When I was a kid my parents had this boxy Winnebago and every summer they would load up the family and travel to a part of the US. One summer they loaded us in the ‘bago to go out west to see an uncle who lived in Wash. State (before it became Californicated) they went the long way in that they headed north through Iowa until we hit I-90 and then headed west. At the time I-90 wasn’t finished it stopped just short of CDA, so we took a tour and went up to Lake Pend Oreille camped for the night then headed through Rathdrum back towards Spokane.
Even as a kid I was mesmerized by the natural beauty of the drive from Rapid City, S.D. through Wyoming and Montana but the CDA area of Idaho really made the trip for me. It was still very much undeveloped and had that small town America feel complimenting the natural beauty. I had always kept in my mind that if I ever could afford to I’d move up there. But as I have gotten older the area is still full of natural wonder but Florida has one thing that trumps the beauty and that is an almost unlimited choice of medical services depending on needs. I mean the county I live in has more doctors of almost every specialty than the entire states of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota. And if one lives in the Idaho panhandle and needs a specialist they may have to go to Spokane which is in a state that is fast becoming California North. I’d still go to CDA area to visit but as we get older reality kicks us in the backside making our dreams just that dreams. Even after the Covid scam and having lost trust in medicine, having the medical options available, is a plus as we age.
If you hustled thru Silver Valley all the way to CDA before I90 was finished you probly avoided lead poisoning. Bunker Hill and the Star mine had pretty much killed off all the green stuff in that valley with airborn lead. It took until the 1980’s for the vegetation to show serious recovery. It’s a neat place to visit but one of the last places I’d ever want to spend much time in, even to this day.