To WESTERN U.S.!
Sep. 7-10 2022
PART 7
West on I-90 near Kellogg, Idaho. Reading up on Kellogg, I learn that not even this area is fully safe from gentrification, and some of the results have been unspeakable. I research these things, you know.
I-90 enters Kellogg.
Bunker Avenue! Like bunker blasts!
A view of Kellogg from I-90. Old US 10 is obscured by the Conoco station.
They're talking about bunkers again!
This 1936 bridge is on old US 10 over the Coeur d'Alene River at Cataldo. As of this writing, US 10 only runs from West Fargo, N.D., to Bay City, Mich., and is filled partly by a seasonal ferry across Lake Michigan. US 10 used to be a dynamo running west along the current I-94 and I-90 all the way to Seattle.
I-90 nears the ID 3 exit. There were so many places like this where construction narrowed the road that it might as well just be US 10.
A feller rides his bike on I-90!
This has to be I-90 where it goes over Blue Creek Bay, an appendage of Coeur d'Alene Lake. An old map labels this as US 10 and Alt US 95.
Idaho is associated with potatoes, and oddly enough, there's a smell of potatoes in my building as I write this. This is I-90 with Coeur d'Alene Lake in the background. Though a natural lake, it has been expanded by a dam. Many cars from the early 20th century rest at the bottom of the lake, because of people mistakenly thinking they could drive across the lake when it froze.
Busted! This is I-90 in Coeur d'Alene, a city of 55,000. Wikipedia said, "The City of Coeur d'Alene has opted not to voluntarily merge with the Spokane MSA and to remain a distinct metropolitan area." I had no idea they could just "opt" for it. The government has rules on this stuff.
Continuing on I-90 in Coeur d'Alene, I think this was the only traffic sign on this trip advertising the mysterious land to our north.
Appleway Avenue in Coeur d'Alene.
I-90 whisks us away from Coeur d'Alene!
I-90 in Post Falls, which stunningly is approaching 40,000 people in the 2020 census. You may notice that the BGS's in many states in this region often talk about a "city center" rather than a "downtown."
In this video, I pick up a new state - a state I've never been to before! Can you guess what it is? It's...WASHINGTON! Yay, yay, it's a new state! This wasn't even the only new state I picked up that day! But right now, let's enjoy I-90 entering Washington!
I-90 in Liberty Lake, Wash., seems to have a new bridge being built over it.
I-90 in Spokane Valley. Spokane Valley is a Spokane suburb of 100,000 that had only incorporated in 2003. This was one of the biggest cities ever to be newly incorporated in the United States. Notice that Washington uses a silhouette of George Washington as its state route shield. But he isn't bubbling, unlike the cartoon of George Washington in the bubble gum commercial.
I-90 in Spokane! It was exotic and scenic for me to see Seattle as a control city.
I-90 dips down into sort of a trench in Spokane. Note the rock wall on the right.
Downtown Spokane starts to come into view.
Finally! Spokane! Spokane is the childhood home of Bing Crosby and Tom Foley (who once swallowed part of a TV Dinner tray).