June 10, 2017
Day 9: Coming Home
Maurice was in the navy and lived in a lot of places.
"I was stationed in San Diego for a long time. Also spent years in Japan."
So we talked about that for a while.
"But you came back here," I said. "Why?"
"It's home," he said in a way that is deeper than most people thing of home.
Maurice is a Nez Perce and born in this area, in the hills east of Lewiston. Now he works at the Nez Perce visitor center. I would have stopped anyway but we ended up chatting a bit longer while I waited out a storm.
"I am often called to speak to kids groups to teach about traditional ways," he said. "I am lucky because I grew up in a home where I was taught a lot of the traditional ways."
Maurice speaks the Nez Perce language and my take is that he has come home to give back to his community.
"It is important that we keep the language alive and get younger people speaking it."
So true.
So we chatted for a while and then I looked around and watched the center movie.
After that i moved on, riding a little ways on route 12 until I found a decent campground. Which I did on the first try. I stopped at a little hole in the wall place called MaCays Bend didnt look like much, but there were a few campers and a really nice campground host and, get this, SHOWERS! I'm staying!
"I dont understand why so few people are camping here," i said. "It's ummer and fishing season and a weekend."
"Too much rain for fishing," he said. Which I said seemed counterintuitive. Dont fish like water? He kind of agreed about that point but if fishing is bad the fishing is bad.
So I set up camp and cooked some food I brought, checked out the river and went to bed.
Tomorrow more river riding. WOO-HOOO!
Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 440 miles (708 km)
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