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Ritzville

I’m a 1000 miles from nowhere

Time don’t matter to me

‘Cause I’m a 1000 miles from nowhere

And there’s no place I wanna be

Dwight Yoakam

Ritzville is a pass-by town, a freeway town where farmers drop off their wheat to be shipped off. Unlike Walla Walla, it hasn’t made the transition into the local food movement that can bolster a town’s economy. Ritzville is barely hanging on. In these towns, it’s always the Mexicans who work as ranch hands or in the slaughter houses or run and work in the restaurants that keep these places alive. In Ritzville, it was no different. The only place that showed any sign of life was Las Casuelas, a restaurant on the main drag. Here, we were greeted with smiles and made to feel at home so far from our own.

Movement, like that of our road trip, is made up of time and space. Being in nowhere makes time not matter. It is in these places that I feel like there is no other place I’d rather be. When I’m in cities, I’m always thinking about the next spot, never content with who I am or what I am doing. But it is the Ritzvilles of the world where I feel like other times and places don’t matter anymore.

Tokio Road

Settlers and even modern day people feel a great sense of dread in the plains. People complain about the flatness, but if you get out of your car and actually explore, you can see that there are lots of little dips and nooks and crannies to get lost in. And this is what makes people not from the so-called flatlands so terrified of the plains. The wide openness is truly terrifying but intriguing. You just have to get out of your car to truly appreciate it.

Grand Coulee Dam

Now the world holds seven wonders that the travelers always tell,
Some gardens and some towers,
I guess you know them well.
But now the greatest wonder is in Uncle Sam's fair land,
It's the big Columbia River and the big Grand Coulee Dam.
Woody Guthrie (1941)

Don't feel sorry for yourself
I'll always wait for you
Your ghost is a lightshow at night
On the Grand Coulee Dam.
The river is watching you
At the drive-in tonight
Who do they comfort now
Since I've gone away?
Neko Case (2007

Moses Mountain 6762 feet

In the Colville Indian Reservation, we turned off at a road with a sign labeling it as the road to the Moses Mountain Lookout. We drove some 7 or 8 miles up a torn-up dirt road, with a dry landscape of scraggly trees not unlike the Black Hills of South Dakota for its spookiness, stopping when it was too tough for Tommy the Truck to go on. We walked the last 2.5 to 3 miles on a wild, lonely road covered in tracks and scat of large critters, to find an enormous fire lookout and some space-aged weather equipment. The walk up was spooky and we wondered about the presence of bear, cougar, and Big Foot. But somehow we were comforted by the presence of a gravestone we found along the way:

Truman D. Picard 1947-1985
Father-Husband-Friend

We discovered, with a little help from Google, that Truman was a forest lookout and worked on the Intertribal Timber Council, which is a consortium of over 60 tribes that is dedicated to protecting the natural resources on Native American lands. A scholarship is given in his name to Native Americans seeking degrees in Natural Resources. Somehow knowing that the place was sacred made us feel safe.

More Stars than there are in Heaven

Patterson Mountain: Methow Valley

Twisp River and Twisp Pass Wildflowers

Note the false morel.

Self-Portrait of the Adventure Buddies

There are several requisites for travel. First, a world and a region of world to traverse; second, a traveller; third, means of conveyance, legs human or other, barks, carts, enchanted carpets, and the like; fourth, guidance by man personal, or man impersonal acting by roads, guide-boards, maps, and itineraries; fifth, multifarious wherewithals.

Theodore Winthrop, The Canoe and the Saddle

Portland: The City of Roses

Firstly, Portland appears to be a gastronomical paradise. Restaurants were outstanding and well-priced. We can only assume that prices were so reasonable because of the competition and the bountiful agricultural supply from the area surrounding Portland. We also loved this little store, Paxton Gate, which had beautiful preserved beetles, a wide selection of carnivorous plants, and intricate scientific instruments. Definitely worth a visit.