We woke to another cool and rainy morning. After a stop for gas, we continued our trek westward along I-90, surrounded by valleys and mountains partially shrouded by low-hanging clouds.
We also encountered close to a dozen sections of road work,
hillsides which had been scarred by forest fires in tth past,
occasional farms and abandoned homesteads,
and crossed Clark Fork no less than nine times while still in Montana.
Coming around a bend, I spokked two large elk grazing just of the highway. Unfortunately, we were by them before Debbie could grab the camera and take a shot.
Five miles short of the Idaho state line, we pulled off at a rest area. Aside from some ground squirrels which taken up residence,
there was a group of four disheveled-looking young people and a dog traveling in an old beat up car whose passenger side windows had been replaced with polyethylene.
Then the climb … almost 1,000 feet over just 4 miles …
cresting out at Lookout Pass
before entering Idaho,
entering the Pacific Time Zone,
greeted by …
and starting the beginning of a long descent
often through narrow gaps which were created by road crews with dynamte.
Once out of the moutains, we dropped down to just over 2,000' above sea level (the lowest we'd been since before we left Pennsulvania) as we crossed the central part of Idaho's northern panhandle. Eventually, we reached scenic Lake Coeur d'Alene.
About this time the odometer on or motorhome crossed the 60,000 mile mark!
Soon threafter we crossed the Spokane river and into
and the city of Spokane … back to a big city of 220,000 … almost more people than in all of the towns and cities we've passed through since entering Montana.
A large cathedral.
Freshly painted water towers.
An old bridge.
Wondering if it is a dairy.
The first sheriff on a motorcycle we've seen.
A man from Texas having a bad day.
Another car with polyethlyene windows.
Just four miles after topping off our gas tank we arrived at our campground for the evening.
This evening while watching some television, we glanced out the window …
