Epilogue

Once you attain Wisdom there's no use going any further. In this case, if I was a good writer I would have left well enough alone and ended the blog yesterday.

I am not a good writer however, so I felt obligated to bring the reader home with me, even though today's journey was over ground we have often tread upon.

From Wisdom I headed virtually due west. One more stop before leaving Montana though was a National Historic Site, the Big Hole Battlefield.

I had read and heard some of the details of the incident that precipitated the flight of the Nez Perce from the Whitebird (Id.) battle site, the opening battle of the Nez Perce War. I have heard of the 1170 mile "fighting retreat" that Chief Joseph had taken his people on, eventually resulting in his surrender only a short distance shy of freedom at the Canadian border. His words of surrender are powerful, "I will fight forever no more".

What I had not heard was the story of the massacre at Big Hole that left many of the women, children and elders in Chief Joseph's group dead, turning the river red. The presentation was well put together and perhaps a bit one sided. No doubt this was a massacre, but it is also one in a series of events. If you are interested, research the story of young Chief Joseph.

From there the road climbed quickly to another crossing of the Continental Divide

then, in less than a mile, I was home

It was at the junction of highway 93 that the final decision of this journey was made. North to Lolo Pass or south to the Sawtooths? I turned left and headed south toward Salmon, taking me through North Fork. 

It is at the intersection of Hwy 93 and the North Fork Road that at least two of my daughters have, I would imagine, memories of their mother.

Julie will know this point as the weekend oasis for Girl Scout Camp Counselors, a place to do their laundry and buy a treat for back at camp. Betty and I delivered Julie to camp and figured out how to "open" the kitchen for the summer when the cook didn't show up but the Counselors-to-be did. Betty cooked the first camp meal for everyone before we turned them over to the arriving Generals.

And Lisa knows this intersection as near the end of the road for the Middle Fork of the Salmon River shuttle that she and her mother did for a group of vehicles when I ran the River of No Return. The shuttle was 275 miles round trip and, between the two of them, they managed to shuttle all the vehicles and change all the flat tires (barely) without killing themselves!

But after all the times I've traveled this way I just today noticed this marker sitting back in the weeds

It is a tribute to "Old Toby" of the Corp of Discovery, who led Lewis and Clark through the Idaho Mountains when the Salmon River was shown to be the River of No Return!

From there it was a matter of riding it out, through the long miles and stifling heat. When I pulled into my driveway at 7:02 p.m. It was 101 degrees, a far cry from the frozen tundra of the Arctic Circle. I had logged just over 6700 miles by motorcycle in 39 days, several of which were down days while waiting for repairs.

During that time I had seen a Grizzly bear, black bear, deer, caribou, bison, fox, coyote, numerous Bald Eagles, too many moose to count, whales, porpoise, and many birds. I had traveled to the Arctic Circle, ridden in every type of condition in temperatures from the low 40's to the low 100's, met interesting people and annoying people, celebrated Canada Day and the 4th of July and dragged a dead moose off the road.

Although it's good to be home (with air conditioning) and it will be nice to sleep in my own bed, I will miss the open road, for now. There are pictures to sort and label, stories to tell and retell, new tires to buy...

Then we can start thinking about the next trip. My Navigator won't let me rest for long.