Day 22 - July 3, 2015

After breakfast in Coeur d' Alene.  Ready to start the day.

Following the recommendation of our friend at breakfast we 

left the interstate and followed the Coeur d' Alene North Fork River to 

Thompson Falls

Larry captured several photos of two moose walking slowly through 

the water below a bridge we were crossing.

Wallace, ID

An abandoned silver mine in Burke, ID

A view from I-90 after we entered Montana.

July 03, 2015.  Overnight in Missoula, Montana.  Headed east.

Our day started in Liberty Lake, Washington (Pop. 8,000), which is only a couple of miles west of the Washington-Idaho state line.  We headed east on I-90, and because of the closeness to the state line we were quickly out of Washington and in Idaho, and only 21 miles from Coeur d' Alene.  We had a breakfast meeting with an old friend in Coeur d' Alene, which pleasantly lingered  until late morning.  We said our good byes, topped our gas tanks and we were on our way.

After eating breakfast we got back  on I-90 for a short while and then exited to the north at the Kingston exit where we followed Highway 503 as it meandered up the valley along the Coeur d' Alene North Fork River,  We followed this road to Thompson falls and then we backtracked a short way to pick up Beaver Creek Road south, which we followed until we reached Wallace, Idaho (Pop. 784).  It was/is apparent that Wallace, ID was once a prosperous town, probably fueled by the local lead and silver mining. Every building in downtown Wallace is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Wallace was particularly hard hit by The Great Fire of 1910 which destroyed 3 million acres (approximately the size of the state of Connecticut) in Washington, Idaho, and Montana.  The 1910 fire destroyed a third of the buildings in Wallace.  To read more about the Great Fire of 1910 click here.  

Until 1991 I-90 traffic passed through downtown Wallace.  Wallace had the last traffic light on a coast-to-coast Interstate highway at which time I-90 was located to a freeway viaduct above the north side of the town. 

After leaving Wallace we got back on I-10 headed to Missoula, Montana.  We arrived in Missoula a little after 8:00 and the sun was still high in the sky.  Sunset in Missoula today was at 9:33 MDT.  As a reference note that the sun set in Memphis today at 8:18 CDT.  Sunrise in Memphis and Missoula were within 3 minutes of each other. But, because of the later sunset there is an hour and fifteen minutes more daylight today in Missoula.  That works in reverse in the winter time.

It was hot and dry today.  The northwest part of the country is experiencing temperatures of 10-15 degrees above normal.

Another good day.