Homeward Bound

When I was a little kid, my grandparents went West with a Nash sedan, one that pre-dated the Nash Rambler and who remembers either of them?

When they returned, my grandmother's right arm was red and blistered.  The temperatures had been ungodly high so she stuck her arm out the passenger window to get some cool relief...except it got horribly sunburned.   She told me never to do that and I didn't.  During the entire trip west, I kept my left arm in the car.  That arm is darker than the right, but it was never burned. 

Today, I realized that the sun wasn't shining in the driver's side at all.  I am heading home. 

Gary told me to take Highway 12 from Washington State to Missoula.  It would be shorter than my original plan and would be the scenic route along the Clearwater River, the route Lewis and Clark took.

Scenic it was.  Mileage wise it was shorter....as the crow flies.  I began the drive around 8:00 a.m. Pacific time and arrived here in Missoula before 4:00 p.m. Mountain time.  In between, I drove through coils of curves.  There were few barriers between cars and the precipices.  Look at the magnificent scenery?  Seldom, I kept my eyes on the road.  RV's, pickups, motorcycles came speeding up behind me and I would have to find the "turnouts" which were unmarked and short.  Misjudge and I could go flying into the river. 

There were three such accidents.  There was a twisted wreckage of a semi-trailer against the rock face on the other side of the road. The truck driver must have chosen crashing into the stone over going into the brink.

Then there was that accident with a full group of workers as I cam around the bend.  They were dealing with bits and pieces of something.  They had signs that said "accident" but I wasn't sure what it was.

I was sure about the car wreck.  The car obviously had rolled down rocks because the windows were broken out, but the car was 1/3 under the Clearwater River.  

I don't get scared easily, but this drive gave me the willies.

Pretty though.