Idaho Panhandle

Peter has sold our Free Spirit Sprinter van and purchased a new (to us) Ford 4x4 with an Alaskan camper from Dennis who lives in Blanchard Idaho.  We board an Alaskan flight to Spokane WA where Dennis is to pick us up. We are excited about our new camper as it'll make remote campgrounds and areas far from the maddening crowd accessible.

Seated and ready for take off for Spokane

All the way from San Jose

to over Spokane River

and city

Even though we have never met in person, Dennis is true to his word and picks us within a few minutes after our arriving at the curb outside Baggage Claim.  Dennis and Carol have generously offered to put us up for the night in their guest room.  Turns out they are both retired from careers in Washington DC.  Carol has had a particularly fascinating career as the aide to a 3 star general, in which, she traveled the world and drafted the Bosnian Peace Treaty. She should write a book.

Yes, we did take a flying leap into the unknown by buying a camper and staying with total strangers, but we are thrilled it has worked out so well. Thank you Dennis and Carol for being such gracious hosts.

Inside Spokane airport terminal

Our new camper!

Lovely view from Dennis and Carol's deck

The next morning we discover why our allergies are acting up.  Yellow pine pollen coats everything outside and is especially evident in puddles left from last night's rain. After Dennis checks us out on the truck and camper we leave anxious to get away from heavy pine pollen.  Dennis and Carol highly recommend the International Selkirk Loop which covers their part of Idaho and parts of southern Canada.  It looks fascinating, but we have unfortunately not thought to bring our passports/cards as we did not anticipate going into Canada. The Selkirk Loop will have to wait until next time.

Pine pollen covered driveway

and pooling in rain puddle

all loaded and ready to go

Our first mission is to get the truck sale registered in Idaho. We take Dennis' advice and stop in the small DMV in Priest River. There are only two ladies working at the counter. They quickly help Peter file the proper paperwork.  We wish we could replace the Capitola DMV with the Priest River DMV  as it usually takes at least an hour to accomplish anything in Capitola. But wait, just as the final registration paperwork is getting printed, their computer system breaks down.  We try waiting 15 minutes for their system to reboot, but the electrons are not cooperating this morning. Since we have camping supplies and groceries to buy, we leave for Sandpoint/Ponderay area where there is also another DVM.

We are uneasy about Sandpoint as it's one of the centers of  staunch conservative survivalists.  Sure enough, we quickly get stopped by a police lady for driving a vehicle without license plates. Peter explains to her about our trouble registering the truck in Priest River.  The lady cop thanks us for sharing our documents and directs us to the closest DMV in Ponderay to complete the registration.

The DMV is located in a shopping center with Yoks Market and right across from a Walmart.  YES - one stop shopping! Dennis and Carol recommended Yoks and they are absolutely right. It's a great market - half the store carries regular grocery supplies and the other half is stocked with health food/organic type goods. The staff are cheerful and easy going. While there I ask one of the staff about the market.  He explains it is completely owned and operated by a coop of the staff that work there. They determine not only how the store is run, but also choose their own health and retirement packages.  Since he is close to retirement, he is delighted to soon be receiving Yoks' liberal benefits.  No wonder the staff here are happy and helpful. It's a strange mix of political thinking in this part of Idaho with both ultra conservatives and more liberal minded business practices (at least at Yoks).

The man working in Yoks directs us to Sweet Lou's for lunch.  It's a great place and we both really enjoy our meals.  When the waitress learns we have just picked up a camper and are looking where to go next, she (and the guy sitting the booth next to us) is very helpful with tips on places to see and good campgrounds. Fully loaded with supplies, we head north on Hwy 2/95 towards the Canadian border past swollen rivers with kayakers to our first campsite at Meadow Creek, just 12 miles south of the Canadian border.

Kayakers pause on the bank of a river

Meadow Creek Ghost Town

Our first campsite in the camper

We find a spacious campsite next to the Moyie River.  Other than the campground hosts, we have the campground pretty much to ourselves.  After dinner, we are surprised by a knock on our door.  It's the campground hosts with a fine Black Box Malbec wine in their hands. We are delighted that we all fit comfortably around our dinette and end up swapping stories and laughing well into the night.  They are from the Minneapolis/St Paul area in Minnesota. Scott teaches dental hygiene at (I believe) Saint Paul College and Diane teaches high school English. We ask about the swollen rivers and why there's a trail that leads across the impassible Moyie River.  They explain the rivers are running particularly high and dangerous due to last winter's heavy rains and snow pack.  In fact, two people have already drowned around the campground.  One was a hapless hiker who believed he could cross the river at the trail and became a Darwin candidate. The other was a prison escapee just across the Canadian border, who tried to wade down the river across into the US to evade his pursuers.  Needless to say, he didn't make it and his body was found close to the campground.

The next morning we discover the water pump in the camper is frozen and debate where to get it fixed.  Before leaving the campground, we take a closer look at the Moyie River where the hiker met his fate before taking off to see the falls on the Yaak River just across into Montana. Although we never find the falls, we enjoy a nice little hike and do find an impressive hole across the river.

Moyie River in flood

Locals have a good sense of humor

Hate to get caught in this raging hole on the Yaak

We stop in the cute town of Troy MT  for lunch and also to make phone calls while we have cell service about repairing our water pump.
We bring our maps and phones into the Silver Spur for lunch and to powpow about our options. It's another great lunch stop and by the end of our meal, we decide to circle back to Ponderay where they can fix the pump tomorrow morning. 
So instead of continuing farther into Montana, we turn right off of Hwy 2 going south on Hwy 58.  We stop for for the night at Bull River Campground.

Driving south on Montana Hwy 58

Camp at Bull River

Cabinet Gorge Reservoir

Late in the afternoon we hike up the trail running alongside the Bull River. The air is cool and moist from earlier rains that day and the forest is dotted with spring wildflowers.

White Lilac

Indian Paintbrush

Wild Lily?

The next morning we head west on Hwy 200 that takes us back to Ponderay, which is located on Lake Pend Oreille, the largest lake in Idaho.  A Canadian fur trader is thought to have named the lake in 1809 after the ear pendants (Pend Oreille) worn by the local Kalispel tribe.  Oddly enough both the town and the lake are pronounced the same.  When asked, the towns people of Ponderay tell us they got tired of visitors mispronouncing the French "Pend Oreille" and converted it to the English phonic of  spelling "Ponderay."

The new water pump is installed in an hour or two and we get another great lunch at Lou's. Since it's a Friday, we then drive south on Hwy 95 so we can get an early campsite at Farragut State Park.

Driving south on Hwy 95

Sign for Farragut State Park

Nice campsite

Although we have only had the camper a few days, we have already fallen in love with it.  Peter calls it the "Swiss Army Knife" of campers as it can easily be reconfigured for different purposes.  For example, the telescoping top is set down for traveling and up for camping in. The dinette can be a living room or a dining room, etc.

Kitchen on left, dinette & bed

I especially like the large windows

Looking back at the entrance

The next day's drive takes us further south down through green rolling hills of spring wheat.
We decide to cross over into Washington at Lewiston ID/Clarkston WA. These two cities are named after the Lewis and Clark Expedition and straddle the Snake River which marks the boundary between the two states.

Time to fold up the Idaho Panhandle and move onto Oregon