Up in Idaho-Old Friends Pt 1
6/16-18/2014 – The weather coming into Idaho was as bad as when I left. Every route threatened rain and thunderstorms. I looked at possibilities for one more night in a hotel before heading north and the best solution turned out to be a Best Western near the airport that would only cost me rewards points. It was a nice place but close to nothing but an Albertson’s for “cheap chicken Monday” and chocolate milk. It was all the energy I had left after my city hike and all the ambition I had left, thanks to the weather.
The next day I left Boise on Highway 55, a road I hadn’t taken in years, but certainly not a road less travelled. Still, the traffic wasn’t too bad and the weather made for some interesting scenery on the lakes and mountains. I also took a path new to me at one point. The old highway 95 to Whitebird Summit is narrow and winding, slow but deserted. Even with the clouds, the scenery was incredible, looking back over the valley where, in 1877, a war began. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was looking over the sight of the first battle of the Nez Perce War-the Battle of White Bird Canyon-on the anniversary of the fight, June 17th. In 1805, the Nez Perce saved a starving band of explorers who had gotten lost in the snowy Bitterroot Mountains, coming into their land after eating horses and shoes. The leaders spoke of killing them and taking their supplies-guns, powder, and lead were not in use by Nez Perce or their enemies and would help them dominate the region and take more game to feed the people. At the centennial of the nation the Nez Perce helped establish by saving Lewis and Clark and The Corps of Discovery, the government wanted their land in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Bands led by Joseph, White Bird, Looking Glass, and others refused to accept another treaty-an 1855 agreement guaranteed the lands. As they began retreating north, a group of 100 volunteers clashed with the Nez Perce and lost. So began a series of battles and retreats across present day Idaho, Wyoming-including the newly designated Yellowstone National Park-and Montana, where Joseph, the remaining chief, surrendered to save what was left of his people. Looking Glass, who led many of the battles, was killed during the last, only 40 miles from Canada. The namesake of Whitebird escaped to Canada with 100 followers, was welcomed by Sitting Bull of the same Sioux Nation who helped track the Nez Perce, and lived there until murdered in 1892 by one of his people. Joseph was sent to prison in Kansas and Oklahoma, finally being settled on the Colville Reservation in northeast Washington dying there in 1902. The government swore he would not get to live in his homeland and not with other Nez Perce other than his family.
Oddly enough, I spent the next two days with friends in Nez Perce Idaho. I first met my friend Ed when I started with the Air National Guard in 1991. While he moved on and I settled in North Idaho, we managed to reconnect every few years. I met his wife the day before his wedding, at which I was honored and humbled to be his best man. I got to hang out with them and be constantly amazed and amused by their three year old son for two days. It was the first time since San Antonio I got to relax with old friends and the first time I remembered seeing the entire movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Watching it together, my friends’ son urged me to sing along by his excited “C’mon! C’mon!” He fell asleep where I probably did as a kid, about halfway through.