Planning Idaho

Soon after his diagnosis, daddy brought up the trip to Idaho again.  He had been talking about taking us for a couple of years now.  Momma and daddy had just gone a few years back and they both spoke of how you could lean over their balcony and throw your pole into the Little Salmon River in their backyard.  "That's how close it was" daddy always said.  He knew Gadiel and David love to fish and would both enjoy it.  Plus he wanted to show the kids the country.  We got to go in 1971 when they lived in Bonners Ferry and now he wanted to take the grandkids.  There was always some work scheduling conflicts the past two years but now he was determined to go and it was going to be in July 2010.  Sounded silly at the time since they had only given him 6-8 months to live.  But daddy said he was going to beat the cancer and would be able to go to Idaho.  So we all agreed we would go and the date to leave was July 2, 2010.  It was only August 2009.  He would call Aunt Alex and arrange it with her.  It was a goal for him and us.  At the time we decided, we still hadn't noticed how momma health was deteriorating, but I don't even think she did either because at the time she was okay with going.  She even seemed excited about it and would tell us about the water and how close it was, but also warned how dangerous it was too.