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Day 1 |
Probing America: High Tech on Back Roads Day Two Lewiston, Idaho, to Butte, Montana June 25, 1992
Well, not quite Butte. Actually we're east of town on the 4800 block of Harrison street in the Copper King Inn, which proudly wears the Best Western badge. You got it, we goofed again. We lost an hour due to the time zone change and averaged about 40 miles per hour winding up the Clearwater River Canyon from Lewiston to Lolo Pass. The Clearwater Canyon's beauty is splendid, but the road is ever so slow. It is windy, narrow and there is absolutely no margin for error on the river side. We were on the river side. The posted speed limit is 50. We settled for 40. A humbling lesson of today is knowing how it feels to face a travel piece with next to no fresh material, yet knowing our reader is expecting prose which, if not amusing, will help pass the time. We shall see. We decided not to camp at Missoula, hoping for a site somewhere between there and Butte. A fellow in a gas station suggested the Bearmouth Chalet (yeah, we should have known) about 30 miles out of Missoula. It does exist. You take exit 138 (Bearmouth) and in a mile you come to a dirt road and the Bearmouth Store. A hand scrawled sign instructs one not go farther to the Chalet without reservation or permission. We had neither, so went into the store, which turned out to be that plus a lounge and restaurant, to inquire. The lady said the Chalet was down the dirt road: rooms without a shower were $12, those with $24. No TV, which was okay; no phones, which was not. The email thing, which is a lot of what this is about, simply requires daily phone input. We probably missed an experience, but are thankful. By the way, don't count on simply the existence of a phone sufficing. Some phones, it happens, are hard-wired.
On the road to what eventually was Butte we passed a car with a license plate reading "NoNoNo". Its bumper sticker read, "Families first, Montana is not a zoo". We don't know what that means, but one of the Probe correspondents lived in Montana and we have asked him to explain. It's fair to report that in-car conversation lags about 3:30 on such a day. After a long quiet spell, we did comment on a road side sign outside of Drummond proclaiming it to be "World Famous Bullshippers." Butte is a dismal town. Jack had warned the tour group, even though he had not been here for 30 years. Basically a mining town, it is mostly full of old mine shafts. Life for those who chose to stay is tied to commercial strips. Long strips of short buildings which we in American have come to know well. Every fast food chain is represented. Near the end of the strip named Harrison is the Copper King Inn.
Checking in anytime after 4:00 is never a pleasant experience for us. This was no exception, although it was interesting. The kid at the desk said he was out of single kings, but had double queens. We should know, however, that the kings were next to the ballroom and a ball was happening tonight. Further, he warned, balls in Butte have much merriment, and so we could expect merry makers next door until midnight, making merry to a 17 piece band. His only other option was a single double away from the ball room. After much consensus making, we opted for the two queens next to the ballroom. The surprise came when we opened the door to 148. Not only were there two queens, but the back wall contained a 4 foot square window looking in and out of the ball room (when a clerk says next door now we will be more discriminating). When they have a ball in Butte, they have a ball! We contemplated going nude, opening the window curtains and seeing how that changed the ball, but... We are back in our single queen, away from the ball, where it is quiet and far from merrymakers. |
