We moved to Idaho in 1988 - 32 years ago. Of those 32 years, we lived 5 years in Barcelona and 8 years in Portland but still that's 24 years living in Boise. Well my census job has taken me to places in this beautiful state that I had never seen before. In August, I saw much of northern Idaho. This last week I've explored closer to home in two counties right by us, Elmore and Camas Counties and I've gone places that I've never gone before.
For 3 days, I was Fairfield population around 500. Even though it is a lot smaller than Lonoke, where I grew up, it still made me feel nostalgic for small towns. People were super friendly and helpful and knew a lot about their neighbors. That makes census work a lot easier. By the 3rd day I felt like I had made friends all over town.
Saturday I drove for two hours to an even smaller town called Prairie. The drive was spectacular as it follows the Boise River Canyon.
I didn't take this beautiful photo.
It was smoky from the nearby fires when I drove up there so my views were more like this...
On this little dirt road, the sign that said, "Watch for Stock" was necessary. This cow was very interested in me. Some of his friends were standing right on the road, so I am glad I was 'watching out'.
I finally got a photo of some of the wild turkeys.
Yesterday I went to Pine and Featherville, two more small towns. The drive was also beautiful!
There were fires in the area but actually I think it was smokier in Boise than where I was.
The fire was about 6 miles from the towns I visited. Before I headed up there, I stopped at the corral which was right at the turn off, to get advice from the cowboys. They assured me that where I was going was perfectly safe. You have to trust an Idaho cowboy! And they were right. I had no trouble at all.
I did see the fire fighter base.
And I found the 'Church in the Valley by the Wildwood' that I had sung about when I was a child.
I enjoyed lunch at this beautiful spot. While I was eating I noticed a large bald eagle and watched him swoop down and catch a fish right out of the river!
Idaho is close to finished with the 2020 Census. We might be there first state in the nation to finish! Yeah Idaho! Louisiana and West Virginia are not far behind though, so it is back out on the road tomorrow to try and finish up Elmore County. We really hope to be #1 in the USA to complete the count. Every time I get frustrated with some of the organization and bureaucracy of the Census Bureau, I remind myself that getting an accurate count of 330 million people is no small feat!
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