An Eclectic Mix of People

My trip to the north of Idaho is an attempt to get into a new environment and hopefully get over writer’s block. I need to find an ending to the Blue Fate series, a set of novels I have been working on. My main character is stuck in an irresolvable moral dilemma and I’m not quite sure where to take the story. I’ve got some ideas but they create more questions than answers.

It was a long set of flights from Barcelona, Spain to Spokane, Washington, and then a three hour car drive up here near the Canadian border. I got in late to the log cabin where I’m staying and then had a fitful night because of the time change. I suspected that I would be experiencing some serious jetlag over the coming days.

In the morning I drove into Bonner’s Ferry, to buy some groceries and look around. There was no food in the log cabin. I was hungry, so went into a coffee shop on the main street of the town. The restaurant, more like a diner, was full of people. There was an empty stool along the counter so I sat down. Next to me was an older guy wearing dusty boots, jeans, and a plaid flannel shirt.

“You new around here?” He asked.

“First time,” I replied, keeping it short and vague.

“I’d recommend the breakfast special,” he said.

I scanned the menu and saw the special; two eggs, bacon, hash browns, three pancakes, orange juice and coffee.

“Looks good to me.” I needed an American experience.

The server came, automatically poured a cup of coffee without asking, and then took my order. As she walked away I talked with the man. He was born in Bonners Ferry and had lived seventy-five years, his entire life in Boundary County. I asked him what the people were like and he told me it was an odd mix. There were ranchers and farmers whose families had been in the area for generations, a couple of different groups of Mennonites, Amish, hippies, back to nature New Age-ers, traditional Mormons with their multiple wives, and many Libertarians. It sounded to me like an interesting place to live.

The old man took his check, said goodbye and walked to the front where he paid the cashier. No one filled the stool next to me and it gave me time to think. I decided that I needed to get out to meet some of these people. I didn’t know what they had to do with the Blue Fate series, but maybe I might get some ideas from them. You never know.

The breakfast came. It was enough to last me for the day.