I was driving east on Baldy Road yesterday afternoon, almost ready to turn north on Boyer.
Well, that wasn't going to happen very soon.
Traffic in front of me was stopping, traffic north of the railroad crossing on Boyer had stopped, and, south of the tracks, a school bus driver was out on the road talking to a truck driver behind him. Behind the truck driver, cars were coming to a halt.
The signal at the crossing was blinking, but there was no sign of a train coming from either direction.
I surmised that the bus driver had sensed a long wait and had made an agreement with the truck driver to leave the space open behind so he could back up the bus and turn around.
After the bus turned around, so did the big truck.
In front of me, other cars started leaving the pack, while north of the crossing others were exiting their spots and turning around.
It seemed obvious to me at that point that I might be waiting a while to even get to the Baldy stop sign where once I did, I'd be waiting longer for the Boyer traffic to clear out.
So, I transformed into a lemming, pulled out of my spot and headed toward Boyer where I could turn south.
This experience reminded me why I love living in the country and why I don't miss life on Great Northern Road where, for 30 years, another railroad crossing could bring out some rather salty language when a train had pulled up, stopped and lacked the decency to let drivers on either side of those tracks know how many hours or minutes it might be sitting there.
The worst times for me were when the kids were attending Boise State. I'd be coming back from a visit, having driven the entire stretch of HWY 95 from Boise to Sandpoint.
It would be late at night. All I wanted to do was get home and crash, only to pull on to Great Northern Road and see that a train was blocking the tracks and no sign it was gonna leave soon.
The worst part: our home was just a quarter mile away ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THOSE TRACKS.
After waiting a few minutes in hopes that the train would move, I'd say another bad word or two, give in, turn around and drive four more miles to Boyer to Woodland Drive and back to Great Northern Road, finally entering our driveway. Usually, the train was still blocking the tracks during my extra drive.
Long story short, I love living the country where no railroad crossings get in the way.
Of course, that's not the only reason I love the country. Rather than going into detail, I'll let yesterday's batch of pictures do the talking.
At least one of my photos hints that there IS still a little country left back in my old neighborhood, but sometimes you have to cross railroad tracks to get to it in Goobyville.
I'm also letting the pictures do most of the talking this morning because other members of my family occasionally have something to say too.
This morning, it's Bill as in Bill Love, Jr., not to be confused with William III, Willie or Will.
Those two names in the same small town can sometimes cause as much trouble as blocked railroad crossings cuz people just plain get confused. We've learned that's not a good thing with bank accounts.
So, for writing purposes, Bill had become Bill, Jr.
Speaking of William III, Willie or Will aka Coach Love, in addition to all his neat basketball coaching podcasts, he's been putting out weekly newsletters about the Sandpoint High School girls basketball program. They're both instructive and informative, for folks interested in the girls' program and basketball in general.
He'll send those newsletters out to anyone interested in following the girls' program, so if you would like to receive them, let me know somehow. I would need an email address.
Now back to Bill, Jr AND Annie Love, who saw the California redwoods for her first time yesterday.
Father and daughter collaborated---Bill with the story and Annie with the pictures---on a feature for today's Bonner County Daily Bee about catching grayling at Long Lake over Labor Day weekend. And, as always with Bill, there's more to the story than catching fish.
No wonder she's gonna shut up, you may be saying.
Yes, do check out Bill, Jr.'s article and enjoy Annie's photos.
https://bonnercountydailybee.com/news/2020/oct/13/boy-stick-arctic-grayling/
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