On the road again.

Those of you who read this blog regularly, may have begun wondering why I’m not posting as regularly as usual. The truth of the matter is that I’m traveling, on a long road trip from Washington State to Arizona.

We’re doing the trip at a leisurely pace, with stops 100 to 250 miles apart. No rush; our friend John is watching over our place. (Hi, John!)

Wenatchee to Walla Walla

Our first leg was mostly in the farmland of Central Washington, ending up in the wheat- and wine-growing area of Walla Walla. Walla Walla has special significance to me; twice it was listed as one of the top ten places I should live by FindYourSpot.com.

Some places just scream to be photographed at night. (Hey, is that a ghost?)

We spent two nights in the Four Seasons RV Resort, which I rate 4 out of 5 stars. (Partially wooded and relatively quiet, park-like setting with tall trees and shade, pet friendly, washer/dryers, limited WiFI, affordable.) During the day, we explored Walla Walla, ate in great restaurants (I recommend Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen), visited wineries, and went out on the bike trail. In the evening, we did a little photo shoot of this weird spot at the back of the RV park property.

Walla Walla to Lewiston

It was just 100 miles or so to Lewiston, ID. We drove on route 12, which wound through small farm towns and wheat fields. It’s mostly past harvest now, so the fields were left with short-cut tan stalks of wheat or plowed brown dirt.

View from our campsite. Not too shabby, huh?

In Lewiston, we stayed at Hell’s Gate State Park, which I rate 5 out of 5. (Wooded, riverfront sites with full or partial RV hookups, beach, bike trail.) The idea was to hop on a jet boat tour down Hell’s Canyon, but we soon discovered that all day trips are 11 hours long and half-day trips don’t run regularly. Since Lewiston isn’t exactly our idea of a great destination, we only stayed one night.

Lewiston to Coeur d’Alene

We drove up to Coeur d’Alene on route 95, which winds through some of the prettiest rolling hills and wheat fields you could imagine. We had a little adventure when we pulled off the main road in search of a picnic lunch site and found ourselves, pulling our trailer, on a narrow dirt road used by large trucks for some unknown (to us) purpose. We got about 3 miles down the road, trailed closely by a very large truck, before we found a place to turn around. We wound up having lunch at a cafe in Plummer, ID. Can’t say I recommend it, although the peach pie was good.

Jim took us to lunch at Cabella’s. (Pardon the crappy quality of this cell phone photo.)

In Coeur d’Alene, we camped at the Blackwell Island RV Park, which I rate 2 out of 5. (Full sun on all sites, closely packed sites, gravel driveways not long enough for rigs, a list of rules longer than my arm, sporadic WiFi, riverfront location, expensive.) After exploring a beautiful and vibrant downtown area, we met up with my friend Jim and his wife, Teresa for dinner at 315 in the Greenbriar Inn. Jim runs a helicopter charter business remarkably similar to mine. On Wednesday, he took us for a helicopter tour of the area that included landing at Cabellas at State Line for lunch. I spent the evening catching up on some work while Mike went swimming in the Spokane River with Jack the dog.

Coeur d’Alene to Glacier National Park?

Well, that’s the plan, anyway. We hope to be on the road by 8 AM. More later.