Whew! Iʻm back! Letʻs continue our adventure on our way to Montana, okay? Months ago, at least here on the blog, we had just left the small town of Kendrick, Idaho. We turned East onto County Road P1, which is also known as Southwick Road and also known as Wauncher Gulch Road. Confusing, yeah?

We drove along the road, and several miles from Kendrick we saw what was going to be a gorgeous sunset, so we pulled up a gravel road into a churchʻs driveway, stopped, and got out of the car. Iʻve been trying to figure out exactly where we were on GoogleMaps, but so far havenʻt found the church on the aerial view. But this is what we saw from the top of the driveway.

Absolutely stunning sunset, isn’t it? We were up above the highway, and the scene took our breaths away.

Looking back from where we’d come. I loved the gentle curve of the highway, the empty road, and the peaceful feeling.

You’d think I’d be able to find just where we were on the highway; I will keep looking, but really, in the long run, maybe it doesn’t matter. Not with views like this.

I just kept taking photos. I know get plenny, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to remember everything!

I don’t know the name of the mountains in the background, either. But again, does it really matter?

I zoomed in on the sun a little; I’m surprised that this photo actually came out.

The sun kept getting lower and lower; I love how the pine tree adds to this photo. I wanted it in there to give some perspective to the shot.

These tiny flowers were blooming in the church’s parking lot.

It was really a wonderful experience watching the sunset from this beautiful vantage point. It wasn’t too cold, about 68 degrees, so it was pleasant outside.

This photo is looking Southeast from the church parking lot, with the sunset behind us. This country was so beautiful and peaceful!

Here’s a video I took from the church’s parking lot:

Above us, the church’s cemetery was beautiful in the dusk.

Even though the sunset was bright off to the east, there was still enough light over the fields and farms we saw from the church to take some peaceful photos.

We saw this old, deserted, house. As you know, I’m fascinated by these houses, knowing that if their walls could talk they’d have some fascinating stories to tell. I always think of the people who used to live in them, who loved them, and who had now gone somewhere else…I wonder where…

It just makes me sad to see these old houses, and I feel compelled to photograph them…

…and to preserve them somehow. As we stopped to take the photos, we heard the song of a Meadowlark. It was sweet and beautiful in this lonely place.

I also wonder it was (or is) like to live out here in these lonesome places with views that take your breath away.

This is Southwick Bible Church. We were getting closer to Orofino, and it was now about 9:20 p.m. Mountain Time.

Dusk was really beginning to settle over the land as we continued on our way.

We came around a corner, and there, just for AFK, were some pīpī just waiting to have their photos taken.

This was after we’d made a sharp right turn south at the junction of 3 Bear Road. We did not, however, see any bears. We were still on Old Highway 7, but now it was also called Cavendish Road.

This time I even took a video of the pīpī, who gave us interested looks. I mean really, how many people would stop and take videos of pīpī? Well, Mokihana would! Then we started up again and continued with the video. Our headlights were starting to show up now.

It was dark enough now that this was the last video we took.

About twelve minutes later, when it was really dark, we could see the lights of Orofino shining below us; we were good and ready to quit driving by now, as it had been a very long day on the road, all the way from Damascus to here. We made it down the hill in about fifteen minutes, I think, drove up to our motel and checked in, and then went to get a bite to eat.

I’ll be updating my blog much more regularly now that Christmas is pau and I’m back in the swing of things again. I hope you’ll ride along!