Travels with Kenny

Thursday, August 12, 2010, Missoula, Montana.

When I was 14, my first girlfriend went to Missoula for a Luther League convention. I thought that sounded pretty exotic, and I never figured I'd someday be here myself. But here I am. It's not exotic, but it is beautiful here in the Montana mountains.

We left Yakima this morning and--finally--got the car washed and vacuumed out. It was starting to look like a family of marmots was living in it (although they'd probably be a lot neater). After that we headed to Montana. I always thought Washington was pretty much all forest, but that seems to mostly be true west of the Cascade Mountains. East of the Cascades it's very open with low, brown tree-less mountains, and, finally, huge farms of hay and vegetables. Apparently, Washington sells most of its hay to Japan. I guess they feed it to Kobe beef.

Along the way, we stopped at a high vista point named the Wild Horse Monument. On a hill overlooking the vista are about 10 flat, steel statues of wild horses. You can walk up the steep hill and touch them, if you're crazy. Otherwise, the overlook looks over (hence the name) the Columbia River and a gorge it runs through. A stunning sight.

Idaho and, so far, Montana look pretty much as I expected--forested and rugged, lots of mountain roads, not many restaurants or gas stations, etc. I've been filling up with gas when I'm at half a tank, cause you never can be sure where the next gas station will be. I'm a little surprised there are no "next gas" signs in the West.

Tomorrow we're planning to ride bikes in Missoula along the Clark Fork River. It's supposed to be flat. But who knows what flat means out here.