Twin Falls, Idaho
I was looking forward to visiting daredevil Evel Knievel’s grave in Mountain View Cemetery in Butte, Montana. But about 155 miles south of our destination, and without any advance notice, orange traffic cones shepherded us off the interstate. State Troopers had shut down a one hundred mile stretch of the I-15 between DuBois, Idaho, and Dillon, Montana, due to some pretty nasty high winds. It’s probably just as well since it was minus 26 degrees in Butte last night. So we turned around and headed south to Twin Falls, Idaho, where, in 1974, Knievel made his ill-fated rocket jump over Snake River Canyon. Looking down into the gorge would persuade anyone that Knievel was nuts. But I’m glad his daring is memorialized in this monument at the edge of the canyon. It’s a reminder that risk, courage, and not a little bit of craziness were once a more robust part of America’s national ethos.
