Heading East

After taking our time for four months, we are now moving at breakneck speed.  Our last three days, we have moved 118, 104, and 75 miles.  Wow! I think we might qualify for Paul's PDD syndrome!  And because of those vast distances, all the pictures in this post were shot out of a moving RV.  (Please excuse the bugs.)

Eastern Washington might have taken over the title of America's Breadbasket judging by the endless 'waves of (cut) grain' that we saw.  So heartwarming.

I really liked this artistic place.

Arriving on the outskirts of Spokane, I was reminded of how long we had been in rural areas.  I pointed out this sign of civilization to Ron.

We ended up just over the line in Idaho at Cabela's for the night.  The next morning, we decided we really needed to do laundry, so we didn't get on the road until the afternoon.  We knew we were only going about 70 miles across Idaho on I 90 to Lookout Pass at the border of Montana.

It's a pretty drive, though, beginning with gorgeous Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Then pretty views as the road winds through the mountains.

Idaho has a rails-to-trails bike path that is so wonderful that I would be tempted to ride it.  Of course it would take me about 10 days.  The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes runs 73 miles from Plummer near the Washington border to Mullan just before the steep climb up to Lookout Pass on the Montana border.  And it's all paved!  I snapped this picture of it when it was alongside the road through a narrow part.

For the hard core cyclist, (and you know who you are, Dave,) I believe an unpaved trail continues into Montana under a different name and joins with the popular Route of the Hiawatha which we've done a couple of times.  To see our ride on that incredible trail, trestles and tunnels included, click here.

Idaho is a beautiful state and we have visited and had many adventures there in previous years.  But we are moving pretty quickly right now to arrive in Denver area in time for Ron's granddaughter's first birthday party in early September.  Although Idaho is having wildfire problems, I 90 was just hazy in spots.

Now for our statistics.  We spent 32 nights in Washington for an average camping cost of $7.  Now that's more like it.  But wait!  It gets even better.  We spent two nights in Idaho for an average of $0.  However if you count the new hiking boots I bought while we were parked at Cabela's, it would be an average of $58.50.