Saturday June 7, 2014 Coeur d'Alene, ID

We were up early this morning, 6:45.  We only had 126 miles to travel so we leisurely drank our coffee and started computer catch up.

Getting ready to travel was pretty simple, I had only hooked up the power.  Because the site was a pull in with a great view of the lake, I had to back out.  There was a Jeep parked at a site on the other side of the street which made for some tight maneuvering.  Gerri is very good at giving directions for backing safely, so it wasn't a huge problem.  We had traveled from Reno to Lewiston without fueling. Just before getting to Lewiston the low fuel light had come on.  So, our first order of business was to fuel up.  I had asked Bob about nearby fueling stations that had diesel and were easy to get in and out of..  He told me about a Flying J Truck Stop about a mile east of town on US-95.  He said he thought it had changed names but was still there.  I found the Flying J he described in the GPS and set that as a destination.  We decided that Gerri would follow me in the Jeep and we would hook that up after fueling.  The Flying J is now a Sinclair station.  Even with the large truck nozzle it took quite awhile to top off the tank.  This may have been the most fuel I ever put in at one stop.

At a distance, on a hillside these look like a purple blanket

After fueling and then hooking up the Jeep, we left Lewiston at about 10:30.  Like I said with only 126 miles to drive we didn't rush.  Back on US-95 the first obstacle was the hill going north out of Lewiston.  It is a 7 percent grate for nearly eight miles.  With very little traffic I was able to maintain 30 MPH most of the way.  We were rewarded with the sight of some of the hills being blanketed with purple flowers.  I wasn't able to stop for pictures so Gerri got one off the internet.

The road to CDA

                                                                                Once reaching the top of the hill the scenery changed to rolling hills planted with dark green crops.  A sign on one field read "Winter Wheat."  We have always said that farmers should label their fields for the edification of travelers, but I only saw the one sign.  The scenery later alternated between farm land and pine forest.

We arrived at Blackwell Island RV Park at about 1:30 and we checked in and set up in site 28 pretty quickly.  Not long after our arrival  I finally met our Wagon Masters, Ben and Nancy.  I say finally because I have had telephone conversations and exchanged e-mails with them for months.  They were passing out copies of the Milepost magazine.  Nancy said to go over it, there is a test tomorrow.  The Milepost magazine is about an inch thick with very small print...lots of travel information about roads, etc.

Site 28, Blackwell Island RV Park

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the Jeep and the front of the coach.  I did take a walk around the park with stops chatting with other people who we will get to know better over the next two months.  All the coaches on the caravan are parked in a group.  About half of he participants are here already.  The caravan doesn't officially meet until the 10th.

Gerri made a new dish for supper using the leftovers from our chicken and pasta we ate Thursday evening.  Gerri went to bed at 10 and I got caught up on a History Channel show about D-Day and watched it to nearly midnight.

Even though it was warm during the afternoon, it cooled enough for sleeping comfortably under a blanket.