Day 15 -- Salmon, Idaho to Missoula, Montana -- 140 Miles

It rained last night in Salmon, Idaho -- A LOT! Fortunately, I had wangled our way into a tiny camp on the west bank of the Salmon River, and had gotten us all set up and cozy before the worst of the rain began. Still, I woke up a couple of times last night and lay listening to the deluge of water pounding on our roof, and really, REALLY wondered if we'd wake up in the morning to find the nearby River overflowing its banks and turning our RV into a houseboat.

Fortunately, the river rose somewhat but never got close to breaching its banks, and the rain had stopped by the time we started breakfast. Though our camp was really nothing to write home about, what with the bad electrical connection, I thanked the manager sincerely this morning when we got ready to leave. Had it not been for her generosity, we would have been until dark finding a camp after driving at least twenty more miles.

After leaving camp our first objective was to do just a bit of grocery shopping, then pay a visit to the Sacagawea Interpretive Center that we had noticed on our way into the town of Salmon last night. The center really looked like a quality effort to us and since the Lewis and Clark expedition has long been one of our favorite topics, it was with tremendous anticipation that we left the market, drove the half mile to the Interpretive center, and parked.

Sadly, we were destined to be disappointed as the Sacagawea Interpretive center was locked up tight. We did wander the grounds a bit, but the cold and rain made it hard to muster up any enthusiasm for the process. Snapping a few gloomy photos, we hurried back to the rig.

For future reference, when we left the Sacagawea Interpretive Center and headed north on Idaho Route 93, we did pass some mighty fine looking camps nestled alongside the Salmon, embraced as they were by some towering magma flows from some long-extinct volcano. Should we ever venture back to see the Sacagawea Center, and I hope we do, knowing the location of those nice camps might prove useful.

By the time we were nearing the Idaho/Montana border, we had begun to realize that the highway's grade was noticibly steepening and the trees seemed to be dusted with a light mantle of snow. I hadn't really noticed on the map last night that taking Route 93 entailed climbing the 7,014-foot Lost Trail Pass that lay between the town of Salmon and that of Missoula, Montana. Thankfully the grade ascending Lost Trail Pass was only 6%, a much more gentle ascent then the 10% grade we encountered ascending the 8,431-foot Teton Pass a couple of days ago.

On the other hand, there hadn't been any snow on Teton Pass. As we got nearer to the summit of Lost Trail pass, the misty haze that had been shrouding the surrounding peaks all morning became more dense, the highway more rain-soaked, and the snowload on the trees much more pronounced. Our main concern was to be vigilent for any signs of ice on the roadway.

Once again the rig performed flawlessly. Thankfully, we encountered no ice, and we even took time to stop and photograph the snowy forest at one point near the summit. Just as on Teton Pass, once over the summit we geared down and descended slowly using just the 3rd low gear. There was so few cars on the road that virtually no one came up behind us which made our descending at 40mph less stressful.

I remember passing a couple of large trucks near the summit that had climbed the pass from the other side. Seeing them, I found myself wondering if, like me, the drivers were relieved to see that someone in a large vehicle had safely navigated the steep and rain-soaked highway from the side they had yet to encounter. Maybe they did.

At lunch today I pulled up the 10-day forecast for northern and western Idaho because that's where we intended to go after Missoula, Montana. It wasn't good. The forecast called for almost continuous rain for the next eight days. Seeing that forecast, we mutually agreed that we should probably put aside our plans for Idaho and continue on into Montana where the 10-day forecast looked much better.

When we take these RV trips, we virtually always plan on the fly. Since we had set no firm destination in Idaho, it was an easy task to pull up the Montana map and pick a city in that state to visit instead. What we've decided to do is remain here in Missoula for two days, do some laundry, take a breather, study the map, and leave on Saturday. By then we'll probably have a better handle on where we want to go. The sun must be shining somewhere!

The camp here in Missoula is really nice and, from what we can see, really popular. We pulled in just after 2:00 p.m. and registered for two nights. Since then, we've watched out our window as rig after rig pulls into the park. I imagine that long after dark campers will be showing up to try and get a spot.

In better weather, the area of the Salmon River through which we traveled today would make a great destination. Someday I hope we're able to return and check out all the places that the explorers Lewis and Clark traveled with their indespensible guide, Sacagawea and her husband, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.