Have You Been To Three Forks, MT?

Yesterday morning we left Missoula, MT and continued our leisurely drive east on I-90.  It is a beautiful drive and we purred along in the motor home enjoying the scenery.  The long and steep mountain pass east of Butte, MT posed no problems for the motorhome and we cruised over it easily.  Then we got to the long long 6% down hill grade and managed it fine passing the Continental Divide at 6800ft.

Gerry was on the phone making reservations for that evening and also reservations at the Red Lodge KOA for 4 days later this week.  We managed to snag the last available spots at both campgrounds and that was a load off my mind.

I was thinking about how well the motor home was running and didn't want to jinx it by telling Gerry how I felt about it.  The last time I did that we wound up in La Mesa, AZ for a repair.  I didn't want to go through that again.  After La Mesa we went to the Cummins dealer and had an oil change, main belt changed and a few other items.  Remember the belt change.

We were cruising up a small pass about 17 miles west of Three Forks, MT when I heard a very loud bang and some other noise coming from the rear of the motor home.  We were on a steep curvy part of the road and I knew it wasn't a blown tire so I stopped a little ways down the road.  An inspection of the rear of the motor home was next and coolant fluid was pouring out of the overflow hose.  Not good!!  I checked around and saw an universal joint attached to a rod and at about the same time noticed we didn't have a fan belt.  (Not the belt above).  Oh Oh!!!  

A call was placed to our Good Sam Emergency Road Service and they had a tow truck out there within an hour.  Luckily he was just down the highway about 15-16 miles.  He checked out the problem and asked if I could drive it to his repair shop since the water pump was still working.  I managed to make it within 2 miles of the shop and had to stop and let the engine cool down for 30-40 minutes.  Then it was on to his shop where we spent the night.  

The damage might not be as bad as originally thought if he can get the metal rod reattached and install new fan belts.  It's 11am now and we are waiting for the fan belts to arrive.  Then he can try and put the fan drive assembly back together and see if it works.  Hopefully the problem came about as a result of a broken fan belt and not the drive assembly.  I'm wondering if when the main belt above was replaced the tech didn't reattach the fan belt tight enough and it came off and caused the rod to come out of it's assembly.

Since Tiffin RV closes down for a week starting Friday at 4:30pm, we need to have the repair finished in time to order a part if we need to.  Otherwise we will be here in Three Forks, MT for a week or two.  It's going to be a close call.

If we have to wait it out, then we will stay at a local RV park and go sightseeing around the area.  We are about 65 miles south of Helena, MT  and 120 miles north of Yellowstone Nat's Park.  There are also some geocaches in the area that are waiting for me.

Oh, Gerry called and cancelled our reservations and the KOA even waived the no-refund fee for us.  Nice to see them do that since we called them 3 hrs after making the reservation.  They are busy so someone else will take the spot quickly.

We were worn out after all that excitement and went into the town of Three Forks for dinner at the Iron Horse Cafe.  I had a buffalo burger which was fine and Gerry had a French dip sandwich that was just OK since it was a little overcooked.  The town looks like your typical small western town with a 3-4 block long main street.  Most of the buildings were occupied and it was a pleasant town.

That was our day on the road, how was yours?  

We did receive a message yesterday that our friends Linda & Sherwin made the drive from Maine to Tucson where they have bought a house.  They sold their Maine home and have decided to live in Tucson full time.  I think the gold prospecting fever got to Sherwin and he wants to find that one huge nugget.  LOL   Enjoy your new home and we may see you this winter.  

Rainmaker for hire

The Elks Lodge here allows you to wash your motor home & car.  The motor home and car were both very dirty so we decided to spruce them up a little.  We had to wait until late in the evening so the heat wouldn't spot the unit so bad.  I washed and Gerry rinsed the area I just worked on.  Great teamwork!  It sparkles now and looks like new.

Well, guess what happened today.  You got it.  Rain.  It rained a little this afternoon just enough to get the road wet but not enough to make the campsite into mud.  So, if you need rain, let me know and I will come to you and wash the motor home.

It's been beautiful here in Coeur d'Alene since we've been here with bright sunny days and cool evenings.  We've checked out the surrounding area and think this would be a great place to settle down.  Not that we will do it here with the kids on the East Coast, but it has just about everything a person could ask for here.  The winters do get cold but not unreasonably cold.  It snows but not by the foot as usual up north.


Gerry is still under the weather and seems to be making slow progress shaking this cough and feeling bad.  Poco a Poco!

That's about all the excitement around here. 
 

 

Car d'Lane Car & Swap Meet

The Car d'Lane car show was today and we decided to check out some of the cars late in the afternoon.  The big show was Friday night with the cars cruising down Sherman Ave in Coeur d'Alene.  We didn't learn about the cruising until it was too late to get there, plus we thought it would be so crowded that we'd have to park blocks away.

About the time we arrived downtown a number of emergency vehicles raced past us.  As we got closer to all the action we noticed a huge plume of smoke along the side of the lake.  The wind was blowing it away from us so it wasn't too bad, but later the wind shifted and the smoke become very heavy in the area.  Eventually it drove us out of the area since it was bothering both of us.  We heard on the late night news that they had it under control and it didn't pose any danger to Coeur d'Alene.  Last year we were close to a forest fire in the Sedona, AZ area and didn't want a repeat of that. 

There were many streets blocked off and it was difficult to get close to where the cars were on display but we managed to get close enough to take photos as they went down the street.  Rather than include large numbers of photos in the blog I have created a collage of a few of them.

There was a chopped '50 Mercury on the street and we couldn't get a real good picture of it since the sun was directly behind the car.  It was a classic chop job with all the chrome removed, lowered, white walls and fender skirts.  I would have given it best of show, but then again I am partial to 50 Mercuries.

 After checking the cars we went geocaching for a while and found a cache nearby the Elks Lodge.  I wanted to make sure I added Idaho to my list for states where I found a cache.


By this time we were getting hungry and started to look for a local restaurant and avoid national chains.  As luck would have it, there was a fish house restaurant nearby.  We both had a taste for seafood and  fish tacos and shrimp tacos plates were soon in front of us.  The meals were good and we picked up some smoked steelhead salmon to take home.  Gerry makes a great salmon, horseradish and cream cheese spread and I'm eager to have some soon.

 We had a slow day and mostly took it easy and lazied around the motorhome.  That was our day, how was yours?

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Gerry and I have heard about the Coeur d'Alene area for a long time and we have wanted to check it out for years.  Well, we are here now and think it is a beautiful area and can see why people love it so much.  We could easily spend a month or two in the area and enjoy it.

We took a ride downtown by the lake yesterday and saw many people sunning, swimming and boating.  It must be freezing cold at this time of the year but it didn't seem to bother those in the water.  The area was very busy with a lot of people and vehicles so we didn't get a chance to stop and walk around.

These two children were sitting in the antlers of a moose statue on main street.  Gerry wanted to get a picture of the moose, but this family was hanging around a long time and we decided to move on.

This area looked very inviting and we hope to make it back there again and sit outside along the lake.  The small building on the right is a coffee shop.  It would be nice to have a nice coffee and roll there while we enjoy the view.

The Car d'Lane Car & Swap Meets 25th annual show for pre-75 Classic vehicles is being held this Friday & Saturday.  We saw this old Lincoln Continental convertible driving down the highway.  It was a beautiful car and looked to be in original condition.  Hopefully we can make it down town to check out the over 1,800 cars that are expected to be at the show.  

Gerry found out about a casino about 25 miles south of town and we decided to check it out.  It is owned by the Coeur d'Alene Indians and is a hotel, casino and RV park.  The RV park isn't that great from what we saw with only electric, on asphalt and very sloped.  It would be difficult to level a RV in this park.

The casino was very nice except for all the smokers.  They had one small section for non-smokers but it had limited  machines to play and they were mostly occupied when we came in.  Once we signed up for the Players Club we went out and gambled their $10 they gave to each of us.  We wound up playing for a couple hours and left $3 poorer.  Cheap entertainment and we earned points toward prizes so we may come out ahead in the end.
 

Very nice statue at the entrance to the Casino

Part of the hotel/casino complex.

This morning a volunteer from the Elks Lodge came by and asked if he could take a picture of us outside our motorhome.  I thought that was a little strange and said Gerry wasn't feeling that well.  He then asked if I would pose for the picture.  Later on he came by and gave me two copies of the following photo.  So, I am going to include it as an advertisement for the lodge here in Coeur d'Alene.  They have a 30 space park with 50amp, water and grass sites for Elks only.  The only drawback to the park is that they don't have sewer or a dump station, but there is a free dump station a few miles down the road.

  I signed up for the pork chop dinner this evening and since Gerry was feeling a little better, we joined the others for an excellent dinner of pork chops, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, cole slaw, rolls and cheesecake.  It was more than we could eat and brought home a doggy bag with enough for another meal.

Gerry decided it was time to see a doctor once again for the coughing and congestion issues she has been going through for a month.  There was an urgent care facility about 4 blocks from us and we headed there after lunch.  We did pass by an animal hospital and I thought it may be cheaper to stop there, but she nixed that.

She had a short wait at the urgent care and saw a doctor who said she had a bad sinus infection.   He prescribed an antibiotic and she will be on that for 10 days.  We both hope this clears up her problem and she can start to feel better soon.

That was our day, how was yours? 

Drive to Coeur d'Alene

It was time to move on down the road today and we took our time and headed out around noon for Coeur d'Alene, ID.  We had a 300 mile drive ahead of us and with good roads it took us about 6 hours including a fuel stop.  

We took I-90 across the Cascade Mountains via Snoqualmie Pass, elevation 3,022 feet, the only interstate crossing and lowest east–west crossing in Washington State.  For the most part it is a good road except for two sections where they made grooves in the road that made it very rough.  It shook the motorhome so much that I switched lanes whenever I could.

The scenery changed considerably before and after the pass.  

 The mountains' sides were very steep and not really usable except for growing trees.

This lake ran along side of the I-90 for a couple miles and looked to be lower than in the past.  Old tree trunks from when the lake was built are now showing up at one end.

 OK gentlemen, start your engines and get ready to roll.  We stopped at a rest stop and thought the line up of tractor trailers was neat.  There was a bright yellow truck that left the start line a little early and had passed by us.

 

Around Vantage, WA there was a long descent into the Columbia River crossing.  There wasn't a tree in sight in this area.

We saw numerous dust devils along the way and had to slow down to avoid a very large one that could have caused problems for us.  This was a small one and not a problem.

Spokane, WA skyline approaching from the west.  We went through at rush hour and it was an easy drive.   Or, their rush hour isn't as bad as around Seattle.

The homes on this hillside looked really nice with the mountain behind them.  Photos can't quite capture the beauty of the area.

Finally, we arrived in Idaho and stopped for the night at a RV park to take advantage of having a full hookup site.  Gerry washed a load of clothes and wanted to do some chores before stopping at the Elks Lodge in Coeur d'Alene.

That was our exciting day, how was yours?