July 25th to 28th - Sandpoint to Orofino ID

July 25th – Mon – to Sandpoint ID
Terry’s brother Skip and his wife Kathy very recently moved to a house that they had built at Dover Bay development on Priest River. We wanted to see the house and told them that we would help them move or finish moving when we came to visit. But they really worked hard so there wasn’t too much to do when we arrived this morning. By the time we took a tour, it was time for lunch.
Terry & Skip went shopping for a light bulb for a pendant light over the kitchen island and did some sightseeing in the area as well. It only took about ½ hour to figure out how the replace the light bulb and then I noticed a cover broken on a second light. Kathy & I puttered around while Skip showed Terry how everything in the house – security system, lighting, TVs – is controlled on his Ipad. When he is in Palm Springs he can turn lights on & off to make their house in Sandpoint look occupied.
A guy on a backhoe was leveling their lawn areas and we were smart enough to start happy hour outside on the deck on the side where he was working and we were yelling over the noise. Almost as soon as we moved to the other side, he was done for the day!

July 26th – Tues – Sandpoint
I helped Kathy do some organizing in her kitchen while the guys made a trip to hardware & lighting stores. They got back just in time to help Kathy & I move furniture in the great room. The new layout was mostly my idea and luckily everyone thought it worked better.
Then it was time for shopping – bank & groceries – for Kathy & I. The guys were watching a movie when we got back so we made a late lunch and then Kathy & I worked on unloading boxes in their office after Terry & I figured out how to put hangers in file drawers for 2 rows of file folders. Delivery people brought bedroom furniture and a dining table this afternoon so we enjoyed a salmon dinner on a table rather than at the kitchen island – which is not a hardship!
In one guest bedroom, we ended up moving the new bed to a different wall and making a couple of other small adjustments to the room. Skip bought a new movie today so I watched it and the others napped on & off. It was a very weird movie – Source Code – so I think they had the right idea.

July 27th – Wed – Sandpoint
S&K had an appointment with their security guy this morning. It was nice & sunny with possible PM showers so we decided to golf at Priest Lake. Of course the security guy was late but with Skip’s fast driving we were only 10 minutes late for our tee time.
The golf course is very challenging. Skip & Kathy looked at the course yardage and we decided that the guys would play the blue tees (farthest back) and Kathy & I would play yellow which is basically white (normally what Terry would play) with a couple of shorter holes. This was a mistake as a lot of the holes had water & weeds to hit over, a lot were very narrow and the white/yellow was just too much for me.
Then on the 7th hole it started to rain. We finished the 9th hole, pulled the carts under a tent and went in for a drink. Actually, we ordered our 2nd drink before the rain stopped so we took it with us and finished the round. Anyone who has golfed with me knows that I HATE rain so I was not a real happy golfer – but the 2 drinks made it somewhat better!
Back at Skip & Kathy’s, happy hour continued and was followed by an excellent steak dinner with steaks cooked to perfection by Skip on the BBQ which was just connected to gas this morning. Then we taught S&K to play Wizard and didn’t get to bed until after midnight which is quite late for 4 old farts!

July 28th – Thurs – to Orofino ID
We had a nice breakfast with Skip & Kathy and were on our way at 10. We were going to stop at the Costco in Coeur d’Alene but there were too many RVs and boats in the parking lot so we kept on going.
We decided to go south out of CDA and then maybe across Hwy 12 to Missoula so we stopped at the CDA Casino. The machines teased us and let us play quite a while before gobbling up our money. We had an early dinner at a restaurant in the casino where we have previously enjoyed County Fried Steak. We didn’t enjoy it today and I wasn’t shy about saying so to the waitress and on a survey card that we were given for comments on their new menu.
Then it was a nice drive to Lewiston where we stopped for fuel and then carried on to Orofino to the Clearwater Crossing RV park. The RV sites are backed up to the Clearwater River and every site has a concrete “patio” & picnic table so you can relax and watch the river glide by. This is a Passport America park so is very reasonable at $15.58 including cable TV.
The drive along the Clearwater River from Lewiston was very pretty with very little traffic. I also enjoyed the fields in the Palouse area before we got to the casino.