Mary called while we were there and she was running errands and one was the post office which was right across the street from the tire place. She stopped by for a few minutes and then they decided we'd all meet back at her house. First, though, Nancy had to get stamps, and then some things from the drug store which was right across the street from the post office. This is a very convenient town--everything is close together.
We got to Mary's and Nancy knocked on the door and thought Mary yelled that she'd be right there so we waited in the truck. Turned out she had yelled from the porch. Well, we finally got our communication straight, and "Thelma and Louise" started out for a ghost town called Warren.
First Mary stopped at the ranger station and got little books (which we could keep) and a DVD which gave a self guided tour. We passed by Payette Lake and went up into the back country. The road was so rough at times that if Nancy went any more than 10 mph the truck would have skipped sidewards off the road. We were in moose country--Nancy really wanted to see one, but we didn't. :-( The scenery was beautiful on the drive, though. We all got out along the road and walked for a little while. Nancy and I walked up a little dirt road and there was the prettiest stream there. If it were earlier in the day, she would have let me go swimming. I guarantee if Lizzie had been with us, we would have gone right then. Central and Western Central Idaho is full of lakes and streams. It really is a beautiful state.
There were fires in the 80s and 90s that burned the trees for 300 square miles. Mary said that the town of McCall was in danger. She said she always had three trunks packed just in case she had to evacuate. She had no help because they called the loggers in to help when there was a fire, and Gerald was a logger.
Mary is like an encyclopedia. She knows so much about the history of the area, she's amazing. I forget when I'm on a dirt road that I can't just stop, get out, and take a picture. Mary reminded me - she's a lot of fun to be with.
They planned to go out to dinner, but the Lunchables that Nancy brought gave Mary indigestion, and when we got back and dropped the DVD off back at the ranger station, we could see that Mary's hip was really bothering her. We don't want her to go on any more roads. She has a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks to find out what her alternatives for treatment are. She never complained once on the drive, so we felt bad when we got to her house that she was in pain. Not good. We won't crowd her days, we'll stop in and visit on her lovely porch.
When they were talking about logging, Nancy mentioned that when they came west the first time she kept trying to think of a movie she had seen years before--she couldn't remember the name at first and it drove her nuts. It was called "Sometimes a Great Notion". What a coincidence, Mary and the author, Ken Kesey, were in the same graduating class. Funnier still is that he also wrote "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest." It's the movie Michael saw after he went home--part of it was filmed in Depoe Bay. Mary is very well read and it's amazing that she's so well versed on so many subjects and levels.
As soon as we got back into cell range, Susan called. She was worried. There was no way there was any kind of service in the back country. To add to the length of time in the truck, there was construction on the dirt road and we sat for half an hour each way until they could let us go by. Nancy didn't take a lot of pictures, mostly because it's holding someone up if she stops every five minutes. If you read the history of the the town (link above) and want to see more pictures of Warren, they are on the web. These are ours, though:
This is moose territory. It's the same type of Terrain that Nancy and Rich saw moose on one of their trips. Nancy won't be happy if she doesn't see a moose and a Bald Eagle on this trip.
This is the stream I wanted to go in. This is the stream Lizzie would have been in.
This inn has a sign on the door that says, "We will open soon. We are waiting for a permit. Thank you for your patience." Nancy got back in and thought she was going to tell Mary something she didn't know, and Mary said the sign had been there for years. The ride up sort of reminded Nancy of the ride to Polebridge MT where she went with Rich. It's so far in the back country, I mean you are ALONE. You'd better like yourself A LOT. Mary explained how the people who live way out in the back country use snow mobiles to get them down to a dirt parking lot down the mountains where they are trucked into town. There's also a school bus turn-around.
It seems that people in the west have good senses of humor:
Zip Code 83671
The rest of the town
Wow, gorgeous country!! Wish I was there.
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