X on a Runway: This is the Palouse

X on a runway.

Oh, I am really having a hard time with some of the final letters. What on the Palouse starts with "X" ?

Beats me.

But I did see, once, on the grass landing strip in Elk River, Idaho, which is a small town on the Palouse, about 55 miles outside of Moscow, a big ole' "X" on the runway.

What do you suppose that "X" means? It's supposed to be a signal to pilots flying above the runway that they are not supposed to land there.

Too bad those "goofy old farmers" didn't see the "X" until after we had landed. I use the term "goofy old farmer" not as a slam against farmers. I happen to know from an excellent source, my husband, that that is what he calls himself and his friends. That's my husband on the left, and our friend Stacey on the right. We'd just landed our RV-7, and Stacey had just landed his Cessna 185, on the mountain strip with the big ole' X.

It was the 5th of July, and they didn't want us to land there because no one had yet walked the strip to make sure there were no booby traps that might catch an airplane unawares. Apparently the town firework display had happened on the end of the landing strip, and fireworks leave a lot of trashy debris.

And my, was that whole town trashed. The 4th of July in the little mountain town Elk River, Idaho is one big party. People invade the area with their campers and fill up all the campsites. It's like an enclosed, enforced all night whoop-dee-doo. My son and his wife and kids, and their friends, attend every year.

My husband and I aren't really into that sort of thing. We like the quieter, more elegant event of watching the fireworks show in Pullman, in the back yard of some very good friends.

But it is always fun to fly into Elk River and order a tall stack of pancakes with homemade huckleberry syrup at one of the local restaurants.

Elk River = huckleberry capital of the Palouse. You can buy fresh huckleberries or pick them yourself in the surrounding countryside. You can buy homemade huckleberry taffy, huckleberry jam and jelly and syrup. Homemade huckleberry ice cream, and probably other yummy things made from huckleberries as well.