Thursday, October 13, 2011 (Travel to Coeur d`Alene, Idaho)

We were all packed and hitched up by 9:00...just as Don arrived to say goodbye.  The temperature outside was below freezing (28F) and ice had fallen off one of the slider awnings when we put them in.  It was also very foggy which had us concerned...we had to pull out onto the highway and didn`t want to get broad-sided due to the lack of visibility.

After thanking Don for his hospitality along with hugs and handshakes, we were on our way.  Don was good enough to go ahead of us and watch for traffic on the highway.  We had no problem as we pulled out...we were on our way!

After stopping at the sani-dump in Salmo, we continued east along highway 3 to the junction of highway 6 where we headed south towards Nelway, the BC border crossing.  The port of entry into the States was Metaline Falls, Washington...where we experienced a small, but very diligent US Customs and Immigration border crossing. This was the first time in all of our border crossings that we were searched. Steve had to put the sliders out so they could confiscate my Christmas cactus plant. After a thorough search of the trailer it was the trucks turn. It was about an hour and a half by the time they returned our passports and allowed us to carry on.

It was a beautiful, scenic drive...on a very twisty road as we headed through north eastern Washington and into Idaho.  Here are some pictures taken along the way...

We stopped along the Pend Oreille River for our lunch...

We arrived at River Walk RV Park in Coeur d’Alene close to 3pm.  The park is quite small with sites that really weren’t big enough for us but the woman in the office was very nice and said that we could pull in diagonally across four sites.  They weren’t busy and we were only going to be there overnight anyway.

After doing the bare minimum for set-up (we were level and didn’t unhitch), we decided to get a little exercise and go for a walk down along the river. 

There was also a really cool building across the street that looked like it might be a nice pub where we could go for a drink and a little dinner but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Verizon store...sheesh!  We walked a little ways down the busy main street just to see if there was a place for dinner but to no avail...we ended up stopping at a gas station for some beer and wine and went back to the trailer and barbequed burgers.

We called it an early night...we’ll be up early tomorrow to continue our travels...