Sept 16th to 20th - WA state

Sept 16th - Sun - Rochester
Went to breakfast with Skip & Kathy and then went to Dean’s so Skip & Kathy could see his place. S&K left from there to go see Kathy’s Mom in Portland and we returned to the rig. Terry went back to the casino and played for hours to make another $20 or so. Much better than losing! I updated the blog - waiting for rain to let up to run over to the hotel lobby where I could get wifi - phoned Marg and relaxed with a book. I expected Terry to return to the casino after dinner but he was “gambled out” - and I expect didn’t want to walk over in the rain!

Sept 17th - Mon - to Spokane
Didn’t want to get going too early this morning and run into rush hour traffic on the freeway. We left about 9:30 and by the time we were slowed for freeway construction, stopped to dump the holding tanks, stopped for fuel and stopped to fix lunch, it was 4:30 when we arrived at Terry’s Mom’s (Ella Mae & Don) house. A drink, a nice dinner and a little TV and we were done for the day.

Sept 18th - Tues - Spokane
We got busy and pressure-washed Ella Mae’s house this morning while Don went off to work. Finished just as it started to rain again. After lunch, Terry & I went and did a little shopping and then took advantage of Ella Mae’s laundry room. After dinner I got really ambitious and hauled out the pressure washer again and cleaned the driveway. Of course, Terry & Don could not stand to just watch me work so they took turns too. It was dark by the time we finished (7:45) but thought we could check the results in the morning and redo bad patches.

Sept 19th - Wed - Spokane
Driveway looks fine so no redo-ing required.
We have been in contact with Claude & Val (friends from Canada) for the last few days. They were in Le Grande, OR getting some work done on their 5th wheel and were going to be heading north through Spokane. So we turned Bill & Georgia’s back yard into an RV park!! We stopped for some groceries, set up at Bill’s and then went golfing with Bill at a 9 hole executive course nearby. Golf not so good, the day & the company - great!
Claude & Val arrived about 3 - just before Georgia came home from work. We sat outside until it just got too cool and then moved into the house to fix dinner. After dinner and conversation, we introduced Claude and Val to Wii - an interactive computer game - and did a little golfing and bowling. It was a great day.

Sept 20th - Thurs - to North Fork, ID
Claude & Val wanted to get an early start today but I persuaded them to stay while I fixed breakfast for all of us - except Georgia who had to go to work after we kept her up so late. So they got out before 9 and we left shortly after and headed to Missoula, MT. From there we went south on hwy 93 with an eventual destination of Challis, ID. We made a 25 mile (each way) detour to Lolo Hot Springs but there was absolutely no one there so we turned right around and came back. Hwy 93 goes up a huge climb at the MT/ID border where there is a big ski resort - Lost Trail. Then it drops back down and starts following the north fork of the Salmon River. We passed a couple of small towns and then stopped for the night just south of North Fork at an RV park that I found in the Trailer Life book. Very nice place (Wagonhammer) right on the river. We got to sit out a bit before it started to sprinkle.