanship impeccable. If I was into cowboy fashion, I would have bought it. They also had some inmate "art" of varying quality; lots of nekkid wimmin and such. Heh. (No I didn't buy anything!)

Even Mo Montana!

With Reggie's Bucket-O-Dirt safely in my Challenger's trunk, I headed back west. I had nothing planned before my next "scheduled" stop in Idaho, so I just cruised along, wondering if I should attempt to beat my previous 150 mph sprint in Montana while listening to some tunes on the satellite radio. Boy, that device is certainly handy out in the middle of the boonies. I can remember listening to farm reports, Country & Western music, and the occasional news blurb when I had to scan the AM/FM radio, back in the old days. Even the old music cassettes got old after the second or third listening. For some reason, Wang Chung's Points on the Curve still reminds me of Eastern Oregon, since my last road trip in 1985.

I didn't have much luck finding a motel in Butte, Montana. Then again, I didn't look very hard. For some unknown reason, something was pushing me to go beyond. So, I kept driving. I decided to use my car's navigation system for a motel, and one was found up the road a ways in a town called Deer Lodge.

Well, the listed motel wasn't in Deer Lodge, after all. I guess I should spend the $199 to get the 2009 database updated. So, I looked around and first passed on a corporate chain place and found a small Mom & Pop joint. Unfortunately, they didn't have a room suitable for my needs. I was not about to chase Aleksandra out from under the bed at check-out time. But, in my search for lodging I did find an unexpected treasure. In the darkness I found the old Montana State Prison museum. That meant I HAD to find a place to stay, because my next day was instantly planned. I ended up getting a room at a corporate joint.

Now let me explain something first. I had read about the Old Prison Museum in a tourist pamphlet I had picked up in the vestibule of a Perkin's restaurant somewhere along the way. It looked like a cool place to visit, but a glance told me it was in some obscure place, probably not worth tracking down. Well, that wasn't true. It's actually just a stone's throw from the interstate. How I got the idea it was off in the boonies, I can't explain. Perhaps I was too hungry to read it carefully. Then again it could merely be the result of cranial flatulence. In any event, fate had drawn me to this spot, and I wasn't disappointed.


Now I know some of you won't click on the link provided, so I'll post a brief blurb of its history from their site:

"Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Montana Prison was built by inmate labor, this turn-of-the-century fortress was home to at least one member of Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch"...Stout iron bars slammed shut and locked for the first time on July 2, 1871. On that day, Montana's Territorial Prison in Deer Lodge incarcerated its first occupant...Emptied of prisoners in the late 1970s, the buildings stand now as silent sentinels to justice, a museum complex dedicated to law enforcement..."

Now I have visited prisons and jails before (DUH), but this was the first time to see one from the "Good Old Days". It was obvious that this place was built with no thought to "rehabilitation". It was strictly HARD TIME HOTEL.



It doesn't look very inviting, does it? The first inside the wall photo, is from the closest spot where a prisoner could approach the administration building without permission. One more step forward, and he could be shot by the guards.

The interior, cell block photo is on the sunny side. That's as bright as the prison gets. This was at about noon on a bright summer day.














A typical cell. (Yes, they did wear Stripes at one time).




And a women's cell.

































"The Yard" ...







and "The Hole".

The "Hole" was just a small, bare room in the lowest level. The only furnishings were two buckets: a water bucket and a "Honey Pot". Bread and water everyday except for a regular meal once a week.