We drove about 70 miles north of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, to camp on Blue Lake.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s an extremely small and deep lake that may have been blue sometime in the past, but was very green while we were here.\u00a0\u00a0 It turns out to be in between two busy railroad right-of-ways as both lines have\u00a0 grade crossings right here.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can you say loud horns blowing a lot?\u00a0 I’m not sure how we slept thru the night, but neither of us heard them.\u00a0\u00a0 Could have been the wine bar on the patio overlooking the lake that helped that along.<\/p>\n
While driving thru Coeur D’Alene up US 95, the traffic lights thru town are synchronized to make you stop at each light for a long, long time,\u00a0 presumably for you to notice all the chain stores lining both sides of the highway for many miles.\u00a0\u00a0 There were so many chain stores along that route, I think every national company must have been\u00a0 represented.\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully it only took about a half hour to go those 5-6 miles, then we were back on the open road till we hit Sand Point, which looked like a really nice area with a huge lake and lots of folks boating and kayaking.<\/p>\n
When we were getting closer to the road to the campground, I started thinking about the guy mentioning the truck turnaround a little ways up the road if we missed the turn.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Turns out the extreme oblique left turn was almost too much for us to maneuver, but luckily our coach has a very sharp turning radius due to its 57 degree cut and we narrowly made the turn without going down an embankment to the RR tracks prior to the actual crossing.\u00a0 Now I knew the real reason he mentioned the turnaround.\u00a0\u00a0 It was almost a straight shot into the turnoff if you were coming from the north;\u00a0 but coming from the south with a long rig and toad will be a problem for most drivers.\u00a0\u00a0 If I stayed there again (which I probably wouldn’t, due to the train noise) I would use the truck turnaround to come in from the north.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Luckily, when we leave for West Glacier, we head north for a bit, so getting out of here should be a lot easier.<\/p>\n
Thankfully it’s a lot cooler here than it was in Electric City.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was in the low 100’s there and mid-80’s here and we are fully in the shade here.<\/p>\n
I broke a strap for one of the awnings while at SunBank Resort, so I found an adjustable strap and installed it.\u00a0\u00a0 It works but is not a permanent fix.\u00a0\u00a0 Will start the search for the exact replacement part and have it shipped home.<\/p>\n
When we woke up Friday morning to get the coach ready for the drive to Glacier there was smoke in the air.\u00a0\u00a0 The wind was really blowing so I went over toward the windward edge of the park. \u00a0 I couldn’t see any flame but there was a lot of smoke coming from the south east.\u00a0 We decided to pack up quick and get on the road sooner rather than later.\u00a0 Once we were almost ready I attempted to call the local fire department but only got voice mail.\u00a0 I also checked the local incident web sites but found nothing except a fire at least 80 miles south west of us. \u00a0 We finished stowing everything and headed out before 8:30 am. \u00a0 Pretty early for us,\u00a0 but the smoke was only getting worse so we pulled down the hill a bit to attach the car.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a train blocking the only way out of the park when we were ready but it soon finished passing the grade crossing and the four lined up motorhomes pulled out toward the highway,\u00a0 three made the incredibly sharp right turn to head south on US 95 and we took off to the left toward Bonner’s Ferry then US 2 over to Glacier NP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We drove about 70 miles north of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, to camp on Blue Lake.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s an extremely small and deep lake that may have been blue sometime in the past, but was very green while we were here.\u00a0\u00a0 It turns out to be in between two busy railroad right-of-ways as both lines have\u00a0 grade … <\/p>\n