Home Alone and Elk City, Idaho

Emmi is wondering what happened to all the people laps she has enjoyed for so long???  After spending over a month in the company of our good friends Larry and Geri as well as Elmer and Henrietta we are now home alone.  Just after 8am this morning both rigs were rolling down the driveway.  Michael and I spent the day being bums—I had a bit of a stomach bug and it just felt good to “be.”

We did manage to finish emptying the truck camper, washing and cleaning it so it can find a new owner!  And Michael also washed all the dust off the RZR—it now looks new again.  In the month we were gone we rode 821 miles in the RZR in 18 days of riding—that’s a lot of miles!!

One of the small towns we visited was Elk City, Idaho—in the middle of nowhere!  Elk City has a population of 200 people and is located 51 miles from the town of Grangeville with a population of 3000.  Even Google recognizes that 51 miles is dang crooked—Google states it take one hour and twenty minutes to travel those 51 miles.  Crooked is an understatement for that highway—crooked and bordered by steep mountains on one side and the river on the other.

On February 18, 2016 a massive rock/mud slide blocked the only highway access to Elk City, Idaho.  On July 25, over five months later, the debris from the slide is still being hauled.  Traffic is being flagged through a one lane passage over the slide debris.  This photo is an aerial shot by the Idaho Transportation Department shortly after the slide occurred. 

This photo I took as we approached the slide from the east—you can see Larry and Geri’s rig then Elmer and Henrietta’s little red camper.

An Elk City resident told me the slide happened on February 18th and work to remove the debris did not start until April 1.  All the different government agencies couldn’t agree on how to proceed with cleanup.  In the meantime, the USFS allowed the residents to use a road normally closed in winter but only three days per week.  All traffic had to go out at 8am and not return to Elk City until 3pm to discourage heavy traffic on road which was prone to fill with mud and slush. 

The woman at the restaurant—my source—said it had been a very trying time for the residents of Elk City.  They had t-shirts made which said, “I survived the slide.”  There is a three minute video on YouTube which shows the slide escalating out of control taken by a highway worker who had a close call--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY5zqUzMx2k. 

So, poor little Emmi is back to having only two laps for napping—instead of six!  We had a great time this past month—thanks Geri for all your planning and leading!!