Been chilling mostly

We left you as we were arriving in Lewiston, ID at the Hell's Gate State Park right on the Snake River.  We stayed here once before way back in 2001 when we went on a jet boat ride with Jan's parents, Vern and Viv, and our good friends Ray and April.  We had remembered it as a very nice public park lots of room and quiet and nice.  Funny how some things blur after 15 years:)  When we made our reservations back in Feb we didn't take notice that it was on a Fri, Sat, and Sun.  Bad mistake.  As I explained in my post comparing public to private campgrounds, the public ones, especially, fill to overflowing on the weekend, and when it is right next to the Snake River with lots of boats and beaching, to say there are a few kids and families is an understatement. And the usual advantage of being less expensive didn't pan out either as we paid more for a public campsite than we have ever before.  Oh well, even us experienced full timers make mistakes once in awhile.  But it turned out okay, it was quiet and dark at night although the barking dogs, running children and being right along the walkway to the beach added a bit to our excitement during the day:(

The drive up through eastern OR and WA had us transition from the incredible scenery in the Wallowa area to more and more wheat fields.  Miles and miles of them with softer rolling hills that were planted everywhere it was possible.  With windmills covering the ridge tops.

Wheat as far as you can see

A couple windmills

We took a drive to the east to Orofino, ID along the Clearwater River, and as we went the scenery got better and better, although I guess if you were a big farmer the wheat looks pretty darn good.

The pretty little town of Orofino

We poked around and had a good lunch overlooking the river.

Nice spot

We walked around the park a bit and got some reading done, nice to just chill.  Meanwhile we have been doing tire research as we have made it our mission to install some more appropriate tires on the truck after our little fiasco.  We settled on BFG All Terrain T/A KO2 tires that are 8 ply and have an excellent rating and following.  We also decided we would wait until we got back into Oregon and go to Discount Tire a national company where we have been buying tires for the last 15 years.  Why Oregon, because they don't have sales tax there:)

Then we headed north to Coeur d'Alene, one of the prettiest lakes in the country.  We have been there several times over the years.  This time we had a mission to run over to Spokane and exchange a pair of shoes that were killing my feet at REI.  We stayed at Blackwell Island RV Park which has gotten bigger and bigger since we were there last in 2005. It was very nice though.  After that mission was completed and the new shoes tested out, we wanted to ride up to see Priest Lake and Lake Pend Oreille about 80 miles north.  We headed up and found as we got further and further north the timber got thicker and thicker, logging trucks were everywhere, and we saw some enormous mills that were digesting all the timber and making lumber.  We went to Priest Lake first and found we could catch a glimpse at the southern end but the lakeside is essentially all private property so there was no access until we went even farther north to the Indian Creek Campground part of the national forest where we found a picnic table with a view and had lunch.

Then it was south and back east to Lake Pend Oreille, the largest lake in Idaho, and the 5th deepest lake in the US.  In fact, the Navy built a base there during WW II for submarine research, and to this day has an Acoustic Research Detachment that tests large scale submarine models in its 1150' depths.  Again this lake is surrounded by private property, so is hard to see much of.  In fact we didn't even get pictures.  It was a long day, over 200 miles and although it was pretty the forest didn't really allow too much visibility so out of character I don't have pictures.

We only had one more day so we took advantage of being able to wash, most campgrounds don't allow it, and washed both the motorhome and the truck.  Exciting, huh?  One more thing we wanted to do while there was go have dinner at the famous Wolf Lodge.  When we were in Coeur d'Alene the first time in 2001, our good friends Dick and Ann told us all to be sure to go eat at the Wolf Lodge, we were curious and went over to see what it was.  Well it appeared to be this kind of broken down building out in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped in as it was open and were told to be sure to make reservations or we wouldn't have chance of getting in.  What?!?  We did, for the next night, thinking it was one of the silliest things we ever did.  Well let me tell you, when we arrived the place was packed, there were cars parked up and down the road, a line at the door, and wow, did we have a great meal with huge delicious steaks!  So in 2005, Jan and I were sure to go back which we did and had another great meal.  So this time we made our reservation, and had a so-so meal.  It seems after all these years they have gotten complacent or changed hands or something.  Very disappointing.  Time marches on I guess.

Having an oh so average meal:(

So now we have moved about 200 miles to the west just about into the Cascade Mountains to Twisp, WA, where we plan to actually implement our newest endeavor, more to follow...