Frank Road Trip Experience
May 2025

5/18/25 For the last decade or so my big brother Chris and I have set aside a week for a Brother's Road Trip. We are the youngsters in our family of six. My oldest sisters are sixteen and fourteen years older than me. The last year has been tough as both Jeanne and Charlotte left us to join our parents with Jesus. But I have one remaining sister, Eileen. Chris drove up from California to meet up for our 2025 road trip. But before we hit the road we drove up to Longview to celebrate Eileen's 80th birthday with her two daughters, five grandchildren, and seven great grandkids. Chris had me write down all the names to keep them straight. Such an amazing celebration of a large and loving family is a testimony to Eileen and Terry's love that they endued into their daughters and was passed through the generations. I'm confident that Terry was looking down from heaven and celebrating with them.

Our annual "Brothers' Road Trip" have taken us to Glacier National Park, the California and Oregon coast, Joshua Tree, the Grand Canyon and other places. Until last year, it was a camping adventure. But two years ago, it became too adventurous for our old bones. So now it's motels and cabins. This year it was a tour of the Old West. We are children of the 1950's when cowboys were kings. Westen movies, TV, and music infused our early years. We wore coon-skin hats and sang "Davy, Davy Crockett". So we set off the day after Eileen's birthday party and headed down the Columbia Gorge retracing Lewis and Clark's return journey. We stopped for lunch with Lelia's sister, Lucy, in Pasco and then drove on to Walla Walla. Living most of my Iife in Washington state, I still had never visited Walla Walla. It still called to mind the childhood Bugs Bunny cartoon reference to the funny name "Walla Walla Washington". I seem to remember most of the Coyote's gizmos that he purchased to trap the Roadrunner came from the Acme company in Walla Walla. We visited the museum there and read up on the Lewis Clark trek and the Indian and prison history. It's odd how the small-town museums that we visited seem to like to display their historic prisons.

To get us in the Western mood, Chris downloaded James Fenimore Cooper's "Deerslayer" book for us to listen to during our hours of driving. It's the first of the "Leatherstocking Series". I'd read "The Last of the Mohegans", but not this one. But on the second day of our Road Trip we also listened to my audiobook "The Lewis and Clark Journal". That's because we drove up the middle road through Idaho following the Clearwater River. It's the river that Lewis and Clark traveled down after finally finding the source of the Missouri River and passing over the Continental Divide. It was the most desperate part of their expedition as they searched for a route over the Rockies. It was a windy but beautiful drive through the mountains. I'd driven through Idaho many times. But always on the Interstates to the north or south. We entered Montana and stopped at Missoula to visit their Butterfly Museum. We spent the night at the little town of Deer Lodge. It had the most magnificent closed prison I'd ever seen. I told Chris that the little Deer Lodge AG church had a great Bible Quiz team back when I led our teams to the Regional Competitions in Montana. Good memories. The next day we continued in the Lewis and Clark theme and turned off to the headwaters of the Missouri River. It was Lewis and Clark's initial goal and very challenging to determine. The final determination was that it was the confluence of three rivers. Chris has this amazing ability to pull up any old song at any time on his iPad. He remembered an old Western song dedicated to the trapper, John Colter. He was on the Lewis and Clark expedition and returned to trap the area. He was captured by the Blackfeet Indians, stripped naked, and told to run through the prickle pine cactus until the Indians hunted him down. Somehow he escaped and walked 200 miles over two weeks to the fort on the Yellowstone River. Men were really tough back then. After that we then stopped in Bozeman to visit the Rocky Mountain Museum. It rekindled another of our childhood obsessions - dinosaurs. With our four-inch plastic T-Rex in one hand, the poor barosaurus or triceratops in the other hand stood no chance. Our childhood visits to the dinosaur exhibits at the Chicago Field Museum made deep impressions on my psyche. The Montana exhibits were just as amazing. Then we drove on to Hardin, Montana and the theme changed from Lewis and Clark to General Custer.

Day four we started by visiting the Big Horn County Museum. It had great information on the Battle of the Little Big Horn. So I downloaded a book that I had read a couple years ago - "The Last Campaign". It's about General Sherman and Sheridon leading the final plains Indian Wars. We listened to a couple chapters about what an arrogant and vain character Custer was and the last great battle of the wars. When I was a kid, we had a big picture of the Custer's Last Stand that we got somehow from a bar and it ended up in our basement. I vividly remember staring at the detailed depiction of the massacre. At this point, the tribes control the site and presented it from their viewpoint - which is truly a more realistic portrayal. We'd learned that the road to the actual battle site was closed for repairs. But there was a fun trading post at the entrance of the road that we visited. On these trips the best parts are often serendipitous. We walked up the road to the barrier where we could view some of the monuments on the site. On the long walk there was a gigantic colony of prairie dogs about two miles long and a mile deep. Throughout our walk up and back hundreds of little guardians would pop up and chirp at us and wag their tails threateningly. We then drove into Wyoming, through the Big Horn Mountains to Cody for the night.

Day five was the peak of the trip. First we visited the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. It was my favorite. As I said, our childhoods were emersed in Cowboy lore. What became clear to me was the impact of this former army scout and trapper on all American and even European cultures. James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking books were very popular in Europe and planted the mythos of the American frontier and its Indian cultures. But Buffalo Bill Cody and his three decades of touring his Cowboy, Indian, horse riding, and gun shooting circus established the popularity of the whole Western ethos. From the 1880's to the 1910's this incredible showman and manager employed hundreds of Indians, cowboys, horse riders, sharpshooters (including Annie Oakley) in mock battles and stunt riding. The museum showed the seasonal schedule of the traveling circus throughout these years. They visited hundreds of little American towns and big cities with seasons touring Europe throughout Briton, France, Germany, and Italy - even a private performance for Queen Elizabeth. He was a bit of a scoundrel. But I believe that the hundred years Cowboy obsession of American culture until the 1970's owes much to this scoundrel.

We then drove on the Yellowstone Park and visited the uniquely beautiful geysers and wildlife. I'd spent a week there four years ago as a guest of the BRUECHERTs. But it was worth enjoying Paint Pot geysers again and being stuck behind the meandering buffaloes blocking the road for a half hour. It is their home after all and we're just visiting. Then in the evening we drove by the magnificent Grand Tetons Park. Chris said that the name refers to the ancient Titans. But I heard that the horny Frenchmen who first viewed them had other thoughts in mind when they named them. From there we journeyed onto Jackson Hole and collapsed into a bed at a motel. A very long but very fulfilling day.

Day six of our Brother Road Trip started with a stroll through famous celebrity hide-out Jackson Hole. It was by far the highest-end part of the vacation. Then we motored by to the Tetons to try a hike up to a waterfall. But the snow was too deep on the trail. So we just again took in the view and journeyed on through the corner of Idaho and on to Bear Lake Utah. Chris still loves the feel of camping. So we stayed in a rustic cabin at a KOA. There were a few thunderstorms were skirting by and mostly missing us. So we talked to our neighbor campers about our 70 degree visit to Yellowstone. They said that they would be there in two days and the prediction was 30 degrees and snow. We were grateful for the beautiful weather at every stop. This is Chris' journal entry of that evening - "We got a fire going, roasted some sausages, and enjoyed a sunset while looking at the fire. I used my iPad to play old songs which Frank requested, and I challenged him to guess some. I think he liked Johnny Cash best singing I Walk the Line. He flashed me a photo of Lelia on his phone and said, "Because she's mine, I walk the line." I enjoyed immensely having a brother like Frank; easy to be with and a faithful companion. We mutually decided things, sometimes with him getting his way and sometimes me getting my way. We always compromised, never insisted, never bickered, give-and-take without rivalry. Frank finally said "I'm tired" about 10pm and he poured water on the embers." Part of my compromise was that I got to sleep in the bottom of bunk bed while Chris got the queen bed.

By day seven we were tiring out. We visited a little church in Bear Lake Village and enjoyed the Christian fellowship in little places. We journeyed through the mountains and made just one stop to view Hobbitt Cave. With that name we couldn't resist. I got to scratch my itch for sitting by a waterfall. It was a little dicey crossing the little rapid stream on a makeshift bridge of logs and boards. And the little network of caves was not very impressive. But I always feel invigorated sitting near rapid flowing waters. We then drove onto Salt Lake City. We arrived in time to visit the state park on the lake. There were 65 mph winds blowing over the briny sands. The federal park center gave a history of the lake and managed to leave out every mention of the Mormons. Interesting. But we did learn that the brine shrimp from the lake were the "sea monkeys" that were advertised in the comic books when we were kids. On our final day together, I was booked for a three o'clock flight back to Portland. But we had time to visit the Mormon holy sites. This was one of my goals for the trip. I have a great appreciation for Mormon culture. I met many in dental school and throughout my dental career. We called them the Jews of the west. Because like the Jews on the east coast, they are way overrepresented in the professional schools and higher professional businesses. In both cases it reflects their culture and work ethic. But their religion is a classic cult. Cults have been a special interest of mine since I first read "Kingdom of the Cults" by Walter Martin fifty years ago. Over the past few years, I've read histories of the Jim Jones, the Maharishi, and David Koresh cults. Their pattern of leadership and development mirrors Joseph Smith and Brigham Young closely. Our hotel was within walking distance of the temple grounds. But like Little Big Horn, the actual temple was closed down for a billion-dollar retrofit to refurbish it and make it "earthquake proof". So we walked the beautiful gardens filled with grand blasphemous statues. I guess "Hogwash" makes good fertilizer. Then we toured the tabernacle with its grand auditorium and grand organ. After touring the temple grounds, we went to Mormon Church history museum. I walked through the long line of displays giving their history of Joseph Smith and his revelations through the years - the golden tablets - the magic spectacles to read them- the translation of the book of Mormon with its comic book history of the great Indian civilizations that ruled present day New York state, etc. etc. etc. I'd just finished reading "The Audobiography of Malcolm X" with it's telling of the Nation of Islam's comic book history of the African race. Like so many cults, "the devil is in the details". After smiling and chuckling a lot at the absurdities of the "history", I got thinking. If the goal of the display is to reach non-Mormons, I can't help but believe that it would have the opposite effect. While we were touring, Chris got a facetime message from his Catholic son Zach. He told us to visit the Catholic cathedral close to the temple and go inside. Beside it's alter is large portrait of Paul warning the Christians of the "angel of light". Next to it the verse "Though we or an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that we preached to you, let him be anathema" Gal 1:8. Very cheeky but spot on. Then Chris dropped me off at the airport and continued his two-day drive home to California. It's good to have a brother that also a best friend.