Idaho Panhandle Stars in Video

There’s a reason I like visiting the Idaho Panhandle.  Having grown up as a rural American, it brings back fond memories of open spaces, fishing holes, and knowing your neighbors.  I didn’t grow up with traffic jams, daily homicides, and smog.  There’s a YouTube channel I follow, and the host and his wife travel and explain remote corners of the world.  That could be the best job ever created, and for a change, a really good use of the Internet.  The video opens in Wallace, a favorite place for travel writers and tourists.  That’s what happens when someone brilliantly declares the place the center of the universe.

The Safest Place is the Center of the Universe

I’ve often viewed Shoshone County as a place where you could wait out a Zombie Apocalypse, because a lot of zombies have no idea it’s there, or how to get there.  Still, Wallace is connected to the outside world by Interstate 90.  At one time, the highway actually ran through town, with stoplights.  A friend was based in Washington State when he was in the Army, and told me it was the only place where there was a stoplight on the route.  An elevated highway eventually solved the light.

There are Differences Even in the Panhandle

Most of the newcomers to North Idaho settle in Kootenai County, and ignore the surrounding area.  I suspect that makes the natives in neighboring counties happy, but I had a fascinating experience in Wallace one summer.  By my third day getting breakfast at a local coffee shop, people knew who I was and were recommending I revive an abandoned radio station in the area!  I’ll be honest, stations in Spokane and Missoula don’t do much to serve the Panhandle.  It would be a dream job, but a long build, and I’m not a young man.