Today was a travel day. I traveled to Imnaha to try to get to Hat Point, but I spoke to the postmistress and a local resident about the road, which apparently consisted of 24 miles of gravel road with a lot of sheer drops at the shoulder. I took a pass.
I did see Chief Joseph’s grave near Willowa Lake. The lake is spectacular, located at the foot of a glacial mountain. A public beach was accessible to all and
power boaters shared the lake with Kayakers.
After the abandoned attempt to see Hat Point, I decided to take Rte. 3 to Lewiston, Idaho. At first things were grand as I spotted a buffalo ranch a few miles from Enterprise in the vicinity of Crow Creek. The road commenced a climb up Elk Mountain, elevation 5122 feet. About 20 miles out of Enterprise Ente
” low fuel” light of my rental Plymouth Voyager flashed and the dashboard message told me that I had 27 miles worth of fuel. I checked my map and spotted the village of Flora another 20 miles up the road. I crept up to Flora, coasting down hills and nursing the van up hills. But there was no gas in Flora, only a scattering of houses and farms.
Luckily for me. Oregon State Senior Trooper Justin G. was in the neighborhood, and I flagged him down. He told me that the next gas station was about 40 miles distant in Anatone, Washington. He contacted an Oregon State road crew, but they didn’t have any spare gas with them. Checking off my options. he drew from his local network of helpers, and arranged was for a local garage in Joseph to bring me 5 gallons from Joseph, now 40 miles distant. Flora, he explained, was basically a ghost town, with just a few farms and houses. He directed me towards some shade to wait for his friend Mike from the Joseph Chevron. Many thanks to them both.
When he arrived with five gallons of gas, Mike said that the road in the canyon that I was going through next was known as “the rattlesnake” because it had so many tight curves.
After rattlesnake canyon, Oregon Rte 3, now Washington Rte. 129, leveled out onto a high plateau, and things were getting pretty smoky. There were half a dozen brush or mountain forest fires in the region. Fire crews were fighting the blazes the best that they could. It didn’t help that there was a pretty stiff breeze in the area that day. Three of the firefighters came into the gas station when I was there, and a supervisor said that the fires were caused by lightning strikes.
I finally got to Moscow in time for dinner at the Best Western Plus near the University. Thank goodness for our selfless police and fire fighters.
had 27 miles
Quicktrips 