Traveling

[O Really]

So we had a bit of an itinerary change due to a minor problem with the motorhome, and will spend a little while in Spokane. On the way, we find ourselves in the charming little town of Deer Lodge, Montana, whose primary claim to fame is an antique prison, from which they've built their visitor brand. Tours, museum exhibits, etc., but also other enterprises like "Prison Pizza," Montana State Prison Hobby Shop, Handmade Crafts from Inmates, Breakout Bar, Prison Tats... Current temp 48, going down to 35, wind at 12-15, rain. So Vrede, tell us again why anybody would want to live here?

[Vrede too]

So we had a bit of an itinerary change due to a minor problem with the motorhome, and will spend a little while in Spokane. On the way, we find ourselves in the charming little town of Deer Lodge, Montana, whose primary claim to fame is an antique prison, from which they've built their visitor brand. Tours, museum exhibits, etc., but also other enterprises like "Prison Pizza," Montana State Prison Hobby Shop, Handmade Crafts from Inmates, Breakout Bar, Prison Tats... Current temp 48, going down to 35, wind at 12-15, rain. So Vrede, tell us again why anybody would want to live here?

35 in May? Heck that won't even frost the garden. Deer Lodge is the home of the current Montana State Prison, too. It's also in the midst of the nation's longest Superfund cleanup site. The state psychiatric hospital is just 21 miles away on 90E. Not a good stretch to hitchhike in. Not my problem that you pick weird places to visit. I'm certain that I've never recommended Deer Lodge to anyone.

The Anaconda Range is cool.

Anyhow, population 3,111.
The nearest "city" is Butte, 38 miles away, population 33,525.
That's why.

[O Really]

Ha! Our "visit" is an overnight stopover, although I wouldn't have minded taking the prison museum tour. Several years ago, we had a stopover around Weston, WV, and toured the "Transallegheny Lunatic Asylum" http://www.trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com/

Our tour guide was a person who had been a nurse there when it was a working loony bin. Very interesting tour.

[Vrede too]

Ha! Our "visit" is an overnight stopover, although I wouldn't have minded taking the prison museum tour. Several years ago, we had a stopover around Weston, WV, and toured the "Transallegheny Lunatic Asylum" http://www.trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com/

Our tour guide was a person who had been a nurse there when it was a working loony bin. Very interesting tour.

Riiiggghhht, "nurse".

[O Really]

Ha! Our "visit" is an overnight stopover, although I wouldn't have minded taking the prison museum tour. Several years ago, we had a stopover around Weston, WV, and toured the "Transallegheny Lunatic Asylum" http://www.trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com/

Our tour guide was a person who had been a nurse there when it was a working loony bin. Very interesting tour.

Riiiggghhht, "nurse".

Sure, it could have been part of the show, but she did seem very knowledgeable. Or maybe she really had worked there but just washed the strait jackets. Anyway, if you go through WVa it's worth an hour for the tour.

[O Really]

So we made it to Spokane-ish. It's actually a nice place to spend some time. The Seattle crowd is pretty sure the world ends on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass, and if there really is such a place as Spokane that surely they still use dial-up and buy pre-ground grocery coffee. But there's a lot to do of the types of things Lady O and I enjoy, including riding the Hiawatha trail if we're still here when it opens. https://www.ridethehiawatha.com/

[Vrede too]

Sure, it could have been part of the show, but she did seem very knowledgeable. Or maybe she really had worked there but just washed the strait jackets. Anyway, if you go through WVa it's worth an hour for the tour.

I meant former patient . Bwahahaha.

Semi-random connection - King of Hearts (1966 film) is one of my all time favorites.

[O Really]

Toto, you know you're not in Florida anymore when they have coat and umbrella racks at the gym - any you're still using them in May.

[Vrede too]

So we made it to Spokane-ish. It's actually a nice place to spend some time. The Seattle crowd is pretty sure the world ends on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass, and if there really is such a place as Spokane that surely they still use dial-up and buy pre-ground grocery coffee. But there's a lot to do of the types of things Lady O and I enjoy, including riding the Hiawatha trail if we're still here when it opens. https://www.ridethehiawatha.com/

You arrive and the place goes to hell.

Hate makes a comeback in the Pacific Northwest

[O Really]

We took a car road trip up to Banff. There's a lot of nothing north of Coeur d'Alene on US 95/2. Northern Virginia battle flags were not unusual. Gas station/convenience stores are not very inviting. Probably most of the (fairly few) people along there are not domestic terrorists, but fershure some of them are.

And nobody told the people around Banff that this weekend is supposed to be the start of Summer.

[Vrede too]

And nobody told the people around Banff that this weekend is supposed to be the start of Summer.

Record heat here.
Tied this date's record high at 91.
23 days above average in May.
2019 May average high is 80, 5 degrees above normal.

With all the rain we've had and subsequent growth, if the heat persists we could have big time fires like 2 or 3 years ago.

[Whack9]

And nobody told the people around Banff that this weekend is supposed to be the start of Summer.

Record heat here.
Tied this date's record high at 91.
23 days above average in May.
2019 May average high is 80, 5 degrees above normal.

With all the rain we've had and subsequent growth, if the heat persists we could have big time fires like 2 or 3 years ago.

Seems like we've gotten a lot less rain this spring. I'm not exactly complaining, although a little would be nice. I'd prefer it not to be like last year where everyday it's beautiful until 5 minutes after I leave work when it rains non stop

[O Really]

Today we rode about 20 of the 72 miles of Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/pa ... r-d-alenes

We've been on a lot of rail/trails and this is one of the best. Light traffic, good trailhead and turnout facilities, well-maintained surface, beautiful country with river, lakes, marshland, forest, mountains. Saw eagles, otters, muskrats, beavers, deer, moose, lots of birds including trumpeter swans, and no nazis.

[GoCubsGo]

Today we rode about 20 of the 72 miles of Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/pa ... r-d-alenes

We've been on a lot of rail/trails and this is one of the best. Light traffic, good trailhead and turnout facilities, well-maintained surface, beautiful country with river, lakes, marshland, forest, mountains. Saw eagles, otters, muskrats, beavers, deer, moose, lots of birds including trumpeter swans, and no nazis.

Nice.

[Whack9]

Today we rode about 20 of the 72 miles of Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/pa ... r-d-alenes

We've been on a lot of rail/trails and this is one of the best. Light traffic, good trailhead and turnout facilities, well-maintained surface, beautiful country with river, lakes, marshland, forest, mountains. Saw eagles, otters, muskrats, beavers, deer, moose, lots of birds including trumpeter swans, and no nazis.

Don't know if you've ever ridden the swamp rabbit trail here in Greenville but it's pretty decent. You won't see any moose, but you will find a few derelict shopping carts here and there, sometimes if you're lucky you'll find an abandoned traffic cone.

[O Really]

Today we rode about 20 of the 72 miles of Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/pa ... r-d-alenes

We've been on a lot of rail/trails and this is one of the best. Light traffic, good trailhead and turnout facilities, well-maintained surface, beautiful country with river, lakes, marshland, forest, mountains. Saw eagles, otters, muskrats, beavers, deer, moose, lots of birds including trumpeter swans, and no nazis.

Don't know if you've ever ridden the swamp rabbit trail here in Greenville but it's pretty decent. You won't see any moose, but you will find a few derelict shopping carts here and there, sometimes if you're lucky you'll find an abandoned traffic cone.

I have ridden the Swamp Rabbit, mostly from the north end. Seemed a bit crowded, but it's good for a trail to get well used. Strangely enough, though, there doesn't seem to be either swamp nor rabbits. Possibly some places where rats could be found in their native habitat.

[Whack9]

Today we rode about 20 of the 72 miles of Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/pa ... r-d-alenes

We've been on a lot of rail/trails and this is one of the best. Light traffic, good trailhead and turnout facilities, well-maintained surface, beautiful country with river, lakes, marshland, forest, mountains. Saw eagles, otters, muskrats, beavers, deer, moose, lots of birds including trumpeter swans, and no nazis.

Don't know if you've ever ridden the swamp rabbit trail here in Greenville but it's pretty decent. You won't see any moose, but you will find a few derelict shopping carts here and there, sometimes if you're lucky you'll find an abandoned traffic cone.

I have ridden the Swamp Rabbit, mostly from the north end. Seemed a bit crowded, but it's good for a trail to get well used. Strangely enough, though, there doesn't seem to be either swamp nor rabbits. Possibly some places where rats could be found in their native habitat.

It definitely is crowded.

Last place I took my bike to was the Santee Nature Preserve down near awendee SC. Tons of trails to cruise around. Just don't stop, you'll have all your blood drained by mosquitoes.

[O Really]

You might like the Doodle Trail that connects Pickens with Easly. Rail/trail, paved. It only runs about 8 miles, but has enough terrain to be interesting.

https://www.cityofpickens.com/doodle

[O Really]

Today's excursion was the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge in Far Boondock, Idaho. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/kootenai/

Beautiful walk - not exactly a "hike" but a really enjoyable day.

[Vrede too]

Today we rode about 20 of the 72 miles of Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/pa ... r-d-alenes

We've been on a lot of rail/trails and this is one of the best. Light traffic, good trailhead and turnout facilities, well-maintained surface, beautiful country with river, lakes, marshland, forest, mountains. Saw eagles, otters, muskrats, beavers, deer, moose, lots of birds including trumpeter swans, and no nazis.

That's an amazing array.

High school track star runs to raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women

Even without the three gold medals, one silver medal and the sportsmanship award she earned ( :!: ) at the Class 1B state meet in Washington, Rosalie Fish would’ve been impossible to miss when she took to the track in late May.

This was by design and it worked as flawlessly as her strides against the competition at Eastern Washington University’s campus.

Cheney, Washington in Spokane County.

Fish, a member of the Cowlitz Tribe and a senior at Muckleshoot Tribal School,

Auburn, WA, a suburb in the Seattle metropolitan area.

dedicated her performance at the meet to the murdered and missing indigenous women — a group that’s been gruesomely attacked and grossly overlooked. With a red hand print covering her mouth and lower half of her face, along with “MWIW” written in red paint on her leg, the message was loud and clear.



... According to the United States Department of Justice, indigenous women on some reservations are 10 times more likely to be murdered, and rates of indigenous women being killed or trafficked are significantly higher than the rest of the U.S. population. The Justice Department has also found that one in three Native American women have been raped or experienced an attempted rape while 506 indigenous women have disappeared or been killed in the United States since 2016. ( )

Fish wanted to make sure those numbers, and the faces behind them, weren’t forgotten.

Both her message and her runs were impossible to ignore. Fish placed first in the 1600-meter race as well as the 800 and 3200....