Coram, MT to LaPine, OR

On July 26 we left Coram. MT. We took the two lane and designated scenic highways along the way. On Rt.93 we drove along Flathead Lake. It is a large lake, 30 miles long by 16 miles wide. The lake lies in what is called the Rocky Mountain Trench and was carved out by a glacier during the last ice age.

                                 

 

                                                  

As we left Rt. 93 and got on Rt. 28, A designated scenic byway we figured we would be in for great scenery. Well, the scenery was good but, our GPS did not have updated information about road construction. We came to a construction area that covered many miles. There were pilot cars leading packs of cars and trucks. For a while we were on the old road, with the construction along side us. Then it got worse, for several more miles we were on the new roadbed which was gravel, dirt or whatever else they use to build a road here. To keep the dust down, water trucks were spraying and the spaying was done in great quantities,,,, enough water to make the roadbed muddy. Some places got pretty narrow, but sufficient to drive through. The motor home and car really got a coating of a very sticky mud. I spent a good bit of the next day cleaning up the car and motor home. The mud had dried and didn’t want to be washed away by anybody or anything. Even the steps on the motor home were a mess.

                                           

                                

Anyway, enough sniveling, back to the trip. Before long I-90 was reached and we headed west towards Idaho. The lines you can see on the mountains are logging roads.

Our destination for that day was the town of Post Falls which is just a little west of Coeur d’Alene, near the Idaho and Washington border. While we there we did see the Post Falls Dam. In 1871, Fredrick Post used the flowing river to power the equipment in a sawmill, located at the falls. A dam was constructed of logs and later replaced with the dam and power station that exist today. The dam-power-station generates enough power to supply about 6000 homes. There was very little flow the day we were there. A lady at the information desk said the dam’s flow was reduced to prevent some type of damage across the river, she couldn’t elaborate more that that.

3663 Pan

                                   

                                                                                                               
On July 29 we on our way to a campground located in Benton City, WA. We drove through Spokane. There were the usual buildings and familiar store signs, Best Buy and the like. We did see an interesting old bridge that reminded us of the bridges in Cleveland that went over the Cuyahoga River. Once again, it is impressive to see the number of farms. We passed miles of wheat fields.

                                    

The campground we spent the night at had a casual atmosphere. The manager came out to meet us, she was confussed about our reservation but she got everything straight after a few minutes. I had to chuckle when a saw this sign

The next morning we were on our way to LaPine, OR, just a few miles south of Bend. This was a alternate campground since our original choice had some problems. We crossed the Columbia River off I-395 near the town of Umatilla and soon were driving west on I-84. The Columbia River Gorge is very scenic, with a rugged landscape and a beautiful river. It has been quite a few years since we have been here and there have been some major changes. The number of wind generators that we passed had to be, at least, in the hundreds. There were miles of those things on the Oregon and Washington side.

                                                

                                              

The Columbia River Gorge is known for the winds that blow in from the coast. There are many wind surfing contests held on the river.


At Briggs, OR we left I-84 and headed south on Rt. 97. It is a two lane road with some twists and turns and a few hills with 6% grades. Once again there were more wheat fields and wind generators. Soon Mount Hood came into view.

                                                                           

A while later we were set up in the Cascade Meadows RV Park watching the sun set.

We have reached a milestone in our trip. This is as far west as we are taking the motor home and when we leave here we will be heading east. This weekend Jeff and Mary, (Jackie’s brother and sister-in-law) will be here with us. Later this coming week we will drive the car to Eugene, OR to visit them. Among other things, we will drive to the coast. The Oregon Coast is beautiful.

So, here is a map of our path from home to LaPine, OR. It uploaded, distorted in the vertical direction, I'll have to work on that. We have traveled approximately 3830 miles by motor home plus many more sight seeing miles by car. The numbered squares on the map are waypoints used by my mapping program and indicates places we have stayed or stopped at, for sightseeing or fuel.

Jack
Marveling at what a beautiful country we live in………………….