July 1, 2017 Day 14 Saturday Driggs ID to Coeur d'Alene ID

Today was the day we said goodbye to the Tetons, for now.  As we began the long drive west and then to the North, Dick was amazed at how long we could still see the Teton Mountains from this side.  For much longer than from the East side.  We finally saw the last glimpse maybe 100 miles down the road.  Really big mountains and flat and rolling land.

Much of the land north of Driggs was devoted to raising cattle. We saw many herds of cattle grazing on the lush grass that was the result of the pastures being irrigated with big pivot or rolling sprinkler systems.

We drove along the wide, nearly flat valley formed by the Teton River.  We were looking for the site of the disaster of the failure of the Teton Dam in 1976.  Dick remembered the news of the more than 250 feet high dam suddenly collapsing sending a wall of water to the town only a few miles away.  The town was flooded and the wave continued on through several other communities and into the larger Snake River before being contained by a major dam on that river.  The warning system worked and only 14 people lost their lives but over 13,000 cattle were lost.  It was big national news at the time.  We knew the dam had not been rebuilt but it was hard to see where the dam site would be on these rolling plains.  We followed the signs and found that the Teton River had cut a deep gorge through the plains. Standing on the look-out for the site, we looked out over the canyon and the remnants of the dam.  A portion of the earthen structure was still there at full height but the river had cut right through a major portion of it all the way to the valley bottom.  The original spillway was left 250 feet above the river.  We pictured the dam’s failure and the terror that wall of water had created for those downstream.

We were very much off the beaten path and we attracted the attention of a sheriff’s deputy was checking the area as part of his normal rounds.  He provided information about the dam’s demise and the resulting flood.  We pointed out some beautiful flowers that were growing along the paved walkway.  He had never noticed them before but liked them. Stopping here was another great find from Patti’s cell phone app of American Roadside Attractions.

Dick grew up with potatoes coming from either Maine or Idaho, primarily Idaho.  A fascinating sight for us as we drove north in Idaho was seeing the extensive fields of potatoes.  The plants were looking very healthy and we imagined the potatoes growing underground.  We wondered if we would end up eating potatoes from the plants we were seeing.

As then we drove and drove.  Another 500-mile day.  In order to get to northern Idaho, the best route took us through Montana.  The scenery was interesting and changed throughout the day.  There were, of course, more mountains.  This was, after all, the Backbone of the Rockies Trip.  But there were also many other interesting landscape scenes.

We finally arrived in Coeur d'Alene at dinner time tired and ready to eat and go to bed.  We decided to walk across the street to a shopping mall.  There were had a nice dinner of pizza and then frozen yogurt for desert. We passed on the chance to go to a Brazilian place called The Grill From Ipanema…  If you are too young to understand this joke, look it up online.

We covered some good ground today.  We were also very aware that today was Canada Day, actually the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Canada as a country.  We knew that throughout Canada there were huge celebrations happening, and we weren’t there YET.  Tomorrow would be the day we would cross the border, and then would be in Canada for the 4^th of July….Didn’t hit the fireworks right for either celebration this year, but sometimes, that it how it works out.