I left home in the truck on Saturday morning at 4am. I hit the road early in order to get to Spokane in time to pick up my planer at a repair depot before they closed at noon. I arrived in Spokane to an empty parking lot. The hours on the door claimed to be open, but no one was there. No one answered the phone, either. I suppose they closed for the Labor Day weekend, but didn't leave a note on the door. I continued on to Wallace. Meanwhile, Carolyn and Allison (and Gypsy) left home at 9am in a car Allison is taking to school. We were back together in Wallace in the afternoon. Since we were last in Wallace over the 4th of July, a friend and his family spent a few days at the Wallace house. After Eric's wedding in July, my parents stopped at the house for 4 nights on the way home. A couple weeks after that David and his family spent a week in Wallace with their kids. All of them left the house in pristine condition. It has never been cleaner inside. My parents bought a nice fan for the house and David and Anissa restocked the house with all sorts of consumables.
Under the freeway flea market
Wallace's annual three day flea market is held under the freeway over Labor Day weekend. We walked over there several times and Allison probably went over ten times. We bought an antique chest of drawers, some blue Mason jars, a couple old woodworking planes, and a few other knickknacks.
View of Wallace from the flea market
Old school cabinet maker's bench
Over the past few months I've been building a workbench for the basement. Except for a plywood shelf, every part of the workbench is made from laminated fir floorboards left over from the cabin. I hauled the heavy bench to Wallace in the back of the truck.
Raw materials
The workbench is made from these left over floor boards from the cabin.
Laminating the boardsAlmost every piece of the bench is built up from laminated boards.
Front view of workbenchThe top surface unbolts from the base. When it came time to carry the separate pieces down to the basement, both Allison and Carolyn declared in unison, "That'll never fit through the door." I was sure it would because the base is 32" wide, sized to fit through a standard door frame. I went and measured the back door and the basement door and found to my dismay that both were 28" wide. Carolyn and Allison accused me of doing stuff like this all the time. Perhaps that's so. After thinking about the problem overnight, I decided to take the base home, knock the mortise and tenons apart, trim 3" off the width, and reassemble the base.
Allison on her Bianci
Allison brought her bike to leave in Wallace. We went on a ride up the old railway trail toward Mullan. On Saturday night, we drove to Kellogg to get groceries for the week.
Border of Idaho and Montana
On Sunday we went to church at the Wallace Branch in Silverton. Late in the afternoon, we went on a drive up Burke Canyon past several old mining ghost towns and ruins. Eventually the road turned to dirt and became very steep, rough, and rocky, but continued up and over Cooper Pass down into Montana. We stopped at the pass to go on an easy walk to a lake.
Scuba divers on the trail??
GPS track to Upper Glidden Lake
The walk to the lake was probably Gypsy's highlight of the trip. She enjoyed being off her leash and running through the woods.
Allison's first view of Upper Glidden Lake
Carolyn capturing Allison
View of Upper Glidden Lake from ridge trail
On the way back we took a spur and walked up to the ridge bordering the two states. If we had stayed on the trail we would have ended up in Mullan, but we turned around for the truck and drove back down Burke Canyon.
Old Hecla mineOn the way down the canyon we passed the open gate to the old Hecla mine. I drove in and snapped a few photos.
Back of old headquarters
Front of the headquarters building
When we drove by here last April, the sign at the top of the building was still intact. The ice and snow finally took their toll since 1924.
Hecla Mine
Eating breakfast on the porch
It's Monday now and the task of the day is to spray paint the living room. Carolyn and Allison charge themselves up with cereal.
Allison scraping paint
While I'm masking the inside, Carolyn and Allison scrape the old peeling paint off of the front porch railing. Then they brush on a new coat of paint.
Masking the floors
We had to cover every single surface that wasn't going to get painted. Allison and Carolyn masked off the floor.
Vintage mixer
On our last trip to Wallace, Carolyn bought a vintage milkshake maker. We brought it home and I restored it to working condition. On this trip, Carolyn found a vintage working mixer for the kitchen.
Allison
Allison made lots of milkshakes.
Walls painted!
In the afternoon everything was masked off and I sprayed the walls and hall going up the stairs with two coats of paint. I used a spray shield to prevent spraying the ceiling. As soon as the spraying was complete we tore off all the plastic sheeting from the windows and floor. In retrospect, I wish we had rolled the walls rather than spraying them. It takes so long to mask and clean up the sprayer that it's not really a time saver. After dinner, Carolyn and I rolled two coats of white paint on the ceiling. We were exhausted by the time we finished that night. On Tuesday morning, Allison helped me paint the ceiling in the stairwell. Then I masked the trim around the ceiling and brushed on two coats of paint.
Gypsy
Our dog loves going to Wallace because the yard is fenced in and she can run inside and out at her own will. She spends a lot of time with her head through the pickets looking to see what's going on.
Allie in an alley
On Tuesday afternoon, Carolyn and Allison went on a bike ride through the city.
Holding up the wall
Carolyn took these pictures with her Nexus S phone.
Cranky Gultch - Lake Creek Loop
While Carolyn and Allison went bike riding, I left on a motorcycle ride. I rode up Placer Creek and then turned up a singletrack at Cranky Gulch. The trail was skinny and rocky and clung to the side of the mountain. Riding by myself is not my favorite thing, but it was that or no ride at all.
Along the trail
Eventually the trail reached a ridge and was less steep. My bike was overheating at this point from climbing in first and second gear. I noticed the electrically powered radiator fan wasn't running. With the temperature gauge pinned in the red, I stopped several times on the trail to let the bike cool down.
Looking back down the trail
View from the ridge
The trail along the ridge kept climbing and I had good views of the mountains beyond.
On the side of Striped Peak
Eventually I climbed four thousand feet before heading down the saddle in the distance.
Looking down on Elbow Gultch
Even though I had my GPS, I wasn't exactly sure where I was. I came across a well stocked camp in an odd location high on the ridge. A quarter mile later I found a tag locked to a tree that said it belonged to a Department of Defense exercise. I decided it'd be best if I didn't take a picture of the camp or the tag. Eventually the trail popped out on a wide dirt road that headed downhill in both directions. I picked one direction and after a mile or two, saw a truck parked off the road in the woods. I turned around and rode up to the truck and talked to the owner, "Where am I?" He said if I stayed on the road I'd end up in Osburn. He said if I turned on a trail just down the road, I'd end up at Lost Lake. He mentioned he heard there was a trail from Lost Lake down to Galena Mine. That sealed it. I took off for that trail.
Lost Lake
There was a wide ATV trail down to Lost Lake. I stayed on the trail and it quickly turned into an old singletrack or hiking trail heading down a steep canyon. Someone had recently cut out all the fallen logs across the trail.
Galena Mine
The singletrack passed through the deep woods and crossed Lake Creek several times. Eventually the trail merged with a rough dirt road that lead me down to the operating Galena Mine. From there I kept going down to the main road only a mile or so from Wallace. It was a fun loop, but scary riding by myself.
Mari and Carolyn
On Tuesday night two moms (Mari and Marni) arrived with their sons (Tucker and Dylan). They're on their way to drop off their sons at BYU-I for their freshmen year, just like Allison. Everyone spent the night at our house. On Wednesday morning all of us went to the Red Light Garage for huckleberry pancakes. I got the boys to help me carry some heavy items (the workbench top and a cast iron joiner) down into the basement. Then we went on a brief walk around the town before everyone independently took off for Rexburg.
Little Joe electric locomotive
On the way to Rexburg we stopped in Deer Lodge, MT for lunch and to see a relic of the Hiawatha Trail. This locomotive was part of a set of engines General Electric built for Russia in 1946, but the Cold War had begun and Truman put a kibosh on the sale after the engines were completed. GE was left with a bunch of engines they couldn't sell. Eventually, the Milwaukee Road bought the majority of them for a million dollars. The electric locomotives are powered by a 3000v trolley cable suspended over the tracks. The accordion pickup, called a pantograph, completes the circuit. The pantograph is relatively flimsy and the joints are made of brittle aluminum. Should the pantograph snag, it is made to tear away, rather than rip down the powered wire. These engines, called Little Joes (after Joe Stalin) had Russian labeled controls. They pulled trains over the mountains from Montana to Avery, ID until the early 1970's when the whole line was converted to diesel power.
Allison's apartment
We arrived in Rexburg in the evening, ten minutes too late to check Allison into her apartment. We went over to her friend's apartment in the same complex (4 boys from our ward) and hung out and all of us went out to dinner. We stayed in a hotel that night in St. Anthony, about 10 miles north of Rexburg.
Rexburg Temple
Allison's apartment is right across the street from the temple. We were there just as the sun was setting and a storm was brewing out west. On Thursday morning we helped Allison move all of her stuff into her apartment. There were a lot of BYU-I students assigned to help the freshman, directing them to the right locations, handing out ward lists, carrying suitcases, etc. It was like checking into a youth conference. Eventually we said goodbye to Allison (Carolyn cried, of course) and drove back to Wallace by way of Salmon, ID and the Lewis and Clark Trail. It was fun to go the back way home.
Painting the porch
That evening in Wallace, Carolyn painted another coat on the porch. She had to paint with one hand and toss the ball with the other. Carolyn heard a lot of yelling and cheering coming from the high school gym behind out house. She walked over and saw it was a high school girls volleyball game. We went over with our next door neighbors - she teaches at the high school. The Wallace girls beat their rivals from Plummer, ID. It was competitive and fun to see the enthusiasm in a small town atmosphere.
Painting the baseboards
On Friday we masked and painted two coats on the baseboards. Then we masked and painted all the windows and door frames. We were beyond tired of painting by this point, but we still had a lot more to go.
Antique table, chairs, and buffet
In the afternoon we walked to a combination antique store and pawn shop that David told us about. We found a nice mahogany table and buffet. I made an offer, the owner excitedly accepted it, and we walked home and brought back the truck and hauled the items home.
Mahogany table
Dry sink
We went back a couple of hours later for a dry sink that we measured for a specific spot in the kitchen. The shop owner had a good day.
Stairs
On Saturday morning, I masked the stairs and Carolyn painted two coats. We left the treads original with their worn paint.
Philco radio
A couple of years ago we got this radio from Carolyn's basement and brought it home. I fixed it and we brought it to Wallace. According to a website, this is a 1950 Model 50-1720: An AM-FM floor model radio which uses seven tubes plus two selenium rectifiers, the 1720 also includes a three speed automatic record changer inside its mahogany finished cabinet. We'd turn on the radio at times while we were painting and listen to KWAL until we couldn't take hearing the same news over and over and tired of country music.
China cabinet
This china cabinet came from my Grandma Helen. We've had it for at least 25 years and it will go well with the other antiques in the living room.
Fixing my motorcycle
I wanted to go on another motorcycle ride on Saturday but first had to figure out what was wrong with the cooling system. The most obvious point of failure is the thermostat switch on the radiator. I tested it with an ohm meter and it tested within spec. I removed the fan and tested it with the truck's battery and it ran fine. I removed the cooling circuit relay and tested it as well. The sealed relay energized when powered, but the contacts inside never completed the circuit. There is no local Kawasaki dealer so I googled the relay and found that a similar one was used in Toyota cars in the 80's. On Friday afternoon I walked to the auto parts store in town with the Toyota part number. The man at the counter looked up the part. He didn't have it in stock but said he'd have it first thing in the morning. I asked if he wanted me to pay for it now? Nope. Do you want my name or number? Nope. "Living in a small town," I replied. "Yep, living in a small town," he said. On Saturday morning I went back to the parts store and walked out with my $14 relay. I put the motorcycle back together, tested the radiator fan, and left on a ride up Placer Creek to Moon Pass.
Trail 16A
From Moon Pass I turned up an ATV trail that took me up to Gold Hill. Like the previous ride, I was grinding up the trail in first and second gear. This time, however, the engine's temperature stayed within range. The electric fan automatically turned on and cooled the radiator.
Moon Pass road in the distance
GPS track of the ride
When I got to the top of Gold Hill I had hoped to ride along the ridge to Stevens Peak, at nearly 7k', the highest point in Shoshone County. Unfortunately, there were trails all over and the one I took lead me down to the Compressor District and I-90. I got on the highway and rode back to Wallace. The ride was 21 miles and 5k' of climbing.
Painting the doors
It's Saturday afternoon now and the painting still goes on and on. I brushed on two coats of paint to both sides of three doors. Carolyn and I took turns brushing on a two new coats of paint on the back steps. Carolyn and I listened to the first 3 quarters of the BYU football game while painting and then left for dinner down the street at the Red Light Garage. By the time we returned, BYU had lost.
On Sunday morning we packed up and headed home via Lake Wenatchee, because Marni and Mari said they were stopped in traffic for 1.5 hours due to construction on I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass. Taking highway 2 to the cabin instead of I-90 adds 30 miles to the trip, but is a lot more interesting drive. Some friends had stayed at our cabin over the Labor Day weekend and left the cabin in good shape. We rested at the cabin for a couple of hours before driving the rest of the way home.
It was a fun trip to Wallace, though sad for Carolyn that Allison is gone. I'm happy for Allison to be starting one of the most enjoyable periods of life.
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