Leaving Washington "AGAIN"

We finally got over our colds but Dick still has a cough that wants to linger on and Jackie still has ear problems (that the dr. says will get better with time). We are glad to be back on the road after sitting around feeling punk.

It has been a great summer here in the NW. After spending time with the kids, it was time to get on the road again, but we needed to get back to Ephrata and do the Doctor and Dentist thing. All is well with both of us. We spent about 12 days in Soap Lake Washington and then moved to Crescent Bar, about 25 miles from Ephrata for another twelve days.

This is a view from our campsite looking south down the mighty Columbia River. The only problem was that for most of the time it got into the 90's with no wind.

One evening a storm rolled through and we got some interesting pictures of the sun shining under the clouds.
But before the sun set we got a great view of two complete rainbows from end to end. Not sure what way to go to find that pot of gold so just took the time to get some pictures.

We decided to take a (4 wheel drive) up into the Colockum mountains. The road was really rough so we decided not to go all the way over the top from Wenatchee to Ellensburg. We did find a nice place to stop for lunch with a view looking back down onto the Columbia River. This is all rock that we are parked on, or should I say the mountain was solid rock with just a few patches of trees here and there.

We are camping on the other side of the river in the distance just as it turns behind the hill. As you can see, this area of Washington is called "Desert Scab Land" and for the most part is void of most all vegetation. It will sure be great to get back into the trees and mountains again.

Did we mention that the strip along the edge is the road that we traveled on?

We finally hitched up and got out of town, from Ephrata on 28 to Hwy 2 to Spokane, then into Idaho, took a left and went north and then another left, going back into Washington for two nights near Newport and found a nice full hook-up site in the forest.

The night before leaving one of our neighbors came over and wanted to tell us that last week a bear came through our site and tried to climb the tree next to our rig. Some peoples timing is just great.

We spent one day checking out the town of Newport. It was a nice little town and just across the river was the town of Old Town Idaho. If you go through this area stop and take the time to visit this Museum. It's one of the better ones that we have seen while on the road.

Dick still is amazed at how small the covered wagons were that traveled west to settle this side of the Country.

Remember the plane-spotting towers that were later turned into mountain top fire spotting stations? Well, they even brought one down from the mountain top and have it on display here.

Or would you believe that we hiked all the way up the mountain just to visit an old site?

While sitting around the campfire we finally made the decision of where we wanted to go. So to all our fans, we are on the way to Minnesota and if the weather turns before we get there we will take a sharp right and head south, maybe into Texas, but time will tell where we end up for the early part of winter.

We went through Idaho and into Montana on highway 2. About 6 miles into the state while in the mountains we ran across a sign for a Forest Service Camp Ground. Past experience has told us that we are just too big for these parks. Well, with noone behind us we stopped on the highway, backed up and decided to give it a try. We pulled in and parked, got out and walked the park circle. We were both shocked to find a park with paved sites not only for tenting but several for large RV's. Not only back in sites but large pull-throughs. We found a spot, set up and spent the day just relaxing. Dick worked on his new hobby of wire wrapping and Jackie got to sit back and read.

We did take a short walk and got this picture of the Yaak river just where it flows into the Kootenai River. Lots of water for this late in the season.

And Dick got to spend some time checking out the rocks in the river. Found nothing great but did enjoy playing in the river. (No gold here John)

We pulled out from there today and headed east again, this time getting as far as Glacier National Park. Not sure how long we will spend here but maybe leave this area on Monday. We don't want to be traveling this Sunday as it's Jackie's birthday.

To be continued...