OPPORTUNITY — Monday, Oct. 3 — When I saw the name of the town, Opportunity, how could I not take that road?

Southeast of Spokane, it was on my way to the Palouse, on scenic Highway 27.

According to my "Washington State Place Names" book, the Modern Irrigation and Land Co. developed the town in 1905, and they held a contest to name the community. The winner, Miss Laura Kelsey, is said to have won $10.

When Opportunity knocked, did anybody answer? At the main crossroads of Opportunity today, there's the Old Country Buffet and the Payday Loans shop.

I didn't stop.

No snake, not even any apples

Another place I had great hopes for: the town of Eden, just north of Garfield, in Whitman County. What inspired that name? What kind of garden spot would I find, what oasis of the Palouse?

The Car of Discovery and I cruised southward through rolling hills of Nordic blond, just-harvested wheat fields — they'd all had GI haircuts — when I spotted the sign next to some railroad tracks: Eden. This was it!

And there was nothing there.

A big metal shed sat next to the tracks. But no shops. Not a gas station. No Shangri-La to be seen. Just more wheat stubble, and a few houses in the distance.

I thought of knocking on a door and asking what it was like to live in Eden, but they probably get that all the time.

And I bet they're sick of the jokes: "Hey, is Eve here?"

A beauty of a butte

Thanks to readers Ann from Everett, Aaron Whiteman from Pullman and Elliott Thompson from Des Moines, Iowa — yes, Iowa — who all urged me to take a hike at Kamiak Butte, nine miles north of Pullman. This and nearby Steptoe Butte are islands of trees among the wheat fields, and the view from the top is lovely.

Lovelier on a sunny day, I bet. But even with steady rain and misty clouds, I enjoyed looking down on the sculpted wheat fields from near the top of the 3,641-foot butte (which is higher than Snoqualmie Pass).

The geology is interesting. Kamiak is, by definition, a "steptoe": an isolated hill surrounded by lava flows. Millions of years ago, it was a high mountain, until lava poured up through fissures in the earth and covered 200,000 square miles of the Northwest. Only Kamiak's "peak" remained above surrounding territory.

Then, at the end of the last ice age, windblown silt covered the lava, more than 100 feet deep in places, making amazingly fertile soil and creating the Palouse bread basket.

Kamiak Butte is in a county park, with a 3.5-mile loop trail to the top. Even feeling punky with a cold, I enjoyed the easy half-mile climb through pine and fir woods to a viewpoint. And a special bonus for getting off the highway: a close look at a half-dozen ring-necked pheasants messing about on the roadside at the park entrance.