Day One

Missoula to Craters of the Moon

Wednesday, May 25th

Dang! I just managed to erase a half an hours worth of typing. I do that. What I've learned is to take a deep breath and start over. The second draft is ALWAYS better then the first.

Where was I? Well. Day one is almost over. I'm not going to count it as my official day one on the road, since I only drove for maybe 6 solid hours. I didn't get as far as I would like but I am most definitely where I am supposed to be. Craters of the Moon is a protected national monument. It's remnants of volcanic lava that came up through the earths cracks, but no one is sure where the origin of the volcano is, but that this volcanic rock has been here for about 2,000 years. It fills up a whole valley in Idaho and I plan on exploring it further tomorrow. There is a 7 mile scenic loop and I don't see why I can't run it.

So why Craters of the Moon? I was drawn to it. Seriously. I've been noticing so many strange coincidences in the past four months and this is one of them. About a month ago, I had a customer in our store looking at some glass votive candle holders. Me being my usual, nosy self, I was prodding into this strangers life about what he may need 70 of these for. He told me that he was building some lanterns for a wedding and he then went into detail. This celebration would take place over several days, where there would be camping, building these fancy structures and digging huge fire pits. This would all be happening in a place called Craters of the Moon. Where? Who the? What the? I had obviously never heard of this place and he insisted that I make a trip their some day.

This place had been in the back of my mind ever since and I even looked to see if I would be close to it on my drive but didn't notice it on the map. It wasn't until this afternoon, when I was on the road. I happened to pass a mileage sign that said I was only 20 miles from the place. I had been wondering if I should stop at a camp ground anyways, but no place I passed felt right. As soon as I saw that sign I knew that was where I was meant to go.