A Little Taste of Home

June 28, 2013 Day 28

Ok, today is the day that we thought we would out smart the system.  Seems like in a previous day I mentioned that Idaho has state liquor stores and Washington a private stores. So we thought we would go to Washington to test this out and what better place to do this than Costco.  Sure enough as soon as we got into the store near the entrance was a really big display of Kirkland Vodka, we had hit the mother load.  Off to the back of the store we went, in search for the good stuff and we found it, Grey Goose and Jameson, and the prices were not too bad, a little more than we pay back home, down south.  But, the interesting thing was the way the pricing was displayed on the shelf, there was the liquor price, a liquor liter tax and a liquor tax.  The Goose was liquor was $36.99, the liquor liter tax was $6.60 and the liquor tax was 20.5% or $7.59 for a total price of $51.18, plus 8.7% sales tax.  See what happens when the government gets involved.  But we figured that saved a bunch over what the state stores would charge in Idaho.

After the Washington experience we headed back north for some home cooking as we had spotted a Texas Road House in CDA (I decided I would begin to abbreviate Coeur d' Alene, CDA like most of the locals do, it is easier to type).  As you can imagine it was just like all the rest of the Texas Road Houses, complete with the peanuts, a little taste of home.  Sharon had the smothered  chicken and I had the fall off the bone ribs, half a slab.

Just like the rest of the western United States we suffered from the heat today, it was 94 here in the late afternoon and after we got back to the RV park and took a short nap, I went down to the beach.  The park has put in a nice beach right on Lake CDA, see how easy that was.  With the temp being up as high as it was there was a lot of boat traffic on Lake CDA.  Just down the lake you can see the floating restaurant, The Cedars, we are planning dinner there on Sunday.  There was also a stuffed dog on the dock, I'm not sure the reason, I guess to scare something away.

Floating Restaurant 

Happy Hour back at the site, but no dinner, too stuffed from the Texas Road House.

Transition Complete

June 27, 2013 Day 27

Today was outside activity day for me as Sharon through me out of our wheeled home and I headed for the Golf Course.  Transition was complete as the temperatures soured into the 80's.  I played the local muni, Coeur d' Alene Golf Club.  It's a far cry from the Resort Course, but it was very nice, very narrow, some more than adequate rough, with big trees everywhere.  I got on as a single and played with Placie, who is a marshal at the course and to guys that had just moved into the area from California, Californicators.  Bob who was a retired union carpenter and David who was a retired mortgage banker, before the sub prime loans.  It was nice company and I had a better back nine than I did the front.

While I was at play, Sharon was working her fingers to the bone over a hot iron, none of my clothes.  She was happy to be rid of me and have some time alone.

Happy hour was outside under the shade of the awning and the RV as we had no rain.  We had a nice Shrimp salad paired with a fine chardonnay.  We went back to Costco to return some pants and had a Very Berry Sundae for dessert.













Sharon and I are thinking about a new rig and have our eye on this one.

Costco Day

June 26, 2013 Day 26

One of the main purposes coming to Coeur d' Alene was to make a Costco run as when we get to McCall the closest Costco is in Boise 100 miles away.  What we didn't realize was that are two, not one, but two Costco's in the area, the one in Coeur d' Alene and one in Spokane.  The other thing that we did not realize is that Idaho has state controlled liquor stores and Washington does not.  According to the blurb I read on the Internet Washington went public with its liquor sales a year ago June.  And according to a man shopping in Costco today they sell liquor at the Costco in Spokane, oooo, I guess we will have to go there  before we depart the area.

It was a good Costco experience with meat, wine, produce, fish, pants and fruit.  The biggest purchase was a new coffee machine, Keurig, the selling feature was its quiet operation, and its easy to clean.  Quiet so as I do not wake up Sharon in the mornings with the grinding of coffee from our other machine.  It was Sharon that really wanted this, really.  The best find we had today was Chateau Saint Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells, one of our favorites for a very good price.  We also had lunch at Costco, best bargain around, a big hot-dog and a drink for a buck 50 and that was followed with a Very Berry Sundae.  The lunch area was crowded and we first shared a table with a couple from Coeur 'd Alene, that live in the city, only 10 minutes away.  They have a winter home in Surprise, Arizona, Sun City and summer here.  When they left we were joined by a man and his grandson, also local.  the man had a Washington State sweat shirt on and we struck up a conversation about Mike Leach and I suggested he read Mike's book, Swing the Sword.

Back to the RV park for Sharon to repackage the purchases into more usable portions using her vacuum sealer and to put away the other goodies.  Today was supposed to be a transition day, transitioning to better weather, according to the weather man, but you know about weathermen and it rained off and on.

But, it let up enough to be able to grill some Lamb Chops.  We knocked off another Happy Hour sponsorship this evening with Two point Five Buck Chuck, a cab, sponsored by Jan and Dick Williamson.

Woman's Work is Never Done

June 25, 2013 Day 25

We are settled into the RV park in Coeur d' Alene, Blackwell Island RV Resort and today Sharon did all the work while I just sat around on my_ _ _, _ _ _.  It was house on wheels cleaning day and laundry day at the RV park.  The weather people say we are transitioning, transitioning to summer temperatures and away from rain, well, all we are seeing is cool temps and more rain.  We, Sharon, had to dash through the showers to get our, her work done.

We did manage to have Happy Hour and burgers on the grill.

We, Sharon, is hoping for better weather I will get out of her hair and take part in some out door activities, maybe a little golf.  My heavy lifting was reading, working on a new series, Brad Thor's character Scot Harvath, currently on the third book, character is similar to Vince Flinn's, Mitch Rapp, but not as good.

Off To Spokane

June 24, 3013 Day 24

Woke up to a nice steady rain.  Its a good thing that this didn't happen yesterday, there would have been 2,600 wet Iron Men and Women and maybe a few bike wrecks.  We were not in too much of a hurry to get going so we just took our time.

It was off to Spokane to pick up a few things and just look around a bit.  The first stop was Camping World to get an anode rod for the hot water heater.  You are supposed to replace these every so often, at least check them annually and I couldn't remember when I replaced it last, I know it was at the Kyle storage place and it was a little difficult.  Found what we needed and picked up a spare. Then it was off to Trader Joe's for, you guessed it, three buck chuck, but as luck would have it, it was only $2.49, so I guess we'll have to call it two point five buck chuck.  We also bought a few more goodies including some Kettle Korn, they have the best.  Sharon decided she needed a Mall walk to check to see if she could find some Origns, no luck.  By now it was time for lunch so I went to my Yelp app and found a Schlotzky's near by; after a few passes to get into the correct lane we made it, good thing I had left the trailer behind.  They had a picture of the Austin Original on their wall.  I can remember going to this place when I worked at Tracor.  We would venture over here for lunch from time to time, but you had to get here early or they would run out of Bunz.
 Then it was off to Walmart for some groceries and some small propane cylinders that we use for grilling.

Back at the RV I flushed the hot water tank and replaced the anode rod with out any problem, after I discovered I did not have an adapter for my socket wrench and had to fly around town to find one.

We had small rain off an on most of the day, temps stayed in the 60's and the sun peeked out for about 10 minutes.  Then hard rain and I had to put out the awning so I wouldn't get wet while cooking.

Saw on TV this evening that the winner or the Iron Man race came in with a time of 8 hours, 17 minutes, 31 seconds.  The last official racer finish at 11:57 PM, Matthew Richmond.  More rain is forecast for tonight but they are predicting summer temps coming right behind, maybe even a 90 degree day on Saturday.

Happy Hour, and a nice big Pork Chop on the grill, with the last of the bottle of Pino and topped it of with a trip to DQ for a blizzard.

I'm on the look our for the John Elway boat that Woody saw here last year when he attended the Iron Man race to cheer on his son Darin.

The Real Iron Man

June 23, 2012 Day 23

Short drive today from Missoula to Coeur 'd Alene, about 175 miles, so we gathered ourselves and got on the road around 10.  When we got to Coeur 'd Alene we ran smack dab into the Iron Man bicycle race.  We took the turn off on 95 to get to the RV park and the left turn was blocked by bicycles and the sheriff.  So we had to continue down the road to find a turn around spot at 45 MPH.  Maybe about 10 miles down we found a place safe enough to make our move.  Since there were bicycles going in both directions we had to time our move to find a safe distance between the flows.  We were successful and did not eliminate any competitors.

A few statistics that I picked up on the evening news.  There are 2,600 participants from all over the world.  The tri-athalon starts with a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and ends up with a marathon.  Wow what a day.  As you can imagine the race is very spread out.  They closed down the bike ride around 5 PM and the event lasted until mid-night.  I would have like to see the last competitor come across the finish  line.  Again Wow, what a day.  We had a real nice spot in the RV park, right next to the road, so it made for good viewing.

So as you can sense it was hard to get in and out of the park, we just stayed put and enjoyed our relaxation time.

We had a nice Happy Hour and cooked some salmon on the grill coupled with the left overs from Carino's the night before made for a nice meal.

Last bicycle of the day, we think

We are using Coeur 'd Alene as a buffer for when we go to McCall, which means that we will be here about 8 days.  Plenty to do as we will go to Trader Joe's in Spokane and make a Costco run here for re-provisioning and so we can get some three buck chuck and take care of Dick and Jan's happy hour sponsorship.

Getting Closer

June 22, 2013 Day 22

Well, we made it from Billings to Missoula, and yesterday turned 3,000 miles.  Two rest area where we stopped were manned by volunteers serving coffee and goodies to the travelers for a donation, one was Senior Citizens for the food bank and the other was former US Marines. We had rain on and off during the day, sometimes pretty hard with very cool temps.

This evening we decided to eat out rather than make dirty dishes in the RV. We kept seeing signs on our trip for Carino's, Country Italian, so off we went.  At the end of the meal Sharon received a call from Linda Marshack and renewed an old friendship from Austin, and committed to get together with her and old friends when we return.  We were over fed and over severed during our meal plus Happy Hour, so after we fueled up and returned to the RV, we both hit the sack a little after 9.



We also flew in a chef from aggie land to cook corn dogs for us while we are vacationing in Idaho.  Maybe we will buy him some shoes.

Billings must turn into collections

June 21, 3013 Day 21

It seemed like it rained all night, but it really did in the morning and delayed our departure.  After the rain we were able to get out of Mount Rushmore and head toward Billings, Montana.  Two more states today, Wyoming and Montana.  It was a good ride, overcast temps in the 50's and 60's most of the day and then gradually made it into the mid 70's.  Lunch on the road.

It is a nice park in Billings on the edge of town and away from the interstate.  Happy Hour after we arrived around 5 and then went to fill up.  Dead chicken on the grill and  there was only enough wine for one, but Sharon had a sip.

Mount Rushmore at Day

June 20, 2013 Day 20

I'm setting here waiting for the rain to stop so we can unhook and start down the road, so I thought I should finish my blog for yesterday.

The morning started with going to the Vines and Grinds coffee shop to get some morning coffee.  I got an "Americano", which was a shot of decaf expresso then filled up with hot water and I added some flavoring.  The cost 53 cents, best bargain of the trip so far, I thought it was so great that I tipped a dollar.  Then  it was off to Papa John's Pancake Tent for all you can eat pancakes, $2.50.  I started out with 3 and then decided I needed to take advantage of the all you can eat thing, so I had two more.

Then it was off to the mountain, and it was crowded, people and cars everywhere.  They did not charge to get into the Memorial, but the parking was $11 per car.  Boy did we make a good decision last night to take the shuttle bus.  I was nice to see it in the day time but both of us thought the night time experience was somewhat better.














































After the mountain it was to the town of Hill City for groceries, lunch and fuel.  There was a nice small market on the edge of town that we found everything we needed.  Back in town we stumbled into the Shaggy Moose for lunch.  Not so hot, but across the street we spotted a DQ and Sharon said she would buy, so we did.  Fueled up the truck and back to the RV park to rest up to traveling into Montana tomorrow.

Happy Hour and some nice Lamb Chops, with a good Pino and we were set for the evening.

Too bad for the Spurs.

Mount Rushmore at Night

June 19, 2013 Day 19

Today was a big day, not a big travel day but a big day seeing big things.  It started in Kennebec, South Dakota, with a Big breakfast at the KOA outdoor kitchen.  It may have been the Big breakfast was was not that good, Sharon does much better.











After that we unhooked and headed off, 125 miles down the road to the Big of the Biggest, Wall Drug.  If most of you are like me you never ever heard of Wall Drug.  It seems to be advertised on Highway 90 from Wisconsin to South Dakota.  I think Nancy asked me if we were going to Wall Drug.  Well after that nudge and all the advertising we had seen along the highway it was a must see, so Wall Drug here we come.  It started out way back when, just a drug store in Wall, South Dakota.  The town Wall gets its name from the Bad Lands, where there is a big wall carved out by the winds and erosion.  Wall Drug was trying to get customers to their store so they could make a go of it and nothing was working.  Then one day Mrs. Wall Drug put out a few signs offering "Free Ice Water" and the travelers started coming by the hundreds, and as they say, the rest is history.  It is two city blocks in down town Wall that is completely covered with every touristy item that you could possible think of and maybe a few more.  We stopped for a break and got a little lunch.  I bought a golf ball with a picture of Mount Rushmore and a bumper sticker.  In addition to the Free Ice Water, they also have nickle coffee, which I took advantage of.

























































After Wall it was on to Mount Rushmore located close to Rapid City, 50 miles down the road.  Well that 50 miles turned into 75 when the GPS routed us through the mountains on small windy roads.  When we got hopefully lost we started looking at our resources and the KOA book said that the GPS directions were wrong and that you should just follow highway 16, and look for the signs.  I then called the camp ground to try to get directions from where we were, and we could not explain to the person on the phone where we were, so we drove down the road about 100 yards turned around and right in front of us was the sign to the Camp Ground, we were saved again.

Finally we made it, registered and paid a very handsome sum for the spot, seems that this park is classified as a resort and they charged us a resort fee.  That's OK, because it is a very nice park and very close to the Big Mount Rushmore.  The plan was to go to the night light ceremony in the evening and then back during the day.  We opted to take a shuttle bus from the park to the mountain, which was a very good decision.  Just sit back an relax and leave the driving, parking, hassle to them.  We left the park at 7 and the light ceremony started at 9.  That left plenty of time for dinner and some Thomas Jefferson ice cream.  Seems that Thomas Jefferson brought a french chef over to the US and made very good ice cream.

The night ceremony was very good, it started with a 10 minute talk from the Ranger, followed by a 15 minute talk about the Mount Rushmore Memorial and what it meant, followed by a 20 minute movie about the patriotic significance of the Memorial, complete with crowd singing of America and the National Anthem, quite moving.  Then they invited the service men and women down to the front for the lowering of the Colors and afterward passed the microphone around to everyone that was on the stage, about 60 people, and had them say their name and branch of service.  It was very nice in the special recognition.

The ceremony wrapped up around 10, then it was back on the bus, thank god, and back to the park.

Oh, yea, we slipped in Happy Hour just before we boarded the bus for the mountain.