Western economy seen through the windshield

I just returned from a month-long trip to Portland, Ore., to visit our sons and attend the GTO Nationals. I drove the ’67 hardtop – just me and the GTO and the highway for 3,250 miles. Six days on the road.

I took the southern route west on U.S. Highway 40 to Salt Lake City, Interstate 80 to Winnemucca, back roads into southern Oregon and over to Grants Pass. I came back the northern route up I-84 to Umatilla, Walla Walla and Lewiston, Wash., and over Lolo Pass to Hamilton, Mont. Then down the Salmon Valley to Idaho Falls, east to…