Today marks three weeks on the road, we have done so much yet it doesn’t seem like we’ve been gone that long.
We are in the country of the Lemhi Shoshone, Sacajawea’s tribe. We fished the Lemhi river this morning, it is a beautiful stream but no fish, looks like it would be much more fun to tube or kayak. Actually, when we came back from roaming this afternoon a whole crew of kids were going downstream in their tubes having a blast!
Luanne met a guy on the stream who told her the better fishing is south, closer to the Stanley area. We’ve found another spot and think we’ll make a day of it tomorrow, taking our lunch and the dogs with us.
When we woke this morning the sky was it’s usual blue with a few puffy clouds, but as the day went on it grew grayer and grayer. We had heard there were fires in this area before we headed down from Missoula, but they were 100% contained so didn’t worry about it. A new fire has flamed up over the mountain, we can see the plumes of smoke and the whole sky is thick with smoke. It will be interesting to see whether we can continue on our route to Stanley Monday.
We visited the Sacajawea museum late this afternoon. It was a tiny museum with a nice interpretive walk. When we were on our way out, I think in Great Falls, we saw the memorial to Sargeant Floyd, the only member of the Expedition to die. That seems like aeons ago and the thought of what they went through to reach Salmon overwhelms my modern sensibilities.
When the Corps agreed to let Charboneau bring his young Indian "wife" on the Expedition, the Captains had no idea how valuable her presence would be. Sacajawea was fourteen when she set out with them, she had been captured from her tribe when she was nine, then traded to Charboneau. During the Expedition, her knowledge of herbal medecines and foraging, as well as her bravery in perilous times proved time and again that SHE was the one in the couple who was earning their way. When the Corps arrived in the Lemhi area they found the Missouri River at an end, no other navigable river in sight and the Bitterroot Mountains to cross. They encountered a band of Indians and hoped to trade with them for horses. When they heard that Sacajawea was Shoshone they brought her in to translate. She was shocked when she entered the tepee and found her brother Kamahowait and the rest of her family were the very band they had encountered! The horses she procured made the rest of the trip possible.
I just looked up from typing and a small twin engine plane flew over for the second time. The Smoke Jumper's headquarters are in Missoula and I'm sure they are on alert and very probably jumping into the fire we are watching.
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