After the jolliment of our Telluride tour, in sharp contrast, I then joined my friend Bid, who'd spent the week with us, as she embarked on a pilgrimage to honor the great Native American Chief, Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe.
Bid was my host when I visited New Zealand 5 years ago, and I was so happy to reunite with her as she planned to visit the US.
Bid was my host when I visited New Zealand 5 years ago, and I was so happy to reunite with her as she planned to visit the US.
As this was Bid's quest, "To bring the Chiefs home", I figured my role was to support her in any way I could and acted as navigator as we headed out from where we were in Colorado to Joseph's homeland, the Wallowa Valley in Oregon.
Propped up in the back seat of Bid's rented Hyundai was the sensitive portrait she had painted of Joseph, along with another Chief, Frank Fools Crow of the
Oglala Lakota tribe,
aka "the Chiefs"
The Chiefs were our Companions and Spirit Guides for the duration of this journey,
and no one seemed to question as they joined us each night in our hotel room…
Driving from Telluride,
our first stop was to view the eye boggling Red Canyon on the Green River….
in the Flaming Gorge Recreational area in Northeastern Utah on the Wyoming/Utah border.
After staying way too long gasping at beauty
we altered our original plans
and drove a harrowing road in darkness,
through a winding mountain pass to end up in
Logan, UT for the night.
(OK, Bid drove, and I kept a lookout for mule deer and cows on the road.)
The next day after being pulled over by Idaho's finest for a minor traffic violation…..
(luckily two babbling gals, one with a VERY thick Kiwi accent,
confused the officer enough not to ticket us…)
we stayed in
Baker City, Oregon
After four days on the road, and over 1,000 miles, we finally reached our destination of the
Wallowa Valley
and
the small town of
The weather was perfect and we enjoyed our first glimpse of autumn.
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