Let's go to Idaho!

​IDAHO
It doesn’t take as long to get through this state as some – depending on where you travel of course. It’s kind of shaped like a weird platform shoe (if you have an imagination.) However, even though the top is quite skinny, it’s covered with mountains, and smaller roads so takes a bit to negotiate through. If you are a city person, you probably don’t want to head to Idaho – even I was nervous traveling through and I prefer wilderness to city. However, have you ever looked at a map of Idaho? When you see names like Craters of the Moon, or Sawtooth Wilderness, or River of No Return – well, those pioneers had reasons for the names they chose! There is one interstate in the north and one in the south; otherwise prepare to take “scenic” roads, which means time and patience. However, for the hunter, camper, etc, it’s a paradise. Beauty in the mountains, waterfalls, abound. Yet besides all the mountains, Idaho is still known as the potato state!? How that happened I cannot tell you. I didn’t see much farmland on the roads I took! I guess Ex 23:16  states it well: And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field… I’m sure they don’t have fields like our prairies, but they must do well to be known for their potato harvests.
My biggest issue when I pulled in to my friends’ place that night was car trouble; I had a small hole in my oil pan so was stopping for oil and checking the gas every time I found a gas station instead of vice-versa. My friends had a mechanic look at it, and he said it’d cost $1,000 to fix and the part would need to be ordered, etc. Since I had neither the money nor the time to wait, I called my brother from my friends’ house. We grew up making do when parts weren’t around or couldn’t be afforded so although my brother was an official mechanic, he was good about suggestions that he’d never give customers, only his sister. I was the ‘make-it-work-however-without-costing-money’ missionary that had faith in her father & brothers’ “outside the box” abilities.
When I told these Idahoans what I planned to do, the mechanic snorted. “You’ll never make it to Illinois from Idaho with that machine. I’d bet money on it.” I planned to stop at my aunt’s in Colorado, so I told my brother I’d call him in two days when I reached her (we didn’t have cell phones in those days.) and if he didn’t hear from me in three days, I’d be stranded somewhere in the wilds of Wyoming. Now, should I tell you what the magic cure for a dripping oil pan is, or not? Hmmm. :0) Let’s just say I wish I could have found that mechanic and asked how much money he wanted to pay me. I made it both to Colorado and to Illinois – and it certainly never cost $1,000; more like $6.00 – but ooh, it was rather smelly! Let me know what you think I did! :0)