Two of the letterboxes we found were in Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, both in memory of a guy named Johnny Allen.  We learned about his life in one of the letterbox clues.  Born in Seattle in 1942, Johnny had a difficult childhood.  His parents had a stormy, off-and-on  relationship, but managed to have five children together, with Johnny being the oldest.  All of the children spent time in foster care intermittently with the youngest three eventually being adopted out.

With a mainstream career that spanned only four years before his untimely death from drug overdose, Jimi Hendrix cemented his place in the music world.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has described him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."

Hoping to avoid workday traffic, we headed into downtown Seattle Saturday morning to visit the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and other famous sights.  As we drove, we received a shocking call from our nephew.  He delivered unthinkable news.  Our brother-in-law Don had experienced a massive heart attack and died instantly. 

We returned to the hotel immediately and began packing our bags.  A 2,500-mile drive back east was out of the question.  The Hampton Inn where we were staying was kind enough to allow us to leave our car in their garage, so we booked the first flight available back to Atlanta, which turned out to be on Sunday.

    
Other favorite materials include bottle caps, nails, telephone poles, electrical insulators, and metal ductwork.  Whatever comes their way has been transformed into folk art.  Works by 40 other artists are also included in their "yard art" collection.  Though their exhibit was originally opposed by locals, the community has come to embrace Dick and Jane's Spot as an Ellensburg attraction and even promotes the art space on the city's web site.  It is certainly among the best executed—not to mention most colorful—roadside art we've encountered on this trip.

Buoyed by the cheerful whimsy of what the owners call "art for the heart, from the heart, in the heart of Washington," we left Ellensburg for our journey through the Cascade Mountains, optimistic about what we might see on this scenic byway that would take us to Seattle.  Alas, fog lay in wait for us for the first half of the trip, lurking over the top of mountains and blocking our views of these majestic peaks.
    

Montes Obscurata

Finally around noon, the fog burned off and we were treated briefly to some patches of blue sky and sunshine.  Little did either matter, however, for we were driving under a canopy toward the end of a five-mile forest service road near North Bend.  What spurred this detour was a fascinating sight we spotted from the interstate—a helicopter dangling a tree and moving it from one location to another.

    

Heli-logging

No doubt we wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near this operation, but that didn't stop us from trying.  We did not stumble across the location where the loggers were at work, but we did learn subsequently that helicopters have been introduced into the timber industry to reduce the harmful environmental impact that traditional logging methods can cause.  Helicopters enable the harvesting of older growth trees that have been damaged by storms or other natural disasters.

     

Talapus Lake Trail

What we did find at the end of that road was a deeply shaded hemlock and spruce forest lushly adorned with vibrant green mosses.  A trail led into the forest, and it seemed to be inviting us to leave a little treasure behind.  Hidden beneath a large mossy rock, our Washington letterbox now awaits visitors.

Back on the freeway, my consultations with the Clue Tracker app to identify letterboxes for us to search for was producing a flood of results.   Only four states host more letterboxes than Washington, so the challenge here is selecting which treasures to seek.  We finally settled on the town of Sammamish (suh-MAM-ish), an eastern suburb of Seattle.  Even after narrowing the choices down to this town of 45,780 and, for time's sake, eliminating all the boxes that involved hikes of more than one mile, we still had a bucketful of clues to sort through.
   

Pine Lake Park trail

Since the sun would be dropping below the horizon by 5 p.m. and we wanted to reach the hotel at a decent hour, we ran out of time long before we ran out of letterboxes.  In our too brief time in Sammamish, we visited two stunningly beautiful city parks—Pine Lake Park and Beaver Lake Park.  Both parks, which were immaculately maintained, had generous shares of lofty old growth pines and other evergreens.  Trails through the forests were lined with an abundance of large ferns whose sizes were commensurate with the towering trees.  Big-leaf maples blended right in as well, most of their chest-size leaves already carpeting the ground. 

After checking in at our hotel, we reheated our leftovers from last night's meal at the Ellensburg Pasta Company while weighing options for tomorrow.  That's when we came across the National Weather Service's unpleasant surprise for our stay in Seattle:  "A major change in the weather is coming this weekend," their announcement stated.  "A series of strong weather systems will arrive in western Washington beginning Saturday. Each system will bring rain, heavy at times, and windy conditions..."

According to their predictions, Saturday's storm system will be followed by another on Sunday and a third on Monday:  "Weather models have difficulty with timing and other details when the pattern is as progressive as this appears to be with an impressive series of storms headed our way." 

Not enough to leave us sleepless in Seattle, but this news certainly has us planning a bit more carefully, looking into museums and other indoor activities for the weekend ahead.

After spending last night in the suburbs, we started today with a visit to downtown Spokane (pop. 210,103).  A city which has experienced its ups and downs, Spokane first vaulted onto the national—and international—stage when it hosted the world's fair in 1974.  Expo '74 is credited with the transformation of Spokane's downtown from a railroad-centered industrial core to a modern urban center with retail, recreational and residential appeal.

   

The fairgrounds built for the Expo entered a new life after the event as the 100-acre Riverfront Park, a center of activities in the city.  As features have been added to the park over the years, leaders continue reinventing the public space, attracting both locals and visitors.  Some favorite spots in the park today are the IMAX theater, a 1909 carousel, seasonal outdoor ice skating rink, and sky rides over the falls.  (The park's Great Northern clock tower is pictured above.)

The Joy of Running Together

Numerous sculptures and other public art projects dot the park landscape.  One of the more noticeable is The Joy of Running Together, a sculpture that incorporates 40 individuals of varying ages and abilities, commemorating Spokane's annual Lilac Bloomsday Run, one of the nation's largest timed road races, involving more than 50,000 runners, joggers and walkers. 

Childhood Express

Even the play equipment incorporates a Claes Oldenburg kind of whimsy. Sculptor Ken Spiering's Childhood Express serves both form and function.  Kids can climb a ladder in the back of the wagon and slide down the tongue.  Though the childhood fantasy sat unused on a cold and overcast weekday morning, it's easy to imagine it covered with children on a summer weekend.

   

Spokane skyways

Another feature designed to make Spokane's urban center more livable is the extensive use of skyways.  With harsh winter weather, the city has connected 16 blocks of downtown with covered, climate-controlled pedestrian walkways to attract shoppers from the suburban shopping malls.
   

Running through the heart of the city is the Spokane River, a tributary of the mighty Columbia.  A series of waterfalls and dams on the river in the downtown area have been producing hydroelectric power for the city since the late 19th century.
    

We can't leave Spokane without mentioning the remarkable Spokane County courthouse.  Built in 1895, the French Renaissance style was the creation of a 29-year old architect who entered a contest to design the county's new seat of government.  Sitting on a hill, this surprising castle-like structure definitely draws attention to itself, which may have helped it earn a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

From Spokane, we headed west on I-90 yet again, stopping occasionally to seek a letterbox.  We made a pilgrimage to the little town of George (pop. 528), thinking it might hold appeal as a good letterbox location.  Established in the 1950s, George was built as a planned town to support local agricultural businesses in the area.  The founder thought that naming the town George, Washington, would not only serve as a tribute to our first president but would offer the hamlet an allure to potential residents and businesses.  There's no indication that this has happened yet.  "If you build it, they will come" apparently only applies to movies and dreams.  George didn't even offer a good hiding place for a letterbox.
   

Near the end of our journey today, we encountered some very thick fog, leaving us to grope our way blindly into Ellensburg for the night.  We're hoping clearer skies will prevail tomorrow so that we'll be able to catch a glimpse or two of the scenic route we plan to follow through the Cascade Mountains to the Seattle area.

WEDNESDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2012
   
DAILY STATS

• Miles driven:  213
• Letterboxes:  F 2, P 0
• Weather:  32° to 38°, cloudy, rain, fog
• States:  1 (WA)
• Distance we could see in fog:  30 ft.
• Towns bearing the identical name of U.S. Presidents (first and last):  1

Spokane Falls

This morning we drove a few miles east of Coeur d'Alene to an area called Wolf Lodge Bay.  An inlet of Coeur d'Alene Lake, the bay is a popular wintering ground for bald eagles.  When sub-zero temperatures and deep snow invade Canada, the eagles who thrive there in summer have difficulty finding food and move south in search of better winter hunting grounds.  After kokanee salmon were introduced in Coeur d'Alene Lake in the 1930s, bald eagles knew a good thing when they saw it and moved in as annual winter guests. 

Taking about three years to mature, kokanee end their life cycle in November as females lay eggs and males fertilize the eggs.  After spawning, the fish die and float to the surface of the water, providing a generous source of a favorite food for the visiting eagles.

The local office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an arm of the Department of Interior, maintains a weekly count of eagles sighted around Wolf Lodge Bay (pictured above) once the birds migrate into the area each fall.  Figures from the 2011 count make it clear that word spreads quickly among the eagles when the salmon begin to float.  During the week of November 22 last year, only 12 eagles were observed around the bay.  A month later, the salmon feast had been spread before them, and the number of eagles sighted had surged to 273.

Our hopes that the eagles might arrive a couple of weeks early this year were dashed when we arrived at the bay and found no salmon afloat and no hunters soaring above the water, nor perched in the trees nearby.  So what else could we do but search for a few letterboxes as a consolation prize.  We were seeking a series of five boxes planted along a forest service road near Wolf Lodge Bay.

The tranquility of a forest service road

Though the road was initially fairly clear, within a couple of miles, the slush and ice were growing thicker, and light snow was falling.  Believing discretion the better part of boxing, we settled for the two boxes we had found, left the forest road, and began to search for a place to hide the letterbox we brought to leave in Idaho.

We didn't have to go far.  The nearby Mineral Ridge nature trail, a BLM recreation site, proved to be an ideal location.  Not only does it offer an interesting environment with diverse, lush vegetation, the trail climbs up a hill opposite Wolf Lodge Bay, offering a spectacular view of the lake and any visiting eagles from the ridge.

Have any idea what's under that SPOR?  (Suspicious Pile Of Rocks)

Having completed our letterboxing activities in Idaho and with no other sightseeing locations targeted to visit on this narrow neck of the panhandle, we headed west toward Washington.  On the way, we couldn't resist a little additional letterboxing.  Since it was cold and alternately raining and snowing, we took turns "slack-boxing"—waiting in the car while someone else goes to find the letterbox and brings it to you.

The dummy method at work

Although searching in the snow can present some different kinds of challenges, we did discover an advantage to snowy ground today while looking for a box in Rathdrum, Idaho.  While Ken was slack-boxing, I was walking around a cemetery in search of a box that was supposed to be hidden at the base of a pine tree surrounded by a lilac hedge.  Finding no such combination in the small cemetery, I reverted to what we call the dummy method.  I just began examining the base of every pine tree in the area.  Since the snow was ankle deep, I had no difficulty remembering which trees I had already checked.  My footprints made it quite clear.  Alas, we never did find the box, but since we did learn a valuable lesson, all was not lost.

Entering Washington this afternoon, we checked off our 41st state that we've visited this year—seven more to go to complete the Great 48.  After we have visited those final 7—and found and planted letterboxes in each—our goal will still not be quite concluded.  There are five states further east that we have found letterboxes in this year but we still need to place one of our boxes in those states:  Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.  Since we've given ourselves until the end of the year to accomplish this goal (and we have all the letterboxes prepared and waiting in our car), we're pretty optimistic about getting it done.

   

TUESDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2012

DAILY STATS

• Miles driven:  86
• Letterboxes:  F 4, P 1
• Weather:  32° to 42°, cloudy, rain, snow
• States:  2 (ID, WA)
• Eagles spotted:  0
• Footprints left in the snow:  854

As we've been doing in the past several days (and expected to be doing on this trip), we were keeping an eye on the weather today.  The gem of the narrow Idaho panhandle, Coeur d'Alene (pop. 44,137) was our destination for the day, and a winter weather advisory had been issued for the city and nearby areas.  But we had a letterbox to plant in Montana before we could continue west.


We spent more than two hours examining various locations in Missoula which proved to be unsuitable—a state park, a cemetery with nothing but hundreds of flush markers, half a dozen local parks.  We began to worry that our poor little letterbox might not find a good home in Montana.  Then we went to the city's main cemetery, a much more interesting and welcoming place of rest.  And there at the end of Mulberry Lane was a mature hardwood tree that had grown a cradle just to shelter our letterbox.  So there we left it and finally departed from Missoula about noon.  The temperature was 26°, the skies overcast.

By following the weather reports (with the excellent Weather Channel iPhone app), we knew it had been snowing in Coeur d'Alene since early morning.  Forecasts called for temperatures warming as the day moved into afternoon and little concern about accumulation of snow or ice on roadways.  All was well as we drove across the remainder of I-90 in Montana, admiring the snow-decorated mountains along this scenic stretch.

About 15 miles from the Idaho border, we began climbing toward Lookout Pass (el. 4,860 ft).  As we went up, the temperature began to fall, as did light snow.  Though the landscape next to the road was coated in snow, the road remained clear—for a while.  By the time we reached 4,000 ft, snowfall had become heavier and visibility was impaired.

   

Getting closer...

As we approached the pass, a pull-out area was provided for large trucks to examine their loads and equipment and install tire chains if needed.  Snow was falling determinedly and attaching itself to the roadway, despite the optimistic forecast we had been following.

As we entered the state of Idaho, we began our descent from the pass, treading softly on the increasingly icy roads but seeing little of the state due to the fog hovering over the mountains.  Two runaway truck ramps within a mile of each other convincingly conveyed the risks of this steep grade in icy conditions.

Descending below 3,000 ft, we saw the snow turn to rain, the temperature rise, and thought we'd dodged the bullet.  There were only 55 more miles between us and Coeur d'Alene.  As we were to learn, however, these would not be across a flat, level Nebraska plain.  Oh, no.  We were still making our way through the Bitteroot Mountains.  And we had to climb up to another pass before arriving at our destination.

   

Maybe we should pass on this one.

This time it was the 4th of July Pass at 3,081 feet.  As we started climbing again to reach the pass, snowfall became heavier and visibility was seriously affected, as was the road surface.  Conditions had deteriorated significantly, and just before we reached the top, we passed a car overturned in a ditch.

Only 18 miles to Coeur d'Alene, a road sign promised.  Snow fell steadily and began having its way with the road as we crawled slowly down an icy 6.5% grade.  We monitored the GPS screen as the 'miles to go' reading squeezed out fractions of miles at an achingly slow pace.

  space  

Not there yet

Idaho had one more little surprise for us before we finally reached our hotel—an area of strong crosswinds.  We found ourselves occasionally forgetting to breathe as we struggled through these challenging conditions, finally arriving at the hotel around 3 p.m., Pacific Time.  We had 'gained' an hour in this experience, one which we would just as soon have passed on.

Exhausted, we found early dinner at a local restaurant and settled in for the night, quite surprised when we were ready to head for bed and discovered it wasn't quite 8:00 yet.

Tomorrow we'll do some letterboxing in Idaho before traveling just across the border into Spokane, Washington.

   

After Brutus dealt his final blow to Bozeman last night, sending the temperature plummeting to -9° around 11 p.m., he moved on east.  Snow stopped falling and the mercury was on the rise.  By the time we departed from Bozeman this morning, we were enjoying a balmy 13°.  Time to pull out the sandals!

On the way to the local post office to mail some birthday cards, we were a little concerned about a rhythmic thumping noise we were hearing from the car.  While we were stopped at the PO, we knocked the considerable build-up of ice and snow out of the wheel wells in preparation for hitting the highway.  Sure enough, when we started back up, the noise had disappeared and the ride was a little smoother, too.  Oh, the many things we're learning about real winter.



Having checked the very helpful Montana DOT web site for road status, we were expecting a variety of conditions, from dry and clear to snow and ice-covered and everything in between.  That's exactly what we got.  There were occasional clear stretches but most early sections were at least partially covered with snow and ice.  (I-90 near Three Forks, MT pictured above)  On those portions, we were averaging about 50 mph, and frequently both cars and trucks would blow past us on the icy lane.  

The folly of that kind of speed was evident when we passed a one-car accident near Whitehall.  The car had spun into a guardrail and flipped over onto the median.  We don't know that excess speed was involved, but it seemed likely.

Our heroes Butte street Cold and lonely

Tobacco Root Mountains

As we plodded along, XM Radio brought us a play-by-play report of the Atlanta Falcons' game against their regional rival, the Saints.  New Orleans got the better end of the stick today, terminating the Falcons' undefeated season, but we're counting on the Falcons being better prepared for the rematch later in the season.

Near Homestake Pass

As we climbed up toward Homestake Pass (el. 6,368 ft) near Butte, we began seeing huge boulders standing on end, much like oversize sandwiches.  This area is quite popular with rock climbers, though we saw no one scrambling today.

Through the pass and up to the Continental Divide at 6,393 feet, the terrain was very rocky and covered with evergreens.  We were driving through the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.  At this elevation, the guard rails and median walls were all snow coated, in addition to the road surface.  This section had received an application of sand, which did improve traction somewhat.

Lots of cows were scrounging for a little grass in the snow-covered fields that lined the interstate, usually Black Angus, with an occasional Red Angus herd thrown in to keep things interesting.  Those poor beasts really looked chilled, and we didn't see any of them lying down today.
  

When we stopped for lunch in Butte (el. 5,540), the temperature was back down to 12°, and the streets were still snow-covered.  Apparently when it comes to winter weather, it's not about location, as real estate people like to say.  In this case, it's elevation, elevation, elevation. 

Forty miles past Butte, we stopped briefly in Deer Lodge to locate a letterbox in a cemetery there.  Like yesterday in Bozeman, we were wading in snow to mid-calf level.  After finding the box and getting back onto I-90, we seemed to hit the sweet spot.  For the first time, both westbound lanes were clear and dry.  Even better, they remained that way for the rest of the 85 miles to Missoula, our destination for the evening.

Since we were able to make better time on that last stretch, we arrived in Missoula around 3:45, giving us time to locate a couple of local letterboxes before the sun fell past the horizon just after 5:00.  Tomorrow we'll head into the Idaho panhandle, spending one night in Coeur d'Alene, before continuing on to Washington.

     

DAILY STATS

• Miles driven:  224
• Letterboxes:  F 3, P 0
• Weather:  0° to 27°, sunny to cloudy
• States:  1 (MT)
• Cattle in snowy fields:  3,458
• Ice covered streams:  21
• Snow-coated evergreens:  186,320

Lots of windshield views today

More from the windshield

Can these deer swim off the island if they need to?

Farm scene

Even though we had our doubts since the Atlanta-based Weather Channel was involved, winter storm Brutus did arrive in Montana as predicted, dumping plenty of snow on Bozeman and much of the remainder of the state.  How much snow fell?  As it turns out, that is apparently not a simple question.

For a couple of Southerners trying to ascertain just how much snow fell, there's no easy place to turn for an answer.  Weather Channel?  Nope.  National Weather Service?  Uh-uh.  Local TV news?  Nah.

It seems that snowfall is not a statistic that's easy to track down.  What the weather folks will tell you is that .71 inches of precipitation were recorded.  Uh, no.  That is not less than an inch of snow.  So what do they do?  Gather up a square inch of snow and melt it in a test tube to determine the amount?

Hailing from Atlanta, where four inches of snow paralyzed the city for a week in 1982, we were sort of amazed to observe that life here in Montana went right on after, according to the local newspaper,  8" of snow fell Thursday night (Friday morning view above).

No, of course school was not cancelled.

Of course, Walmart was open and selling snow shovels and brushes.

Since we're in Rome Bozeman, we decided to do like the Bozemanites.  So we visited the local Walmart (across the highway from our hotel) to invest in a snow scraper and some food supplies.  Then we engaged in some fun indoor activities—catching up on laundry, blogging, working out in the exercise room, etc.
     

Local landscaper at work

It was interesting to note that companies that provide landscaping services don't sit idle in winter here in Montana.  They just attach a snow plow blade to the front of their trucks and provide parking lot scraping services to local businesses.  Brilliant!

On Saturday morning, we woke up to an additional who knows how many inches of snow.  Five or six maybe based on what accumulated in the parking lot of our hotel after it had been cleared some on Friday.  There wasn't much appreciable difference in the view from our window this morning except that the vehicles and driving areas that had been cleared on Friday were snow-covered again.

Saturday morning view

Along with this new accumulation came very cold temperatures. We never saw a reading higher than 10°, and as I write this at 9:45 p.m., the temp is at -5° and falling. And yet, people went about their normal lives.  High school students played in football and volleyball tournaments, car dealers opened their doors to potential buyers, and every store and restaurant appeared to be open.

When we ventured out for lunch and a little letterboxing, the snow that was falling was crystal fine.  It looked as if you were inside a snow globe.  The fine snow blowing in your face had a very chilling effect. 

After lunch we visited a couple of Bozeman cemeteries to search for letterboxes.  The snow cover turned Sunset Hills Cemetery into a stunning winter setting.  Many of the roads within the cemetery are lined with evergreens, which today evoked a feeling of visiting a magical storybook wonderland for someone with Southern roots.

    

Sunset Hills Cemetery

Experiencing a significant snowfall in a city that is equipped to deal with such weather and populated by people who just keep calm and carry on was a great learning opportunity for us.  Traffic on the interstate has been pretty steady and the Montana DOT provides excellent online information about road conditions, so tomorrow, we plan to continue our trek westward and make our way to Missoula for the night.

THURSDAY, 8 NOVEMBER—SATURDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2012

BRUTUS STATS

• Nights we spent in Bozeman:  4
• Snowfall:  12-ish inches?
• Temperature range:  -5° to 39°
• Weather-related school closings:  0
• Government offices closed:  0
• Businesses closed:  0
• Sledders in the local park:  38
• Cross country skiers on city streets:  6   

Green light to life as usual

Found the letterbox!

Since the winter storm the Weather Channel has now dubbed Brutus is not due to arrive until tomorrow, we felt no urgency traveling from Billings to Bozeman today.  The largest city in Montana, Billings (pop. 105,636) is a major regional center for retail and wholesale trade and distribution.  Sitting in the middle of the nation's largest coal reserve and near major oil and gas fields, Billings is also an energy center, home to three oil refineries and a coal-fired regeneration plant.
   
But the first place we were seeking in Billings this morning was a spot from the past, from the former town of Coulson perched on the Yellowstone River.  Though Coulson predated Billings by five years, the railroads' decision to build their route through Billings was the death knell for the river town.  Our destination was about all that remains of Coulson today, Boothill Cemetery.
    

If you guessed that we visited this little spot to search for a letterbox, you're exactly right and we did locate the box across the street off a nearby trail, but not before we paid our respects to the 35 former Coulsonites laid to rest on this hill.  According to a sign on site, the cemetery (like numerous others in the West) was named Boothill because so many of its occupants went to their deaths with their boots on.  The inscriptions on the river rock obelisk were quite memorable:

Driving to Boothill, we saw an intriguing sign indicating we were near Pictograph Cave State Park.  Though we hadn't heard of the park, we thought it might offer a possible home for our Montana letterbox, so we followed the signs and stumbled upon an unexpected gem.

      

The earliest visitors decorated the walls of the caves with black and white drawings.  Images in red were left by later visitors and are thought to be about 200 years old.  We learned at the park that both pictographs and petroglyphs are types of rock art, but they are created differently.  Whereas pictographs are painted, petroglyphs are carved or scratched into the surface of the rock.
  

An interpretive trail leads to the three caves and offers a wealth of information about both the history of the site and the flora and fauna of the region.  We liked the park so much that we decided to leave one of our "Love This Spot" spontaneous letterboxes there so we can lead other letterboxers to visit as well.

Today's weather has been so warm, it's difficult to believe a significant winter storm will arrive tomorrow.  After we found another letterbox in a local cemetery and had lunch at a Billings restaurant, we finally hit I-90 toward Bozeman around 3 p.m.  Just before 5:00, rain began to fall as we passed near Livingston, 25 miles from our destination in Bozeman. 

Since we've booked a suite hotel with a kitchenette, we stopped at the local Walmart Supercenter and stocked up on groceries for the next several days.  OK, Brutus, we're waiting for you in Bozeman.

DAILY STATS

• Miles driven:  178
• Letterboxes:  F 3, P 1
• Weather:  35° to 72°, sunny to rainy
• States:  1 (MT)
• Pictographs we could make out:  7
• Rattlesnake warning signs at PCSP:  5
• Lewis & Clark Trail signs:  6
• Dire warnings about upcoming winter storm:  36

Letter boxing still life near Boothill

Ghost Cave at the state park