1. Jake and I met at Rose Lake Junction and powered over the 4th of July Pass into CdA and picked up Byrdman and the three of us bolted down US 95 to Lewiston where we met up with Stu, Lars, and Don K. at Effie Tavern. We all wanted to see Don and extend to him our friendship and company in the aftermath of the death of his oldest brother, Norman, who was hit by a car in Newport News, VA on April 17th.
2. We arrived at Effie's, piled into the back room, grabbed stools at a high table, and ordered our drinks. Even though it wasn't noon yet, I'd been hankering for a bottle of Miller Genuine Draft and was very happy that Effie's carried this fine day drinking beer. Don arrived. He greeted each of us with a handshake and an embrace and before long we ordered our food. Effie's specialty is a one pound burger served on buns specially baked by Rosauer's. The Effie Burger isn't thick. It's round, like about eight inches in diameter (according to one article I read). I didn't really want to take food in a box all the way back to Kellogg, so I ordered a half an Effie burger and it was perfect.
Even better was the non-stop yakking at our table. We learned more about the accident that killed Norman and how shocked Don was and Don told us more about what a generous man and caring brother Norman always was. We also took a few trips down memory lane, recalling our many sports related failures in Lewiston back in high school, but we offset those more painful memories by talking about when, during the 1971-72 school year, Kellogg defeated Lewiston in football and in basketball when the Bengals traveled up to the Silver Valley.
We last made a trip to see Don on January 3, 2018. I remembered thinking back then that with US 95 having been widened and straightened out in so many spots over the years, the drive from Kellogg to Lewiston just isn't that big of a deal anymore -- not like the long slog it was back when our family used to go on summer vacation in Orofino.
There's no good reason why we can't return to Lewiston sooner than later -- no reason why over three years would have to pass before we pile in our rigs and head to the Lewis Clark Valley again.
3. I suppose I've been hearing stories about the Corner Club, a famous bar in Moscow, for over fifty years. Because Christy, Carol, and many of my Kellogg friends went to school at the U of Idaho and because friends who didn't go to school there traveled to Moscow to hunt or watch Vandal games, I heard over and over again about the legendary Corner Club.
Jake and Byrdman and I had decided on our way to Lewiston that on the way back home we'd stop at the Corner Club for a beer.
I'm glad we did. I enjoyed seeing the Vandal memorabilia hanging and displayed on the walls. I realized that the building had been sadly cut down to its current size when the street running in front of it was widened years ago, so I wasn't really experiencing the original Corner Club, but no problem. I enjoyed drinking a bottle of Miller High Life, yakkin' with Byrdman and Jake, and having a guy who overheard the three of us talking about this being my first visit announce to the few people in the bar that "there's a virgin in the house".
I realize, and it's fine, that I don't have any Vandal cred. I know that most of what I thought about being in the Corner Club had to do with other people's stories and articles I've read about this joint over the years. I didn't pretend to have longtime connection to the place today.
But, I enjoyed it and was happy that finally, after all these years, I got to drain a cold one in the historic and much storied Corner Club in Moscow, Idaho!
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