Spokane, Missoula, Bozeman, and Beyond

at the suspension bridge over the Spokane River at Bowl and Pitcher 2/10/16. 

We are in Spokane.  At least we are near Spokane.  We are actually staying in a place called “Nine Mile Falls”.  It is rural enough that it is a challenge to call it a community.  Interestingly enough, I have not been to this part of Spokane before.  On the way to here we drove through the part of Spokane where Kristi spent her earliest years.  It is actually a nice neighborhood near a bluff that overlooks the Spokane River.

Very nice new B and B we stayed in at 9 Mile Falls 2/10/16

I came to Spokane to be with Kristi.  She is from here and she came back here to be with her family after she graduated from TESC.  I made the drive from Olympia to Spokane several times during that period.  Later we came here to be with her family at holidays and family events.  Being here was often quite relaxing.  There were walks in the woods around Kristi’s mothers’ house and swimming in the Little Spokane River.  There were long hours chatting with Kristi’s mom and brother.  I wrote “Go Out to Alberta” here one year when we came down the Alcan highway moving back to Washington from Alaska.  I always find it interesting how selective my memory is.  I remember that Kristi and her mom had gone out shopping and I was home alone at her mom’s house.  I remember that it was one of those songs that came easy and that I instantly loved to sing and play.  We play it with Cosmo’s Dream, and with Cowgirl’s Dream these days as well as playing it as a duo.

I used to tease Kristi about being from the “desert”, which of course Spokane isn’t really.  It is a lot drier than western Washington is though.  One summer we came here to play at the Eagles National Convention which was being held in Spokane.  It was over 100 degrees out and it was the first time that someone gave us a hard time about leaving the door open in the summertime.  It’s usually the wintertime that moving gear can become difficult when people yell at you every time you open the door to bring a piece of gear in from outside.   That was the first year that I had that kind of really hot experience.  We played in Wenatchee that year too, and I remember going to the movies to get out of the heat.

There is a good deal of personal history here.  The fraternal organizations here in Spokane don’t pay enough anymore to justify the trip over here so we don’t see Spokane often.  Kristi’s mother and brother both passed away in 2009 and even her cousin who lived here passed away after that so we don’t have the family connection so much anymore other than memories and the family cemetery which is in Dartford where Kristi spent her high school years, and is a community that was settled by Kristi’s family in the 19^th century.   Kristi was our guide here in Spokane.  She could make good money running folks around Spokane and showing them her hometown.

4017 W. Broad, home of John, Louise, Pete and Kristi Esvelt, 1954-1962.

Dartford home rebuilt after fire, first built by the Esveldts in around 1895.

Dartford home of John, Louise, Kristi and Pete Esvelt, 1962-1975

14126 Rivilla Lane, home of Louise and Pete Esvelt, 1975-2009.

Location of many Esvelts

All of this comes back to me.  For us Spokane is ripe with memories.  We had even played before at the place where we played with Gen some years ago.  As I was driving down Division I suddenly had a feeling that we were going to see Kristi’s brother, Pete Esvelt.  I don’t think there was anything to it except a memory  but it was a feeling kind of memory, not a specific memory.  To me it seemed unusual. 

Our venerable Spokane guide Kristi Nebel on the big slide

View from River Front Park

We have all day to spend in Spokane today.  Right now it seems to me that it is easier to write about someone who you don’t know anything about than it is to write about someone who you should know a lot about.  I have always figured that you have to guess what people are thinking and feeling judging from your own experience.  There has to be a bit of honesty or else your observations become irrelevant. Unless people besides yourself are engaged, or moved by what you have to say what is the use in saying anything.

We are actually in Rapid City, South Dakota now.  From Spokane we drove to Missoula, MT where we played at a retirement home.  After we played (they totally love us at these places) we visited some friends of Gen's who were part of Big Sky Mudflaps.  We played some music with them, which was fun and Dave told stories and Beth showed us her art studio where she creates ceramic art.

Location of a very nice lunch in Missoula 2/11/16

We have been staying in Air B&Bs.  

our digs were in the lower level though we were welcomed upstairs from where we enjoyed lovely mountain vistas

Morning Gen in Missoula

 Here's the Air B&B that we stayed in in Missoula.  

The next day we drove to Bozeman.  It wasn't too far.  We played at Norris Hot Springs that night.  There was a pretty good crowd in the hot springs, but they were not very attentive, or at least that's how it felt.  On the other hand it was a trippy place.  There were a lot of young folks and a few families.  There were some skiers.  At the top of our set the parking lot and the pool were full of people.

A view out of the plastic dome/performance area at Norris Hot Springs 2/11/16

A view of the dome from the outside at Norris Hot Springs

We played in a geodesic dome which you can see in this photo.  It was warm, but we were quite separated from our audience.  You can see our view of our audience through the plastic  barrier above.  I always hate to leave my sound to someone that I don't know, but in this case there really was not much choice.  It was windy and cold outside and if you got the door opened, the wind immediately blew it shut again.  Also they had the amplifier hooked up to a couple of small outdoor speakers and it had to  be rerouted to a couple of larger speakers.  



 The next day we had to get up early and we were on the road by just after 7am.  We drove from Bozeman to Rapid City, South Dakota which is where we are now.  Today we drive to Lincoln, NE.

WYOMING by Kristi

There don’t seem to be many states where you could find a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play.   From my passenger seat of my Ford Escape, Wyoming appears to have that potential.  We saw at least seven herds of antelope and two herds of mule deer.  The barren rocky hillocks have their own stark beauty.  I haven’t driven this road since 1981 but still see much of the same character in this state.  At the rest stop we see an information sign boasting of her latest mining boom of methane gas.  She proudly proclaims it to be clean burning.  We in Tacoma have different thoughts about it.  We then stop at a gas station in Gillette with a name inspiring me to wish more women would buy and name them.  It’s the “KUM AND GO” Gas Station.  Later, as we watched the BNSF coal tanks roll past we wonder if they’re taking it to Tacoma.  The state still after 35 years retains its look of a home to temporary mine workers.  The treeless hills are littered with mobile homes around every town.  Wyoming remains a place for mostly testosterone-drenched carpetbaggers from my view.

Wyoming

We are in Lincoln, NE.  I think I said that already.  We stayed with one of Gen and Rebecca's friends last night and will be in Kansas City, MO at the end of today.  I'll try to say more later.  The next few days should be relatively calm after 6 days of moving on.