Book Signing at Centerville Sesquicentennial ... and More

The first of our two Sesquicentennial booking signings [blog, Aug 27] went very well. The only slight downside was the weather – temperatures in the high 90s. Thus, because of that heat, my wife Caroline stayed around our hotel room with our dogs (Miniature Schnauzers).

Skip Myers and I first set up our table at the Centerville Fire Station and Community Center. Sales got off to a slow start, so I put up some signs and handed out brochures. Luckily, once people got the message, we had a steady stream come by.

The scheduled sesquicentennial program started a bit after noon, and included some remarks by Idaho’s Lieutenant Governor, Brad Little. After those “festivities,” we moved the table over to the new Interpretive Center. The Center is located in the building that once housed the New Centerville railway station.

Book Signing Setup at Interpretive Center

Fewer visitors came to the Center, but the organizers have made a good start on what could become a very nice period museum. For the day, we sold and signed a couple dozen copies of Boise River Gold Country, which we considered not bad.

Sunday Adventure
On Sunday, Caroline and I visited the Boise Basin together. After a stop in Idaho City, we drove to the Interpretative Center, and then on to view the Station where the Sesquicentennial had kicked off on Saturday. If anything, it was even hotter on Sunday, so we could not leave our dogs locked in the car for any longer hikes.

View from Near Grimes Pass

From there, we continued on the same road through Pioneerville. We intended to go all the way to Grimes Pass, where we could see the renovated George Grimes monument. However, we discovered that the turn onto the pass is rather tight, and we missed the small area where we might have parked. Before we quite knew it, we were headed downhill. We did get a good look from the top, but we rather assumed we could quickly go back up.

That, unfortunately, was not the case. Although we did find some slightly wider sections, there was no place where a car could safely turn around. In fact, most of the road (by far) was too narrow for two cars to pass. We did meet one motorcycle coming up, and that was not too bad.

Grimes Pass Road

By the time we passed the motorcycle, we had decided to go on down -- even if we had found a place where turning around was possible. Neither of us is particularly fond of narrow roads with big drop-offs, so we simply had no desire to go back up.

Road View. Note how close the road edge is (bottom) ... we're stopped right in the middle.

 Anyway, we’re not sure how long the white-knuckle descent took, but we finally made it. Luckily, we were down to a mostly wider stretch when we met a car coming up. We stopped to chat (and warn them), but the driver said he had been hunting the area for years ... and knew all about it. The road, by the way, drops over a thousand feet in a bit under 2 miles -- over a 10% grade.

Grimes Pass Road from Below

Heading out, we followed the Payette River, where we saw an almost uncountable number of people -- on rafts, kayaks, and inner tubes -- floating the rapids. Beautiful white water, but incredibly crowded. (Understandable, given the hot weather.)