Rural Roadside Resting Spot

Today Bev and I left McCall after a five day retreat and a Writing Project Rural Sites Networking Meeting. The weather turned very hot today. When we stopped for a break at White Bird, Idaho it was 95 degrees. As we traveled through the Clearwater Valley toward Lewiston the car thermometer hit 105 degrees. When we saw the sign welcoming us to Uniontown, Washington we decided to stop for a break. When you leave Uniontown and head north toward Pullman, Washington it is easy to notice The Barn. The fence around this old dairy barn is the first thing that catches the eye. The Dahmen Barn is a dairy barn which was built in 1935 by Jack Dahmen. In 1952 Steve and Junette Dahmen bought it. She was an artist and he decided to create the fence. As he began building this border of wheels people began contributing more and more unique wheels. The fence goes around the entire property. The dairy barn has been renovated and it now called Artisans at the Dahmen Barn. The restored barn contains three floors of booths and displays of a variety of artisans. This week on the second floor is an amazing display of photographs of the wheels outside. When people stopped to take pictures of the wheel fence the owner would go out and ask them to send her a copy of their best photo image. She chose her favorites and asked these photographers to frame and display theirs for this show. The collection ranges from black and white photos of the wheel fence in winter to photos of the wheels framing the landscape of the Palouse hills around the barn. Bev found a small surprise on the first floor as we meandered through the rooms of art. On a bulletin board was the ad for the retreat we just coordinated in McCall. It was nice to see our poster among such beautiful works. We did decide to take it down since our retreat was over. Driving south of Pullman, Washington toward Uniontown is where you find The Barn. It is a perfect resting place on a hot journey. You can find out more about it here.