Flexibility & Spontaneity: Major Change of Plans

Is it still a road-trip if you grab a plane here and there? As we absorbed the ambience of Burley, Idaho - that took a minute or two - we realized that we had three choices: convert to the LDS church and stay in SE Idaho; do a 180, and head back home; or get out the pruning shears, the credit card and the ingenuity and figure out a way to actually visit most of the places and the people we had set out to see in the time available.

So, we are now on the way to Denver. Yep, Denver, where Roger was born, home of a large airport, and a driveable distance to the Dakotas. The current plan is to make separate airborn excursions to Oklahoma and the Virginias. The exact agendas is still taking shape.

Today's other milestone: We had idleberry pie in Idle Isle in Brigham City, one of the 500 delectables one is supposed to eat "before its too late". At least that's what the book that Walter Henze sent us said. Only 499 to go. (By the way, it was delicious.)

The Loneliness of the long-distance road tripper

Today we came face-to-face with the enormity of the continental U.S., and our shrinking ability to spend our lives staring out of a car's windshield. Not that the scenery isn't captivating: the snowy Blue Mountains over which the Emigrants trudged on the Oregon Trail 160 years ago; the sinewy Snake River, tamed unfortunately by dismal dams; and the incredibly fertile fields of Oregon and Idaho. In fact the dilemma is the opposite: as we rush across the landscape at warp speed, there are so many unexplored and unimagined byways that flicker past while calling out.

So how indeed are we going to pursue this dream of ours? We ended up in Burley, Idaho for the night, well short of some imaginary plan to reach Salt Lake. What is clear is that plans are gossamer shackles that have nothing to do with life on the road, not if one wants to be more part of life and less part of the road.

So we have a decision to make: hue to the plan, or start letting fate improvise (which she will do whether we give her permission or not). We will sleep on it, and visit tomorrow when it comes.

Day 1 Begins with a Splash

Road Trip USA - Day 1: Okanogan to Palouse Falls, with a night in Walla Walla

Our day began in fire and ended in (near) water. We spent the morning with folks from Okanogan High School, Washington's Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the redoubtable fire ecologist Jim Agee from the University of Washington. Our friend Lee took us on a charred tour of the remains of his forest along the Loup Loup Creek to its confluence with the Little Loup, the creek that courses through our forest. The Oden Road fire this summer swept through 10,000 acres of these hidden canyons.

The purpose of our hike was to plan a workshop for students from the advanced biology class at Okanogan High School, and students in the Ecology class at the Wenatchee Valley Community College, that we will conduct soon after our return. The students will learn about the vagaries and force of wildfire, and will start a series of scientific monitoring projects that future students will use to document the way this fire-evolved landscape responds to predictable - but awesome - events.

After lunch, we packed the trusty Camry - no sudden accelerations here - and headed south-east, through the channeled scablands sculpted by the catalysmic floods from the last ice age. Our objective was Palouse Falls, a dramatic fall that spews over the basalt and empties into the Snake River, near Walla Walla, where we spent the night. A fitting start to a great adventure.

Map (Tentative) of our Planned Road Trip

Day minus 1 (or minus 2 ) and counting

We are still in the Okanogan, planning the fire ecology workshop we will be sponsoring in mid-May. Depending on how things go tomorrow with our instructors, we will either leave tomorrow or put our departure off until Tuesday, Macrh 30th.

Meanwhile, here is the tentative map of our trip. Just paste it in your web browser, and you will conclude - as we already have - that we are out of our minds.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Buzzard+Lake+98840&daddr=Palouse+Falls,+WA+to:Walla+Walla,+WA+to:John+Day+OR+to:SALT+LAKE+CITY,+UT+to:Ramah,+New+Mexico+to:Wewoka+OK+to:Greenville,+MS+to:Abingdon,+Washington,+Virginia+to:Thomas+WV+to:Chicago,+IL+to:Minneapolis,+Hennepin,+Minnesota+to:Belcourt+ND+to:Wessington+Springs+SD+to:Livingston,+Mt+to:Spokane+WA+to:Seattle+WA&geocode=FYHT4gId5Evd-Cn96I5SFcCcVDHybw11qYgcSA%3BFbsHyAIdBQ30-ClXE1Qfqk6fVDHm9smkfx-n_w%3BFcXjvgIdkzry-Ck799CgSxWiVDHUsR3nz6_EEg%3BFfS7pQIdzuvo-CmrV6drcQW7VDGmF97QJw8tnw%3BFcv1bQIdma1U-SntMdGIlD1ShzHKMU1IoLdTWw%3BFaEWGAIdI4yI-SmDRUNF3FokhzG0JVNt_DbW2Q%3BFaJ6GAId3qA_-ilhqBmSKYSzhzHAjcDKwWEBfg%3BFUTM_QEd8oGS-in7ya63ze8rhjERUfSsgeToBQ%3BFcklMAId_B8d-yndwv1yFhNQiDE-xKvVHigKgQ%3BFcVdVQIdg_RC-ykBfd08CslKiDEby6wMqJBxzQ%3BFbGUfgId_JDG-inty_TQPCwOiDEAwMAJrabgrw%3BFf1WrgIdJOhw-im9u3eTkDOzUjEH7novhMmfkw%3BFQM66QIdmwMO-ilvtrCsdPjcUjFnr2ZP1Ep9UQ%3BFTWYoAIdwPIf-ikDj-8k_wGHhzHZQt0UW4wkQg%3BFbi-uAIdhPNo-SkjR6AnvhNFUzFMjIRaJjKWRQ%3BFRw31wIdgTgA-Snl57swXBieVDGx2YQL1sn83Q%3B&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=41.015865,-99.607645&sspn=44.726709,62.666016&ie=UTF8&ll=41.046217,-100.898437&spn=44.726709,62.666016&z=4

10 days and counting

With whimsy and chance as our compass, Roger and Fernne are packing up for a wander around the country. Our plan is to visit old friends in new (to us) places, observe the march of spring across the landscape, and enjoy the spontaneity ands romance of a trip across this magnificent landscape.

Follow along with us if you are so inclined.

Roger and Fernne

file:///Users/rogerrosenblatt/Desktop/Rosenblatt%20Road%20Trip.webarchive