Back in Washington State

20090914—Back in Washington State

I drove pretty steadily today, initially on US2, then, after crossing into Washington at Newport, generally following SR20 (except for ~40 miles on an unnumbered road between Usk and Chewelah) until eventually arriving at Twisp.

Much of this, like yesterday, was through National Forest land (the Colville NF, the Okanagon NF and the Paysaten Wilderness). This went over several passes (Sherman, Wauconda and Loup Loup), so was kind of slow going and needed a lot of attention. There were a lot logging trucks on the road, bringing shorter (8 foot?) toothpick size logs (for pulp or chipping) to two larger Simpson operations enroute. The drive was full of memories of the week or so that Patt and I spent in NorthEast Washington several years ago. We also spent a nice cross country skiing weekend in the Twisp area about 20 years ago.

I was able to pick up NPR for classical music, Terry Gross interviewing about Ted Kennedy's True Compass, and a call in program from National Native News discussing the National Park System in the USA, giving the perspective that these, among other things, have served to create 'conservation refugees' (given that he native populations who once lived there have been banished or at least prevented from using them in traditional ways). This later discussion was not a rant, but thoughtful, and brought up situations now developing in Canada, Africa, and South America where 'American style' National Parks are being established. This was an interesting and thought provoking viewpoint for me. See more detail at http://www.firstpeoplesworldwide.org/publish/MaasaiPressRelease08-27-2009.pdf

I'm spending a warm night at a nice commercial RV site with a great view of the Methow River.