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6/26
The long travel day begins at 7 a.m. by retracing the route from Leavenworth to Anacortes on Hwy 2 that we took to meet up with Ted & Anne. Part freeway, part 2 lane road winding its way inland &, once past Leavenworth, more mix of mostly 2 lane road & freeway. Some road construction here & there, some very desolate agricultural landscape for miles of eastern Washington made us anxious to get back into the forest. We were experiencing temps above 70* for a change. Soon after entering Idaho, the forest began again. We freeway’d to Coeur d’Alene on I-90 and discovered to our delight that gasoline was now $3.93 for unleaded. Also, diesel was much cheaper. First we’ve seen of gas under $4.00. With lots of accompanying traffic, got back onto a 2 lane road to Sandpoint. The scenery quickly turned to rural & then Sandpoint appeared. Lake Pend Oreille, the largest lake in Idaho, becomes your travel view just before you get to Sandpoint and follows along to Hope & beyond. Beautiful views! You drive through the main street of Sandpoint to continue on to Hope on Route 200. More stunning scenery, thanks to the lake & its islands, and the sharply rising steep mountains covered with trees. About 5 p.m. we pulled off the highway to lakeside Beyond Hope RV Park & went to our space in the ‘Above Beyond Hope’ section. A two-part campground, the rural road that brings you here splits the campground in two. It is like staying in a beautiful city park. Extensive green lawns comprise the camping & recreation areas floor. On a gentle hillside the terraced spaces are twice as wide as you normally get in a campground. There are enough mature trees around the spaces to give shade, but open enough to enjoy the view. The infrastructure buildings take up the lakeside. Then, dense trees provide a shade canopy for the lower campground. We peek through those trees to see bits of the lake. There are deer grazing here. They will walk right up to your rv’s door while munching on clover flowers. So sweet. We set up & crashed.
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Our last night in Anacortes, we saw our first sunset over the bay in front of our coach. Usually the clouds got in the way. Not much color, but dramatic!
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With Ted leading the way, we are between Everett &Leavenworth. Very nice scenery, lots of road work going on. Delays were minimal. Small towns abound.
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Crossing the Cascades for the 3rd time. Looking through the mist there is still snow on this very tall mountain.
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The river near Leavenworth is all whitewater in this spot. Not too many miles from that tall mountain above. The snow melt is speeding up due to the higher temps now occurring in this area.
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Just beyond Leavenworth you really see the agriculture. Many of the fruit trees and other annual vegetable crops are grown here. A number of roadside stands just opening (later than usual due to cold weather) with their offerings of cherries, primarily, along with other goodies.
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A tiny spit of land (looks tiny next to that river) is the base for a 2 homes & several outbuildings with a dock and a couple of boats. The mighty Columbia River races by. Living there looks a little risky to me!
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When was the last time you saw a sign for ‘Trailer Court’? So common years ago. This is located in Watersville, WA. It might be one of the last ones left. The trees sheltered the trailers, but what I could see spoke of age & decay.
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This reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’ starring Cary Grant. He gets off a bus in the middle of nowhere & is chased by a cropduster over barren fields. There was even a stop sign like the one shown here. We are in eastern WA and this scenery goes on for miles. Some grain is being grown on the undulating hills. Other than occasional traffic, there are no people to be seen, no activity of any kind. Kinda spooky.
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That dot in the road is Ted’s coach. Taken not far from the picture above. Gives a bit of perspective to the land mass you’re seeing in this pic.
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Still in the same area, this windmill was the only thing I saw moving.
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While traveling through Reardan WA, I spotted this mural. What I didn’t see was the name of the place, ‘Bubba’s Bar & Grill’. Wanted to stop, Gary just rolled his eyes.
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How’s this for scenery? A view of Lake Pend Oreille as we wind our way to Hope. Huge, huge lake.
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6/27
We went to the small farmer’s market today in the tiny burg of Hope (pop. about 80). Scored on lettuce, small sweet strawberries, soap made from goat’s milk, baked goods from the grade school’s PTO, and the prettiest hand-painted birdhouse you ever did see. Listened to some soothing guitar music as the temp rose into the high 80’s and ate a hamburger that tasted like any you would get at a snack bar at a youth baseball game. Money from those hamburgers helps fund the market. We love these farmer’s markets. They are the best of small towns. We drove around a bit and enjoyed the scenery. Returning to the campground, we sat under our awning and watched the many deer chewing their way through the campground as the sun sank over the lake. We slept like babies. This is the quietest campground! No trains, no highway noise, no strange animal noises, no night lighting. Just peaceful.
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View from the door of the Roadhouse. No wind, mild temps. Yummmmm.
Below: The guys have their chores. Ted on the roof fixing an antenna and Gary trying to get the road dirt off the truck.
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As we mentioned, the deer have the run of the park. They generally do not want you touching them, but this one felt comfortable with this little girl gently rubbing her back. This is right outside our door.
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WILDLIFE OF THE DAY
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Pretty boy posed for us before he went back to grazing.
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6/28
Drove to Sandpoint to do some necessary shopping & to find the docks where the boat is located that we will cruise on to watch the fireworks on the 4th. Town was very full of folks shopping & putting their boats in the water. Mission accomplished, we returned to have lunch on a floating restaurant at the marina nearby. It was pretty hot at about 90* as we sat on their shaded ‘patio’ having a delicious meal. Along with many pleasure boats moored in the marina, there are several houseboats tied up here, some of which are for rent. With the temp getting so high, it is with longing that I look at all the boats wishing I was on one speeding over the water with the spray cooling me off. Well, lunch was good. Once again we had a peaceful eve sitting outside as the air cooled down. There is no wind, just an occasional breeze, that really makes it possible to be outside. It has been so windy & cold for so much of our time away that we’ve forgotten how nice it is to be outside in the evening. We are expecting a change in the weather in the next day or so. We’ll see.
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One of the marinas outside Hope. Look carefully for the long green roof in the center. That’s where lunch was served on the floating restaurant. And the first row across the foreground of the picture is the houseboats
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A vintage theatre in Sandpoint. Playing is ‘Young at Heart’. Then they had to explain it by saying it was about senior citizens. It sounded lighthearted until they explained it. Now it sounds like something heavy & joyless. Pretty building set amidst other buildings of age & senior status.
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6/29
We were invited to a terrific home-cooked breakfast at Ted & Anne’s. Such a nice way to start the day. By the way, they play tennis at a resort here that has one tennis court very near the lakeshore. The view from the court is marvelous. I don’t know of any tennis court anywhere that has a view & certainly not this million $ view! Anyway, Gary was putting up some sun-screening on the awning and I was trying to help. I looked up and there was an osprey flying over. Just a beautiful & healthy looking specimen.
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Cooking excellent bacon & pancakes for 4 with scrambled eggs with onions & peppers is a bit of a challenge in our small galleys. Ted & Anne cooked a superb breakfast which we ate outside at the picnic table with lovely skies & nice views. Wow!
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